Hello one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! Leave your extra layers at home, be sure to pull on your waterproof gear and get ready for a slippery, snowy adventure!
We started off class with a very warm morning and vibrant snow paint galore! After two weeks of very cold weather, we were able to paint to our heart’s content. We made snowballs to paint, used big shovels to create snow sculptures and rolled around in the snow until we looked like little snow creatures. We continue to work on our team work and communication skills by taking turns pulling/pushing the cart as we move locations, so excited when we finally reach our destination! We ate our snack in the warm pavilion, slowly munching and crunching until we couldn’t ignore our favorite snow hill any longer. To our surprise, the hill grew bigger since last week, allowing us to climb higher and slide down further! We used our big shovels to scoop snow canvases that we could paint and walk around to show our friends. We even bartered with Ms. Aspen and Ms. Miranda for more free play time before our lesson for the day—can you believe how quickly our vocabulary and language skills are expanding?
We became Plant Protectors and learned about different ways we can keep our planet, nature and wild animals healthy. We learned about recycling and composting, why these actions are important and what types of things get recycled, composted or thrown away. Once we felt like we were experts, we played a recycling relay race! There was a basket full of plastic, cans, cardboard and some of our snack wrappers. We stood in a line, grabbed an item one at a time and raced to put it in the correct bin (recycling, compost, trash) and did an amazing job at became Environmental Heroes! It didn’t long before we all melted into slithery little snow snakes, sneaking through the snow together. We took a quick bio break where we drank water, adjusted our hats and mittens before hitting the trail.
Always super stewards, we made sure to use our trusty boot brush as we made our way along the trail. We found deer, rabbit and naturalists tracks along the way, making sure to investigate and read the nature signs to tell us where these critters came from and where they went! We even made a stop at the porcupine tree to see if animals were home or if we could find any signs that animals have been sleeping in it recently. We didn’t see much evidence of animal activity, but sure had fun looking for it! As we made our way back for pick up, we noticed that a lot of little trees still had their leaves and learned that this phenomenon is called marcescence—scientists still aren’t sure why this happens! We took a different route back and realized we knew exactly where we were, we’re learning how to navigate our favorite trails so quickly! We made our way back to the pavilion, gathered all of our gear and pulled the cart to our pick up spot where we collapsed onto the snow covered blanket, worn out by today’s adventures.
Thank you all for a fun filled week in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists and Planet Protectors! We can’t wait to see you next week when we’ll all become Wildlife Biologists!
