Hello one and all, welcome to the best nature program of all! Pull on your favorite layers, grab your sunglasses and join us for a day in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists.
The crisp fall morning welcomed us to the first day of class, sunlight poking through the trees and inviting us to come explore. We welcomed back naturalists from Monday who helped our new friends prepare for the day ahead. With magnifying glasses and rakes in hand, we worked together to roll old logs and flip big rocks in search of critters. We discovered families of roly-polies and sow bugs, big and small, as they scuttled and scooted around the soil. We got to see chipmunks quickly darting by, looking for acorns that fell from way up high! Soon, we settled in on the blanket for a quick story time before heading to the pavilion to start our day.
After bathrooms and handwashing, we got out our tasty snacks and settled in to munch, crunch and connect! We learned about some of our favorite foods and talked about fall activities like apple picking. Lots of silly laughs and excited smiles filled the pavilion during snack time! As we filled our bellies, we made our way over to the coloring table where we used markers to bring squirrels, foxes and leaves to life. Eventually, we decided it was time to become expert climbers and made quick work of scrambling over the boulders in the field! We tried each rock, feeling so proud and so brave with every need challenge conquered. Some of our friends even demonstrated how to climbs their own rocks to help us learn!
We gathered to tune into the natural world together, observing the weather, temperature and signs of the changing season. We took turns adding new things to our daily board and decided that today was a sunny, cold Fall day! After the weather, we lined up hit the trail in search of sun and new experiences. We stopped to brush our boots off, making sure they were clean of any unwanted seeds or bugs before exploring further! At the overlook, we decided to pause and climb onto the fence to get a bird’s eye view of the Natural Education Reserve. We enjoyed the sun our faces as we watched the river sparkle and flow by, spotted young pine trees growing and changing colors. We became problem solvers and found new ways to get our bodies up the fence, feeling so brave and so accomplished!
We took quick break to take off our layers and learn how to tie them around our waist, hang them over our shoulders or wear them like a hat so we could hike hands-free. Once in the pine forest, we went over boundaries and tree climbing rules before setting off. Some of us learned how trust our bodies to climb trees or walk on the balance beam (a big log we found), cheering with excitement as we honed our motor skills! One naturalist found a huge branch and worked hard to carry it before more friends came to help. We played music with sticks and trees, discovered a roly-poly hiding in the end of an old branch and rolled logs. Imagine our excitement when we found a slimy worm and a huge sow bug! We took turns gently holding our new friends and passing them to other naturalists to explore, too. As always, our time to go came too soon and we grabbed all of our gear before heading back to the pavilion to pack our bags and meet our families, eager to tell them about our day.
Thank you all for a wonderful first week of class. It was so fun to watch your naturalists problem solve and build confidence on the first day of class, we can’t wait to see what the next nine weeks hold! We hope you have a wonderful week and look forward to seeing you next Wednesday when we become Animal Investigators.
