With Love In Our Hearts

It's always great to start a day at Nature School with some gratitude!  How did you feel when your name was called during Turtle Nest time?  When a special someone said something nice about you? When you received a gratitude bracelet?  How else could you get to know and spend time with someone in our group?  Who is someone you don’t really know that well?  What would be a fun thing to do with that fellow Turtle?  It is surprising what you can find out about a new friend.  How could you put a smile on someone’s face next week?

Do you ever wonder if animals have friends out in nature to help them get ready for winter?  In the ‘Oh Beaver’ game, did you find what you needed to survive and did someone else also need to find the same things to survive?  What were the three things or symbols we used in that game? Hint: it is what animals need to survive. What did you learn from the story Hiders Seekers Finders Keepers?  If you were an animal, would you choose hibernation, migration or just sticking around and adapting to winter? How can we help wildlife in winter? How did the people in the story adapt to the colder temperatures?  Hint…very yummy!

What were the changes you noticed in Mystery Forest from last week?  What did you notice inside fallen logs and under leaves?  What kind of resting spot for animals did you make with your group? Can you describe your resting spot to your family? We weren’t the only ones busy in the forest!  Animal tracks were everywhere. Could you identify which animal made the tracks?  Maybe one of those animals will take a break in our resting spots, in between searching for and hiding food.  

At the library, did you like picking out some new books to read? We love hearing stories read by Grey Squirrel. What was the message or the lesson from this week’s story? What is one way to show our love and respect for Grey Squirrel?

We were all excited to welcome Antman to Harrington for the afternoon!  In our small groups, we learned about how ants prepare for winter, the names of a variety of ants and what they love to eat?  Do you remember the names of the ants that don’t live around here?  Were you surprised by any of the facts that you learned?  Thanks Antman!  During nature notebook sharing time Hawk and Pin Cherry showed us their diagrams of an ant home with the worker ants, the drones and the queen all present. Great details!

Today was a time to appreciate our friends, the animals who work so hard, those who come to help us and to teach us and the ones we love.  There are lots of ways we can show our gratitude.  Some are secrets…Shhhh!