It was another rainy day for Homeschool group, but we enjoyed our adventures regardless. We showed the new Ms. Rachel (not to be confused with the Ms. Rachel we already know!) one of our favorite places, Jack’s Creek. We found some cool mushrooms and enjoyed climbing on logs and jumping across the water. A few of us got wet, so we hiked back to the pavilion to change into dry clothes. There, we decorated nature journals which we will use for various activities in the coming weeks. Ms. Paige led us through an activity about trees, which was pretty fun! We talked about the things plants need to survive (sunlight, water, and nutrients) and then acted as trees to collect colored tokens that symbolized each of the above. With our feet rooted in place, we could only use our branches (arms) to collect them from the ground. Some of us had a decent variety of tokens (a balanced mix of red, blue, and white), but others lacked one or two colors. We discussed what can happen to trees when they do not get enough sunlight or get too much water. Then, we moved closer to each other and played another round. This was tricky because we were suddenly competing against each other to reach the same tokens! We also learned about forest pests that make trees sick (ex: emerald ash borer) and wildfire, which helps trees like Jack Pine release their seeds. To finish the day, we hiked around Sabin Trail, where we saw two frogs, two painted turtles and lots of mushrooms. We had just enough time to add onto our forts from last week before it was time to head home!