This week the Chickadees learned about an invertebrate they love to find hiding under logs and in the dirt — worms!

MONDAY 

“All-In Chickadees!” The children ran to the log circle where they were greeted by a mystery bag in Nora’s hand. They listened as she gave clues about what was inside and each got a chance to feel it and guess what it could be. After a loud drum roll (the Chickadees love giving drum rolls to reveal our daily mysteries!), Nora showed that the mystery was…dirt! But not just any dirt, she explained, dirt from the nearby compost bin! Nora explained that you can put lots of things in a compost bin (like vegetable scraps, egg shells, even tea bags!) and that over time, these things will start to decompose and can be used to help plants grow. The children learned that worms are great decomposers and that as they eat dead leaves, logs and other materials, their poop (also known as worm castings) has a lot of nutrients in it that’s good for plants — how cool is that?

After learning some fun facts about worms, the children got to practice being worms! Sarah explained to them that worms don’t have spines like we do and that makes them invertebrates. They also don’t have legs, arms or even eyes! The Chickadees went to the far side of the front field and closed their eyes while Sarah banged on a loud drum. The children had to follow the sound of the drum and try their best to walk in a straight line across the field. They practiced this until it was time to head down to Trillium Camp for slunch.

After washing hands, doing a tick scan and drinking some water, Sarah was about to tell a story when something AMAZING happened! A child pointed across the creek and said “what’s that?” Everyone looked toward the creek and saw, on the hill on the other side, a small animal with a long body. It had dark brown fur and short legs. The children watched it bound down the hill and go into the water where it swam downstream and out of sight! The children had some immediate guesses about what it could be — “A fisher!” “A mink!” These were great guesses because this animal was definitely in the weasel family. The Chickadees got to see a picture of each animal and after some discussion, they came to the conclusion that they had seen a mink! Sarah told the flock about the time she had seen a mink in Trillium Camp two years ago, but it was early in the morning before preschool had started. This was the first time we had seen a mink in camp during the preschool day so it was a very special moment for the Chickadees!

They spent the rest of the day playing in the creek, enjoying some light rain showers and singing Nora’s fun worm song in Closing Circle.

TUESDAY

The Chickadees were happy to discover another mystery in Opening Circle on Tuesday! Eli held a small feather in his hand. The children noticed that it was blue, black, white and gray. Eli explained that the bird that this feather belongs to likes to eat acorns, insects, fruit and sometimes worms! The Chickadees each looked closely at the feather, shared their guesses and learned that the feather came from a blue jay! The children flew around the circle like blue jays, practicing their calls “Jay! Jay! Jay!”

Like Monday, the Chickadees practiced being worms and followed the sound of the drum to find their way across the front field. After a few rounds of that, Eli hid in a new place with the drum and the children had to find him! They were so excited to see where he was hiding that they opened their eyes a bit and ran to look behind every tree — where could he be? The drumming got louder and louder until…they found him hiding along the trail to Trillium Camp! The Chickadees each got a turn practicing banging the drum and then headed down to camp where they spent some time collecting firewood and exploring the wooded area above the Climbing Hill.

At slunch time they sat around a warm fire and listened as Rey told them an awesome story about different animals and their importance to their environment (worms included!). After filling their bellies with food and water, it was time to get moving because we were getting chilly! Many of the Chickadees are fascinated by volcanoes and like to play imaginative games where every volcano on Earth is erupting at the same time! The flock went on a wild adventure that led them through Trillium North, up the hill, to the front field and back down the Trillium Camp. During this time they had to dodge erupting volcanoes and rivers of lava — it sure was exciting!

WEDNESDAY 

Wednesday brought some wild weather! The day started off cool with some light rain, which turned into hail and eventually snow! The Chickadees started their day by helping fill up a wheelbarrow with firewood Nora had collected and worked together to bring it down to camp. After putting all the wood in Trillium Camp’s woodbox, the children saw that it was completely full and ready for us to have lots of fires in the future!

Before slunch, some of the children walked in the garden and found a mysterious piece of paper with a drawing of a plant with a tall and wide green leaf with a reddish stem. The Chickadees knew immediately that this was a clue and started looking for the plant. Their search took them to the top of the Climbing Hill, around the pavilion and back to the garden where they discovered a cluster of plants that looked similar to the drawing. The Chickadees learned that these plants are called ramps and that they take seven years to reach maturity — that’s older than all of the Chickadees! The children got to feel their soft, green leaves and noticed the reddish stem. The Chickadees remembered that they had seen this plant yesterday while collecting firewood at the top of the Climbing Hill!

Because it was starting to snow, the Chickadees ate their slunch in the shelter of the pavilion and listened to Sarah tell the first part of her favorite story called “The King with Dirty Feet.” After slunch it was time to get moving again. The Chickadees played a few rounds of the “All-In” game before heading inside for the last part of the day. Once inside, the flock made towers using blocks, worked with Chloe to complete a puzzle, read books and did some coloring!

THURSDAY 

On Thursday the Chickadees saw all kinds of weather in a single day — warm sunshine, rain, wind and even snow! They spent their day in Trillium Camp where they played a firewood collecting game and got to hear the rest of the “King with Dirty Feet” story at slunch time. They ended their day with Nora’s worm song and some gratitude.

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

The Nuthatches had an excited week filled with new songs, worms, stories and tapping into their senses, especially listening and touch like during this game of “meet a tree.”

On Monday morning, Nora taught the Nuthatches the Space Worms song! We then worked together as a flock to make a terrarium for any worms, insects or little critters we might come across and talked about how we can be respectful while doing so!

Once we got out to camp on Monday, we played a game called “meet a tree,” where one partner guides the other blindfolded partner to a specific tree. The blindfolded Nuthatch gets a chance to feel the tree for details, and eventually gets to try to identify the tree with the blindfold removed. The Nuthatches displayed some incredible attention to detail using their sense of touch!

After playing our game, the instructors challenged the Nuthatches to see who could gather more firewood for our fire at slunch. The Nuthatches showed incredible determination and the competition was too close to call. Alas, both Nuthatches and instructors joined their gathered firewood for a wonderful slunch-time fire. At slunch, a few of the Nuthatches helped Jamie get a fire going with the bow drill. It was so cool to get a coal and fire from friction! At the same time, Edie shared a cool lesson on how friction works. Ariadne/Nani read the Nuthatches the story called “How Animals Hide,” by Robert McClung. The Nuthatches closed the day with a round of reflective gratitude for what we experienced that day.

On Wednesday, we had an odd spring day with temps in the low 30’s and even saw some snow and rain! We stuck with our theme of worms and had some fun with an adventure to save Astrid who had been turned into an old woman by the Lindworm! This happened right in the morning, and luckily Astrid left us some clues to find her. The Nuthatches gathered all their belongings and showed some impressive tracking and awareness as they followed her clues out to the hemlock grove.

The Nuthatches eventually spotted Astrid by a tree and learned that in order to turn Astrid back into her normal self, everyone had to gather firewood to build a fire for a “string burn.” Everyone worked together and gathered wood for a fire – not an easy task for such a rainy/snowy day. The group showed determination and eventually completed the task, finally freeing Astrid!

We learned that the Lindworm wanted to share a reminder of the Three Respects and the Nuthatches showed compassion and consideration by deciding to write the Lindworm a letter of gratitude and friendship. We ended the day with some free play. It was a full day of adventure and the Nuthatches did not let the odd weather distract them from having so much fun!

The Nuthatches had to use fire to stay warm this week! Maybe Spring is feeling a little shy…

Even though it was chilly, we did see some wriggly worms. We learned a fun song called “Spaceworms” by Susan Marcus and April Kassirer. By the end of the week, the Nuthatches could sing this song super fast and it was stuck in everybody’s head. 

On Tuesday, Jamie led us in speaking more about the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga Nation), whose unceded territory our program takes place on. We thought about how instead of being forced off their land in 1779, it would have been better for the early American settlers to find a way to share the land with them. The Nuthatches thought of some ways that we can try to take care of the earth, like the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ have done for hundreds of years. 

When the Nuthatches got out to camp, they noticed that Jamie had disappeared! But there was an “All In!” call coming from behind a white pine tree. There was Jamie, and he said it was time to go on a wander! We crossed the creek and stopped at a fallen log, where we played a sneaky game called “Keeper of the Keys” and another sneaky game called “Camouflage”! While we were hiding, it was so silent that we could hear the birds chattering in the swamp nearby. Then we headed back to camp (by way of the mud puddles), where we gathered some firewood and sat down to lunch. Some of the Nuthatches entertained us with spectacularly spooky stories, and then Jamie read a book called “Whose Tracks Are These?” by James Nail. 

The Nuthatches started off the day on Thursday by working more on the shelter made of wood cookies, and looking at a tick. The tick was moving very slowly because it was cold, but it reminded us to keep looking out for ticks every day. In opening circle, we spoke about how today is Earth Day, and as we honor the Earth we can also look to the example the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ set in taking care of this land. Once at camp, the Nuthatches broke up into groups to make some art to show our gratitude for the Earth. We used many different natural materials, and our creativity and thoughtfullness really shone through! Then we gathered a lot of firewood for a lunch fire. Nora got in some good practice using a bow drill kit but we ultimately ended up lighting our fire with a match. Emily read the story “How Chipmunk got His Stripes” (a Nuthatch favorite) by Joseph Bruchac and James Bruchac. We love it when Emily does different voices for brown squirrel and bear! Before leaving we made sure to do a good tick scan! 

Did you know that the ruffed grouse puts out special bristles on its feet in the winter to help it maneuver over the snow? It’s just one of the special things about the bird of the week!

This week, the Nuthatches went in search of the ruffed grouse they’d been hearing all spring. They also played some fun running games!

Note: Thanks to Emily Rose for most of these photos!

On Tuesday, Nora Fox shared a special mystery object during opening circle. It was wrapped in a bandana and made a sound when you shook it. Some of the Nuthatches guessed acorns, marbles, and very tiny cats. It turned out to be peanuts that Nora had grown in a garden! When we opened the shells, the peanuts were salmon pink. Jamie used a special drum to mimic the sound the ruffed grouse makes when it flaps its wings. After circle, the Nuthatches set out for camp, but we didn’t stay there long. We had an exciting mission ahead of us: to track down the ruffed grouse, whose drumbeat wingflap we’d been hearing for a few weeks! We remembered it had come from the other end of the field. We practiced freezing and listening as hard as we could–and there it was! The boom, boom, boomboomboomboom that you can almost feel more than hear. The Nuthatches followed the sound into the sunny woods, letting it lead us to the creek. There we saw that the skunk cabbage had grown big green leaves! On the other side, we played camouflage and left some peanuts for the grouse to find. Then it was time to return to camp for slunch. Nora Murphy joined us for a fun game of “Seasons are Changing”. 

On Thursday, Nora Murphy joined us for the whole day! We started off by doing a bandana challenge, and playing our favorite game, Foxtail. When we got out to camp, Nora led us in a fun hydration game where we had to take a sip if the animal we were thinking of had fur, or feathers, or something else. Then we played “Seasons are Changing” and the All-In game, where we had to hide and find each other. The Nuthatches found some very tricky hiding spots! At slunch, we enjoyed a warm fire and had a discussion about the Haudenosaunee and Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, the First Peoples of this land. Nora Murphy also told a wonderful version of the Ancient Greek myth about Narcissus. The Nuthatches were spellbound as they listened to how that arrogant man became a flower looking at his reflection in the pool. Finally, the Nuthatches made their way back to the building, where they sheltered at the picnic tables and made some pinecone birdfeeders! 

This week the Chickadees experienced all kinds of weather — warm sunshine, blue skies and even snow!

MONDAY

“Chickadee-dee-dee-dee” went the Chickadee flock on Monday morning in Opening Circle. The children showed Ian, a winter Nuthatch instructor who was joining us for the day, how well they can mimic a chickadee alarm call. Ian surprised them with a call of his own that sounded like this (click on the first recording). He explained that this is a call male chickadees make to tell everyone where their space is. The children practiced making this call and then flew to their backpacks and headed down to Trillium Camp.

“What’s growing?” the children were asked while stopped at the top of the bridge. The Chickadees pointed to sprouting tree buds, green moss on the roof of the pavilion and some plants starting to grow in our forest garden. After hanging up backpacks it was time for the Daily Check. While some children helped record the temperature and the color of the sky, others went on an epic hunt for worms! While looking under almost every log and rock in camp, the Chickadees found a lot of worms but they also found a sleepy salamander!

At slunch time, the flock gathered in the log circle and did a tick scan, looking over their clothes for a small arachnid with 8 legs. When the tick scan was complete and everyone had taken at least one sip of water, the children learned they had unlocked a story — a story about a group of wild children who lived in a magical forest! Strange things happen in this forest and one day while eating some food in their camp, the wild children suddenly turned into small birds with black feathers on their heads, white feathers on their cheeks and gray wings — “a black-capped chickadee!” the preschoolers yelled. The wild children, who were now chickadees, realized that they could speak bird language and fly! They flew through the air while practicing their calls and songs and they enjoyed seeing their forested home from a new perspective. But then, a sudden gust of wind came rushing through the trees! The small birds took shelter on the branches of a big white pine tree and waited for the wind to pass. After it had, they flew out into the brilliant early spring day again. But here came another gust of wind! The chickadees rushed back to the white pine and waited again. This happened several more times and the chickadees realized it was like they were playing hide-and-go-seek with the wind! After playing a few more rounds of that, they grew hungry and flew back down to their camp to finish the food they had been eating before they turned into chickadees. To their surprise, their food (which had consisted of “cheese sticks, crackers, cookies and oranges”) had turned into seeds, insects and berries! The chickadees didn’t mind! They gobbled them up and then…found themselves as wild children once again!

Like the wild children, the preschoolers transformed into chickadees after slunch and had to hide from the wind! Ian, who had turned into a strong wind storm, walked through camp while the chickadees searched for places they’d find shelter from the powerful gusts (behind trees, on the other side of the woodbox, behind the pavilion).

The day is done, the day is done! The chickadees turned back into children and gathered in the log circle where Peter played a song on his guitar and they played along with their own instruments.

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TUESDAY

The Chickadee flock was excited to welcome Rey on Tuesday! Rey will be joining us on Tuesdays and Thursdays this spring and will also be here for summer camp. During arrival, the children got to meet her while helping create a shared work of art. A long piece of paper was laid across one of the picnic tables with markers, crayons and animal track stamps around it.

All-In Chickadees! The flock flew to the morning circle where they learned a new song called “The Chickadee Song” by Annie Nixon.

Chickadee, chickadee-dee-dee 

Sing with me 

Sing with me, me, me 

Sitting on the branch of a big pine tree 

Calling out to the morning there’s a chickadee!

The children sang this song while flapping their arms like wings and then flew to the red oak tree to gather their backpacks and head down to camp. Once in Trillium Camp, the Chickadees got an idea! They walked together to a part of their camp called “Trillium North” and hid behind some large logs. When everyone was hidden they gave a loud “chickadee-dee-dee” call and waited. They did it again and again and suddenly Rey found them! She had been back in the main part of camp and used the “chickadee-dee-dee” call to find us! Afterwards, the children showed her the horsey log and spent some time bouncing and traveling to far away lands.

After slunch and hearing the tale of the wild children who turned into chickadees again, the flock spent the rest of their day playing in the creek and enjoying the warm sun!

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday the Chickadees welcomed another special person — Edie! The children were so excited to see Edie and had so much fun playing imaginative child-led games with her during arrival (there was a cyclone coming and they had to escape it!). The Chickadees discovered that they had a mystery to solve when they arrived in Opening Circle! Sarah played this sound (click on the first recording) while the children listened and shared their guesses. Next, they saw a picture of a small bird that makes the sound they had just heard. Like the black-capped chickadee, this bird also has black feathers on the top of its head. The children correctly guessed this bird is a white-breasted nuthatch! While practicing the nuthatch call, the children noticed that it sounds a lot like laughter! The next time the Chickadees see the Nuthatches, we’ll have to say hello to them using their call!

For those of you that don’t know, Nora is a magical storyteller. She paints amazing pictures with her words and captures the attention of children and instructors alike when she tells stories! At slunch on Wednesday, Nora told us the Greek tale of Narcissus and how, after falling in love with his reflection, he was turned into a daffodil (we had spotted some daffodils on Tuesday which prompted the telling of this story). The children quietly listened and really enjoyed when they got to participate in the story, especially when they got to shout “ECHO!”

Some rain came our way towards the end of the day, but that didn’t stop the Chickadees from playing in the creek and making a big pot of “soup!” When it was time to share our gratitudes from the day, Nora asked the children to spell “R-A-I-N” after each person shared and together we shouted “rain!”

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THURSDAY

And then that rain turned into snow! The Chickadees were greeted by a thin layer of fluffy, white snow on Thursday morning. Underneath that wet snow was squishy, slippery mud! The flock spent the morning making snowballs and using them to make faces on trees. Rey was helping some children color on another large piece of paper and showed them how you can rub snow on the markers to make colorful snow — it was so cool!

When the children arrived in Trillium Camp, some helped Sarah with the Daily Check (we recorded a big change in temperature!) and others climbed up and down the Climbing Hill with Eli and Rey. After slunch, many children were feeling cold so the flock decided to get head inside of the rest of the day. The transition from warm, spring sunshine to winter-like weather was challenging for the children and instructors!

While the Chickadees love to be outside, they still had a lot of fun indoors! After taking off of their muddy outer layers, the children read books, colored and played hide-and-go-seek. It was an exciting ending to our second week of the spring. While it was nice to see some snow again, we are hoping for warmer weather when we come back from the break!

Thank you so much for reading! We hope you have a great spring break and we’ll see you soon!

This week, we embodied how nuthatches live, had lots of fun and tapped into our senses!

We had a lot of energy this week that allowed us to play and learn as nuthatch birds might in the wild! We also had a special guest and tapped into lots of creativity and nature sensing skills.

On Monday, the Nuthatches gathered under cloudy skies in windy and chilly weather. Jamie brought out the weather chart and had some help from the Nuthatches to record the look of sky, chance of rain, and temperature. Afterwards, we gathered in opening circle. Nora showed us how to sing the Chickadee flock’s song and Jamie facilitated a conversation on our bird of the week: nuthatches!

We talked about their white, black, and blue/gray colors and their bird call, which some of us thought sounded like a unique little bird laugh. The Nuthatches also found it interesting how the birds are often seen upside down, searching for seeds and insects – something we may try to imitate in the future!

When we got to camp, we directed our excited energy into playing a life-size nest making game. The Nuthatches showed creativity in the materials and locations of the nests and worked together as teams. Afterwards, the Nuthatches visited the other nests and shared feedback about what they liked and noticed about the nests.

After slunch, with the sun coming out, we went to meet a surprise guest in the front field. The Nuthatches were excited to see that it was Elisabeth from the fall session! Elisabeth was thoughtful and brought a “bird food” snack of seeds and dried fruit for all the hungry Nuthatches! Naturally, everyone started to peck at their food in true nuthatch fashion. We finished our day listening to Elisabeth tell a story about a nuthatch and a friendly turtle that shared a message that one can always be safe and secure within themselves, no matter their environment.

On Wednesday morning, the Nuthatches gathered to find that Nani had a stink bug on her hand! We observed the bug and the Nuthatches looked at the bug’s characteristics and where they get their name from. A couple Nuthatches also noticed some wild garlic mustard growing, an exciting sign of spring! With permission and supervision, they tasted some while practicing sustainable harvesting.

In morning circle, Nora initiated a conversation and land acknowledgement of the traditional lands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ, the indigenous peoples of this region. We hope to continue land acknowledgements and explore together what it means to be good stewards of the land. The Nuthatches helped finish opening circle by teaching Jamie the “birdie song,” which is definitely one of their favorites!

When we got to camp, Nora invited the Nuthatches to play a game called “Hawks and Nuthatches.” The Nuthatches used their sensory awareness to evade hawks, a role the instructors played, while looking for pinecones to bring back to their nests. The Nuthatches sure are fast and clever and the hawks definitely got their workout for the day.

At slunch, Nora built us a nice fire while Nani offered help to any Nuthatches needing an extra hand. Jamie read the book “No Two Alike,” by Keith Baker that everyone seemed to enjoy.

The Nuthatches ended the day playing a game called “otter steals fish.” The Nuthatches got really creative while using sensory techniques like fox-walking and owl-eyes to play the game. We ended the day with gratitude and learned a new song about doing a tick scan! One of the Nuthatches even led the rest of the flock in how to do a proper tick scan.