First day back for a new school year and the energy is high! The weather was different than the summer, fall is truly on its way. As our new group of students arrived they got to decorate their name tags which will be on our cubbies for all future days to come. Then each student got to create their own journal that we will use throughout the year to provide us with some great reflection time.
Being the very first day there was a lot of talking about our space, rules, and getting to know each other. Future morning meetings won’t take as long as they did today. We shared our names, pronouns, and share one fun thing that we did over the summer. It was wonderful to hear how everyone spent their time. We were introduced to morning meeting and how each week we discuss what we would like to do for the day and then plan out our day with those ideas.
After snack our plan took us to the Sherman Hollow Brook, where we brough scoop nets and Bins for critters that we caught. for our first day back, we were really successful in catching, we caught over 20 water striders, a lot of minnows, a small brook trout, a frog, and a few other macroinvertebrates. We also had some students explore the different rocks at the brook and with Truman investigated which ones break easily and why.
To warm up in the sun we journeyed to Beaver Pond where we explored the critters in this area along with the space. Many of us got busy with catching tadpoles, frogs, and other water critters. We caught a water scorpion, dragonfly nymph, crayfish, and so much more! Some students enjoyed the texture of the mud and got to work building some mud castles and dams.
We enjoyed lunch in the field to warm up our cold bones and then played a few rounds of freeze tag too. In the afternoon we took some binoculars and hiked for Peeper Pond where we used them to see birds flying around, frogs in the pond, and some dragonfly and butterflies on the plants in the field.
Our day ended with journaling about our favorite part of the day and then playing some Park ranger in the field for once last game!
What an incredible first day!
