Forest Mondays

The children have been really looking forward to Forest Mondays.  We've had a great time exploring nature, even when it has been wet and rainy, or windy and cold!  We begin each Forest Monday at our "Base Camp".  This is where our meetings happen and we sit on tree stumps.  Then, the children sit at their "sit spots", which is a quiet place within our outdoor classroom space that they sit, quietly, observing nature.  After about 5-10 minutes at their sit spots, the children are called back to the base camp where they share their observations.  Often time, the children have some actual nature items they collected at their sit spots to share with the group.  Once everyone has had an opportunity to share, the children are encouraged to explore and play in our outdoor space.  This is where they get to use their imaginations, run, and be 5 and 6 year old's who make observations about their environment.

Below is a recap of the last few weeks of our Forest Mondays.

• A few weeks ago when we were walking in the bike path, I had the children find leaves bigger than their hand and leaves smaller than their hand. 

• Last week, we found nature items that we wanted to test out if they sank or floated in water. We brought these items into the classroom to carry out our experiment.  Each child was able to choose a nature item from the bucket and place it into the water to see if it was going to sink or float.  After everyone had a turn, the children drew their observations in their science notebook. 

• This week, the children were asked to think about what nature items they could use to make the first letter in their name.  After their explore time, they were asked to find items and create the first letter. This proved to be such an easy task for them!  Sticks seemed to be the popular choice. 

Below are some pictures from the last few weeks from our Forest Mondays.

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