Week of 12/16
We are on the eve of the Winter Solstice, a time of change marking the beginning of the winter season and the gradual lengthening of the light of day. We wish your families a cozy and warm winter break with all your loved ones. We look forward to seeing everyone back in 2025 and hearing about your end-of-the-year adventures.
Flying Squirrels started off their week with a trip to Prospect Park for one of our first really rainy days. We were all geared up for the weather, allowing us lots of opportunities to splash in little puddles and explore some sticky, slippery, mud. Most people associate winter with snow, but outdoor school students know that winter is all about MUD. Whether from winter rain or the frozen ground melting in the sun, winter tends to be one of our muddiest seasons. Our Wednesday trip was totally opposite with so much sun! We took the opportunity to work on our rock scrambling skills at the "climbing rocks." One squirrel noticed the rocks "looks like the lion king rock," inspiring a lion game of family and roaring.
The Squeaky Mice won the award for the muddiest park trip of 2024! Our outing was sprinkled with mist and rainfall which made way for puddle splashing and building with mud. Some Mice enjoyed dancing and sliding in the mud while others took advantage of the softened soil to dig for treasure. And what’s a muddy park trip without culinary play? Muddy meatballs and pancakes were on the menu as the Mice filled buckets with delicacies for the worms of Prospect Park.
Tuesday was a beautifully sunny day for the Jumping Spiders in Prospect Park. A typical request from the spiders upon arriving at the park is to go on a "stick hike" to find the perfect stick. Those needing a fresh stick for their collections headed out to the Ravine where we spotted a flock of Mallards, ran across the field and found an amazing cache of sticks at Acorn Hill. Back at our play spot, we used the sticks to create long train tracks in the mud that were perfect for sliding our stick trains. Thursday the Spiders visited a spot they hadn't been to in awhile, the Knobbly Tree. This old American Elm has various bumps and notches that inspire the imagination for play. On a hike into the Ravine woods, we followed a Black Squirrel to a fallen tree and noticed the inside was a darker brown than the outside.
The Laughing Ladybugs enjoyed two precipitous park trips this week. On Tuesday, we searched for worms in the mud and found four! We even made connections on how to increase our chances of finding earthworms: if the ground is very wet, or if there are tiny holes on the surface of the soil there is probably a worm nearby! On Friday’s trip, we ran up and down the hills of the long meadow trying to catch snowflakes on our tongues. We also called each other various fruits based on the colors of our hats, scarves, and jackets. It was an entertaining venture into dramatic play for our twos class, which aptly led to lots of laughs from our Ladybugs.
Marigolds took a group hike to the bridge and settled up in Lele's Tree. The spot transformed into a house that was perfect for fixing, knocking, and painting it (pink of course!). On the hike, we walked under an acorn tree and one friend asked "Is this an oak tree?" While Wednesday was a sunny day, Friday had some surprises in store for the Marigolds. On the way to the park, we noticed a few white specks from the sky......Snow?! As we settled into snack more and more snow started falling from the sky and we enjoyed our first official snow day of the season. Although the air was chilly, the snow warmed our spirits and carried us on a hike to Acorn Hill to run, roll, and collect before back to school for lunch. Being outside is all the sweeter when we have a warm cozy school to return to after a fun wintery morning