At the end of last week, the Chickadee flock set up an obstacle course for the Nuthatches. On Monday, the Nuthatches finally got to complete it!

This past week, the Nuthatches focused on the theme of fairies and got to spend a lot of time by the creek, meeting some wildlife, and playing some fun games.

On Monday, instructors Jamie, Eli and Nani met the Nuthatches for an awesome opening circle. The Nuthatches practiced good listening skills while Jamie told a story about fairies and animals finding a way to live in balance with each other.

 Out at camp, we the Nuthatches split into pairs to build fairy houses together. The Nuthatches were encouraged to work with kids who they haven’t spent as much one-on-one time with. It gave them the opportunity to make some deeper connections with the Nuthatch flock!

 Throughout the day, the Nuthatches saw a bull frog, a tick, and a crayfish. At the end of the day, the Nuthatches got to do the Chickadees obstacle course. They said it was easy for them and admitted that it was still a lot of fun!

On Tuesday, the Nuthatches were outside with Eli and Jamie for a beautiful day with weather in the 70’s! At opening circle we had a pair of chipmunks come within a couple feet of many of the Nuthatches. Everyone watched with wonder and amazement! We talked about what we thought they were doing, as it happened to be right during out snack time.

Out at camp, the Nuthatches worked on a fairy shelter together and even got involved in a stick throwing game. Eli noticed some poison ivy around camp and all the Nuthatches were able to look at it and learn how to identify the plant. It was another fun day with the Nuthatch flock!

On Wednesday, Eli, Jamie and Astrid joined the Nuthatches for another beautiful day! At opening circle, we recalled our friend, the Lindworm and wrote a letter to them. When we got out to the forest, we went to the creek and the Nuthatches used their creativity to make a boat out of bark and pinecones to send the letter on. Later in the day, the Lindworm had returned a letter to the Nuthatches asking them how they could help protect nature. It was a big question that we are still thinking about!

On our adventure, we saw an inch worm and more crayfish! 

On Thursday, Jamie, Eli and Nani spent the day at White Pine camp which gave us great access to the field and the creek. Thursday was the hottest day of the week and the Nuthatches did a great job drinking enough water! 

When we got out to camp, we played a game in the field called “snakes in the grass,” a combination of tag and acting like a snake! We followed our game up with a good tick check – the Nuthatches are really getting the hang of those!

The Nuthatches had lots of room for being goofy and playing in the creek. Toward the end of creek play, Eli caught a lobster, as the Nuthatches like to call them. This crayfish really was one of the biggest we’ve seen before though! So much fun.

Summer-like weather, a mysterious note from the forest fairies, and a party — this sure was fun week at preschool!

MONDAY

The Chickadees were greeted by a bright blue sky, warm sunshine, and hundreds of fluffy dandelion heads as they arrived at 4-H Acres on Monday morning. Many children enjoyed kicking the “wish flowers’ ‘ as they walked over to the red oak tree to drop off their backpacks, watching the small seeds fly off into the air. In Opening Circle, the Chickadees sang “I Thank the Earth,” with Nora, who had taught them this song last week. As they sang they looked at the Earth around them, the tall white pine tree and the large red oak tree, they felt the cool air around them and listened for the creek below the hill. After they were finished singing, it was time to learn why the instructors had asked them each to carry wood cookies over to the log circle. Sarah demonstrated sharing something she was grateful for from the land before putting her wood cookie on the ground. Each child got a turn to share their gratitude and put their wood cookie on top of the other until…they had made a tower of gratitudes that was only a little shorter than most of the children! The Chickadees decided it would be fun to knock it over so they all got on the same side, put one hand on the gratitude tower and on the count of three pushed it over!

The flock flew down to camp and when they stopped at the top of the bridge and were asked “what’s growing” the answer was “leaves!” Last Thursday, the Chickadees pointed out that it was getting hard to see the Nuthatch camp on the other hillside because of the growing tree leaves and today it was nearly impossible because the leaves had grown so much. They also pointed out the skunk cabbage, whose leaves are almost the size of some of the Chickadees! After hanging up their backpacks, the children climbed the hill (they’re getting so good at this!) and ran down the path towards the Horsey Log. Once there, they remembered something — our obstacle course from last week! The children went through the hula-hoops, the tunnel, up the secret staircase and through the spider web. It was so much fun and they were so excited for the Nuthatches to try it out, which they did later that day.

After slunch, some children spent their time in the creek looking for aquatic animals under rocks. Others smashed up charcoal from our fire pit using rocks and sticks and added some water to make charcoal face paint. And the rest noticed cracks in the Earth around Trillium Camp and alerted the rest of the flock that there was lava coming out of them! This group worked hard to control the flow of lava so it wouldn’t take over our whole camp.

They ended their day by making a big pot of gratitude soup! The “soup” sat in the middle of their circle and each child had to throw their gratitude into it and then together we stirred it in. The Chickadees were grateful for all kinds of wonderful things — the sunshine, playing with family members, worms (of course!) and each other!

TUESDAY

“The lava monster is coming!” the Chickadees screamed while running down the hill to Trillium Camp. On Tuesday morning, Nora had turned into a being that was made of nothing but hot, hot lava! The children ran away from her but soon discovered that they had a special skill that could be used to cool down the lava monster. “Water power!” they yelled while holding their hands up in a “stop” motion. At first, the Chickadees weren’t sure if their water power was strong enough to cool down the powerful lava monster, but they discovered their powers were stronger if they worked as a team, so together they shouted “WATER POWER!” and just like that the lava monster turned into a rock! The Chickadees snuck over to what appeared to be a sleeping Nora, who instructed them to rub their hands together and when they felt the heat in their palms from the friction, to throw it at her to awaken the lava monster. The Chickadees did just that and the lava monster was awake! However, there was something different about her. The lava monster’s eyes weren’t working so the children had to help her navigate her way back to camp, over sticks and rocks, and through some hula hoops that were a part of the obstacle course. Once in Trillium Camp, the lava monster requested some healing leaves to help her eyes. The children went out in search of some special leaves and brought them back to the lava monster who then turned back into Nora!

At slunch time, the Chickadees heard a story about the wild children who live in a forest very similar to Trillium Camp. One day while going to play in the creek, the wild children noticed a note written on a piece of birch bark nearby. It read — Dear Wild Children, Please help us! A giant destroyed our village. Can you help us rebuild it? This note was signed by the forest fairies! The wild children got to work rebuilding the fairies’ homes and while doing so they noticed that the little “umbrella” plants, also known as mayapples, that the wild children sometimes liked to pick were where the fairies liked to live. The wild children started to realize that they were the giants; they were the ones that had accidently destroyed the fairies’ homes! They felt awful and made sure to build the most awesome fairy village ever with acorn cap pools for them to swim in, stone paths, an elevator for when their wings got tired, and all kinds of special things as a way of saying sorry to the fairies. When the sun set and the wild children had gone to sleep, the fairies came out and were so happy to see a brand new village for them to explore and live in. The fairies gave each of the wild children a stone with magic powers to say thank you!

When slunch time was over, some children played in the creek while others worked on some face paint with Barbara Ann, who the Chickadees were so happy to welcome back to the flock for the day! One of the children noticed a strange piece of paper on a nearby rock. The Chickadees gathered around while we read it and learned that it was the same note from the story! The children got to work right away on a fairy village and picked a shaded spot next to the creek to build. Barbara Ann helped them paint signs for the village and Nora even made a fairy-sized elevator!

The day ended sooner than everyone would have liked! The flock said goodbye to the animals they had collected in the terrarium, swept the pavilion, put away the pots and pans and gathered in the log circle for gratitude and celebration for a magical spring day!

WEDNESDAY

The sun is shining, shining, shining 

The sun is shining down on the land 

The trees are growing, growing, growing 

The trees are growing tall and grand 

The children sang The Sun is Shining by Melissa Blake in Wednesday’s Opening Circle while practicing the movements that go along with it. When singing “the sun is shining” the Chickadees reached their ups up and outward toward the sky. When they sang “down on the land” they brought their hands down to touch the Earth and when they sang “the trees are growing, growing, growing” they slowly stood up until they were upright with their arms outstretched again. Afterwards they made another gratitude tower and  knocked it over together. 

The flock got right to work on their fairy village, using a rake to clear away leaves and building pools for the fairies to swim in near the creek! Some Chickadees were busy making an awesome terrarium for the toads, salamanders and giant leopard slug they had found earlier. They added mud, dead leaves and rocks to make a comfy and safe home for these special creatures until it was time to say goodbye to them at the end of the day.

At slunch, Nora and the children played a fun game where each person picked an animal but kept it a secret. When Nora said something true about your animal, you had to take a sip of water. “Take a sip of water if your animal has fur all over its body,” Nora said while some of the Chickadees drank their water. At the end of the game everyone revealed what animal they were!

As the group was finishing up slunch, some of the Chickadees turned into fierce dinosaurs that were stomping around camp looking for something to eat. They chased Chloe and Peter up the Climbing Hill and to the Horsey Log where they decided to go and explore the nearby meadow. The grass was tall and some of the Chickadees hid in the long grass and peered out, waiting for the others to find them. The children also practiced balancing on a fallen aspen tree and played on the Nuthatches’ teeter-totter. It was so much fun that when it was time to sing The Day is Done, many of us didn’t want to leave. But alas, it was time to head back to Trillium Camp where the Chickadees threw their gratitudes up into the sky, put on their backpacks and headed back to the big red oak tree.

THURSDAY

Thursday brought more sunshine, blue skies and a PARTY! The Chickadees had earned their fourth star on Wednesday and were excited to learn in Opening Circle that they weren’t just going to have one party, but two mini parties — one on Thursday and one this coming Monday! The fun started with a song share with instruments. The children sang all of their favorite songs — Jingle Bells (the Chickadee flock has been singing this since November 1st!), the Halloween song and Nora’s silly beaver song! We banged on the drum, hit sticks against rocks and logs, clapped our hands and danced before heading down the Trillium Camp.

While waiting at the top of the bridge, the children pointed out everything that was growing — moss on the pavilion and the huge skunk cabbage growing near the creek. They also noticed that the water in the creek was low and realized that it hadn’t rained in a few days and it was hot! The Chickadees learned that because today was a party day, the creek would be open for the entire day! They excitedly hung up their backpacks and headed to the water, but something was different. They walked upstream and noticed sawdust in piles on the rocks in the creek and large stumps near their fairy village. Hmmm, what happened here? After some more careful observation, the children realized the large oak tree that used to lay across the creek was gone! But who had done this? “Do you think it was the fairies?” Sarah asked. “No! It was the eat-a-munchers!” several children replied. The “eat-a-munchers” are mythical creatures that the Chickadees created in the fall. From what the instructors have gathered, eat-a-munchers eat soup made from creek water and dead leaves and wood, hence why it seemed likely that the eat-a-munchers were the ones that had removed the fallen tree.

With that mystery solved, the Chickadees explored upstream and found fossils, deep puddles of water with tiny aquatic animals swimming in them, and large logs to climb on. The kept walking until they reached a path and followed it up to the Horsey Log, where they practiced their scouting skills and walked so quietly past the oldest Homeschool group that we don’t think many of them saw us!

It was time for slunch! Nora built a smoky fire to keep the mosquitos and other biting bugs away, while the children shared some jokes. One that got a lot of us laughing was “Knock! Knock!” “Who’s there?” “Fox in a tree!” “Fox in a tree who?” “Fox in a tree who is actually stuck and wants to climb inside the tree!” The Chickadees are such a silly bunch and love to make each other laugh!

We spent the rest of the day playing in the creek, catching baby crawfish and building an awesome terrarium for the many toads we found. The day ended with one more surprise — Eli! Eli joined the Chickadees during check-out and brought a water jug that he chased us around with and poured on us. It was so much fun and a great way to cool off after a hot day!

Thank you for reading! 

We received a lot of rain at 4-H Acres over the past week or so. The Nuthatches installed a rain gauge the week prior to track how much rain we’ve gotten!

On Monday, Eli, Jamie, Nani and the Nuthatches stopped at camp to check the rain gauge. While the Nuthatches were at camp, Jamie disappeared for a moment…

Jamie crossed the creek heading toward the hemlock grove and then called “all in!” to the Nuthatches. Eli, Nani and the Nuthatches gathered their things and set out to find where Jamie was calling from. To make it more challenging, Jamie kept moving as he called “all in!” The Nuthatches showed great group cohesiveness while crossing the creek; all the recent rain had caused the creek level to rise! Eventually, the Nuthatches found Jamie at the edge of the hemlock grove.

 At the hemlock grove, the Nuthatches enjoyed some free play and during slunch, the flock talked about fire, ancestry, and sat around the fire.

The Nuthatches overcame social and physical challenges on Monday and everyone stuck together, making it a day for lots of learning!

On Tuesday, Rey, Jamie, Eli and the Nuthatches spent the day at camp. Rey, who usually is with the Chickadees, was able to meet the Nuthatches for the first time! During the day, the Nuthatches decided to gather a basket of dandelions and flowers for the Chickadees and sneak down to Trillium camp to give to them. Eli lead the Nuthatches and they showed some impressive awareness for going undetected in the woods. The Chickadees were excited to receive their gift!

Later, Eli set up “throwing sticks” and the Nuthatches played, showing improvement for aim and hitting their targets. At slunch, Eli and Rey read from the book The Boy Who Lived with Bears and Other Iroquois Stories, told Joseph Bruchac and illustrated by Murv Jacob, and at the end of the day, the Nuthatches made a giant mud cake for a Nuthatch birthday that day!

On Wednesday, Jamie, Eli, Astrid, Nani and the Nuthatches spent time the day at camp, playing the camouflage game first thing in the morning. Some of the Nuthatches found such sneaky spots and practiced being completely still, nobody was able to find them!

After playing camouflage, the Nuthatches helped Eli map out an obstacle course for the Chickadees. The Nuthatches showed creativity and attentiveness helping with the map. Listening was also a huge positive that day!

At slunch, we read the Pawnee story of “The Bear Man” from the book The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Folktales, by Josepeh and James Bruchac, illustrated by Stefano Vitale.

On Thursday, Rey, Eli, Jamie and the Nuthatches spent the day out at camp with the big goal of finishing up the obstacle course! Once to camp, we had some free play and began creating the course. The course consisted of rope spider webs, logs to jump over, a lava mountain and an old, wise, wizardy guy at the end with nature questions to ask (as seen above.) The Nuthatches were excited to gift the Chickadees with this course and showed them how to do it! Next week, the Nuthatches will be able to do the one the Chickadees made for them.

At slunch, Rey told an awesome rendition of the stories Finn McCool and Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed. A action packed and fun filled week indeed, and the Nuthatches showed real improvement throughout the week on playing together and listening.

Rainy days, mud puddles, baby plants and animals — the Chickadees welcomed spring with big smiles, laughter and excitement for all the change still to come in our wooded world. Below you will find some highlights from the past few weeks as well as a special surprise at the end! 

Week 5

This week the Chickadees transformed into bigger birds with dark gray feathers on their backs and reddish orange on their bellies. The children and this mystery bird also share something in common — they both love to find worms, although the preschoolers don’t eat them like this animal does! Any guesses as to who this bird may be?

Chorus:

I’m a little robin skipping cross the lawn 

Picking up worms and singing my song

Cheer up cheerily, cheerily cheer up 

I’m a little robin skipping cross the lawn 

Verse 1:

If I don’t get a worm then I don’t care 

Spread my wings and take to the air 

One less burden that I have to carry 

I can still fly, I can still be merry 

The Chickadees learned the “Robin Song” by Shep Chieco, a former Primitive Pursuits instructor, throughout the week and practiced flapping their wings, hopping and listening for worms just like robins while singing along. When they got to camp one day, they noticed something strange: brightly colored worms (that were actually plastic snakes we had used for an “owl eye walk” in the winter) hidden throughout Trillium Camp! The robins had to collect all of the worms and bring them back to their nest without getting caught by the hawks. Later on, the nest became filled with hungry hatchlings who kept saying “Feed me! Feed me!” until all of the worms had been found.

In the mornings during check-in, the children enjoyed picking dandelions in the field and carrying their harvest around in baskets. But what can we do with all these dandelions? The Chickadees brought their baskets over to the picnic tables where they learned that you can color with dandelions! They took the yellow dandelion heads and rubbed them on pieces of paper to draw suns, flowers, cheetahs and all kinds of things! Nora also showed the children how to make dandelion bracelets and necklaces that they wore throughout the day — there is so much you can do with this lovely plant!

During Opening Circles this week, the Chickadees learned that if they were good listeners (just like robins!), then they’d get a “star” for the day; four stars and they get to have a party! When asked what they wanted to have at their party, the Chickadees said, “cake, balloons, presents, decorations!” While the flock didn’t get to 4 stars this week, they did see the mink again! While waiting at the trailhead for everyone to get their backpacks on, the flock noticed a small animal with dark brown fur running along the side of the creek. Several children called out “mink!” while we watched it disappear into the forest.

Week 6

This week the Chickadees learned more about the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’, the Haudenosaunee and other native groups from around the country and world! Each morning, the instructors start the day with a land acknowledgment to bring awareness to the orginal stewards of this place we get to play, learn and grow on. This week, the instructors asked the the children to give the land acknowledgments and they had wonderful things to say — “Thank you Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’! Thank you!”

At slunch one day, Sarah read from a book called The Boy Who Lived With Bears and Other Iroquois Stories told by Joseph Bruchac and illustrated by Murv Jacob. The story she read was called Rabbit’s Snow Dance and was about a rabbit that made it snow even though it was spring by dancing and singing a song. It snowed so much that the rabbit got stuck in a tree when it had all melted while he was taking a nap! After slunch while on a wander, something magical happened! The Chickadees noticed something white and fluffy falling from the sky — could it be snow, just like the story? The children picked up the fluff that was covering the ground and discussed what it could be. Some were convinced it was snow while others said it reminded them of the soft heads of “wish flowers.”

This week Nora taught the flock a new song called “I Thank the Earth.” Nora also showed us how to sign “thank you” in American Sign Language, which we did while singing the song!

I thank the Earth for feeding my body 

I thank the sun for warming my bones

I thank the trees for the air that I breathe 

And I thank the water for nourishing my soul 

On Thursday the Chickadees were very excited to learn that they had made it to four stars which meant it was time for a party! The children started their day by filling up a tarp and a wheelbarrow with leaves from the picnic table area and pushed them over the hill along the path to Trillium Camp. The Chickadees loved jumping in the leaves and throwing them in the air — it felt like it was fall again! This was so much fun that it was hard to stop but Rey had something very special to reveal to us in Opening Circle: a mysterious map she had found hiding in the leaves! There was an “x” that marked where the treasure was hidden. The children rushed down to camp to drop off their backpacks and they headed out on an epic adventure that took them to Trillium North, up the secret staircase, down a hill, up another hill and finally to the front field where they discovered a large “x” made out of sticks on the ground in front of the white pine tree. The Chickadees looked around — here was the “x” but where was the treasure? They quickly spotted a pot tucked between the two trunks of the tall white pine. Nora took down the pot and showed the flock what was inside — cups, a strainer, a spoon, honey and party decorations — what were they going to make? “Tea!” some of the children yelled. They helped Nora and Sarah harvest needles from the white pine tree and learned that this tree is a special symbol of peace to the Haudenosaunee. Before they left, the children sang the “Gratitude Song” written by Melissa Blake. This song can be adapated to whatever you want to give thanks to — worms, flowers, the sun, anything! 

White pine, oh white pine 

We love you

We offer you thanks for all you do 

So please, please, please grow! 

They were greeted by a warm fire that Rey had made while the Chickadees were on their adventure. They were so excited to tell Rey about what they had found and to make some white pine tea, which they heated up over the fire while eating slunch.

Week 7

There was so much to talk about with last week’s theme that we decided to continue it into this week! The children continued to listen to stories at slunch time from The Boy Who Lived with Bears and The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Tales by Joseph and James Bruchac, illustrated by Stefano Vitale. In Opening Circle, Nora showed the Chickadees a bowl that had been made using the coals of a fire! She explained that many different people use this technique to make things, including canoes! At slunch, Sarah talked about when she lived in New Zealand and about how the Māori traveled there from other islands on canoes called “wakas.” She also told them about the time she was invited to a wharenui, a “big house” where Māori gather for special events.

Later in the week, the Chickadees started working on an obstacle course for the Nuthatches! They worked together to build a “spider web” made out of rope for them to climb through, a tunnel for the Nuthatches to crawl through and hula-hoops for them to jump through! Little did they know, while they were busy making an obstacle course for the Nuthatches, they were making one for us! On Thursday after slunch, the Nuthatches presented us with an amazing map outlining each obstacle and where to go. We started on their teeter-totter, which we had to carefully balance on as we walked across. Next up were ropes that the Chickadees had to go over or under, and then a throwing stick challenge! At the end of their path was a mysterious figure wrapped in a tarp. Many of the children suspected that this was Eli just “being silly,” but the mysterious being assured us that he was the “cloaked man” who was going to give us lava-proof powers so we could slide down the volcano, which looked a lot like our climbing hill! The Chickadees slid down the hill and said thank you and goodbye to the Nuthatches — what a fun day and week!

SPECIAL UPDATE FROM HANNAH!

For those of you that don’t know Hannah, she worked with Ithaca Forest Preschool this fall and winter and is currently thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail! Scroll through the gallery below to see pictures she shared with the Chickadees and read the captions to learn where each photo was taken. We miss you Hannah and wish you luck on your great adventure! 

Thank you so much for reading! We’ll see you next week!

The Nuthatches enjoy playing the “all in” game, where an instructor sneaks away and hides before calling “ALL IN NUTHATCHES!” The Nuthatches do a great job tracking where the call is coming from.

Our theme for week 5 focused on robins, while giving space to free play, creek play, games and stories!

On Monday, instructors Ariadne, Edie, Jamie and Nora joined the Nuthatches for a fun and chilly morning. The Nuthatches showed they are getting the hang of opening circle by being present and participating in the Robin Song. In coordination with the robin theme of the week, the Nuthatches were able to tell each other the colors of robins and we all practiced the ways that a robin looks and listens for worms in the soil.

Once we got to camp, Nora snuck away to play the “all in” game. The Nuthatches soon learned that if they quieted their voices, they could hear where the “all in Nuthatches” calls were coming from. The Nuthatches used their deer ears to track the calls and eventually found Nora hidden at the edge of the forest, per the photo above. Next Ariadne and Jamie snuck away to play “all in” and by the end of it, the Nuthatches were getting the hang of it – they’re some great trackers when they put their mind and senses to it.

After playing “all in,” the Nuthatches helped gather firewood to give as a gift to the Chickadee flock. Ariadne and Edie snuck down to the Chickadee camp with the Nuthatches to surprise the Chickadee flock with the gift! Afterwards, the Nuthatches formed several fun and respectful play partnerships with each other and were even seen building some fairy-style houses.

At slunch, Nora shared more tales from the Fine Words Fox story about how to use our fine words when we want to communicate a need or request. After slunch, one of the Nuthatches led us in a tick scan before a round of gratitude at closing circle.

On Wednesday, instructors Ariadne, Astrid, Nora and Jamie met the Nuthatches with temperatures in that got into the 70’s in the afternoon. The Nuthatches had another great opening circle. We sang the Robin Song, talked about the three respects and the Nuthatches shared what they remembered about robins – characteristics like the reddish/brown/orange bellies and where they like to hang out.

Next, came creek play!

Creek play involved jumping around, finding out how skunk cabbage got its name, and making some rafts out of tree bark. We easily could’ve spent the whole day there but worked up quite an appetite for slunchtime. During slunch, Nora read the book “We are the Water Protectors,” by Carole Lindstrom that one of the Nuthatches brought to share. The book lead to some rich conversations about protecting the environment and indigenous peoples’ rights.

The Nuthatches had some fun with free play and were seen waving to the Chickadees from the bouncy log. Toward the end of the day, some of the Nuthatches spotted a gray tree frog sitting inconspicuously on a branch where many were playing. We all took turns looking at the frog while also being respectful of their space. Some other sightings we noticed that day were spiders, a toad and robins! Can you spot the tree frog in the photo below?