October Notes

October is a magical time in the forest. Each day we notice more colors in the canopy as the leaves begin their dramatic change. Speaking of drama, this year's class really loves performance and acting. We set up a forest theatre with a simple sheet hung between two trees, and this has lead to a magic show and several plays about animals that the kids made up themselves. We've also seen a lot of family play in the tipi as mermaids who take care of their babies and set up a home. There were some dramatic sword battles with the soft foam boffer swords. Shaving cream in the mud kitchen became whipped cream toppings as the kids set up a pretend bakery and added moss and leaves. We got out the bubble machine and had a wild bubble party!

Even as it's getting colder, we're still finding a lot of wildlife. A few of us went to the high tunnel and found three huge hornworm caterpillars eating the tomato plants. We took them back to basecamp and fed them more tomato leaves and watched them eat and poop. On a longer hike in the forest we found two box turtles hiding under some leaves and also watched one of them poop!

There's been a lot of interest in writing lately - making signs, writing words on the garage wall with chalk, writing in journals, and using the dark brown ink that we made from boiling walnuts. We've also been making art prints of crayon designs as they melt on a hot plate.

Here we are after having reached the very top of Fairy Mountain!

We played a fun game called "Sleepy Moss." The soft moss made us fall asleep and we collected goldenrod flowers, leaves, and pinecones to wake up the sleeping kids.

Rosie the alpaca has been so friendly lately, letting us pet her and feed her each day while she's "cushing."