If you have a great team you can achieve great things! Our team spirit carried us through a day of challenges to survive in the wilderness and construction projects that will drive change. Here is how it all went down!
What would you do if you got lost and had to stay the night in the forest? What would you need to survive? The number three came up quite a few times. What does your child remember about the number three? Hint: whistles, oxygen, water and food.
Making fires are a fascination for children and adults alike! It takes practice and the right technique to use a flint and steel to spark a flame. Fire building must be done safely and under supervision of an adult. Owl helped us remember what is important for fire building by coming up with the word SOFT. Each letter stands for something. S-spark O-oxygen F-fuel T-tinder. Why is building a fire helpful in a survival situation?
It takes all hands on deck to prepare a shelter that will withstand rain, winds and falling branches. We divided into two teams to get this task done. Gathering enough material to build a small lean-to is important so it will be comfortable, safe and waterproof. After each group finished and told us about their design, we looked at and tested these lean-to's . We decided that they would both be great shelters if it only rains a little bit. Ask your child questions about their design of the lean-to and how we tested them?
The tricky part about most cooperative projects is planning your approach and figuring out the roles for each person. Sometimes this goes smoothly and sometimes it requires a little rethink. One team had to rebuild very quickly but they made some changes to make it even better. Ask your child about their experience working as a team?
Did your pumpkin camper stay dry? Was pumpkin camper safe from falling objects? How did pumpkin camper find the shelter in terms of comfort? Do you think you could make a full size shelter that would sleep one or two people?
Library today started out in a new way. We began our buddy reading program. Thanks to Grey Squirrel for signing out a whole bunch of levelled texts for us. Who was your reading buddy partner? What way did you sit together and help your partner to feel good about the reading experience? Did you find a 'just right' text? What is the test that we use to see if a book is a good level for you? (Five Finger Rule). We loved listening to "Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping". Hope we don't run into any penguins on our next camping trip!
Outside for the afternoon we were greeted by Mammoth (Michael), who is an engineer teaching at Fanshawe College. He brought lots of materials in his truck to construct a bridge. What materials did we use? What did Mammoth say about the plan for this project, and how did we build the bridge in different places? We really appreciate having Mammoth take time to come and show us some of his bridge building skills. Mammoth took pictures to help support our bid for the construction of a real bridge over the pond that is very similar. This way we can have a loop trail all the way around the pond. It's great to see the kids involved in work that will be guiding this project.
Whittling is a lot of fun and is another skill requiring practice and some safety considerations. How do we sit and use a tool to whittle safely? What did we whittle today? Whittling started as a pastime during World War I. What did soldiers make as they learned to whittle by practising with knives and wood out on the battle field?
Our journals reflected all the things that we did and learned today. Ask your child what they added to their journal under the title 'Survival'. What animal track(s) did they include? We always need more time for journal, so we will finish up next week. Love the detail here!
Happy birthday to Hawk who turned 12 this week. We loved hearing about his milestones each year which were filled with adventure and all those firsts. It was great to have Cricket who has become quite an expert at supporting whittling skill building. Tamarack loved building and constructing shelters. She almost felled Raccoon with a branch, but all was well in the end. It just adds to the stories we bring home. Dragonfly and Coyote both got some rain showers, but found the kids really persevered through this cooler and damp day. We have a group of true survivors with us! Be happy campers until we meet again next week Forest Friends:).
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