This past week the Kindergartners went on a field trip the Chiller, an indoor ice skating rink in Springfield. We were joined by the Older and Younger Groups. Prior to the trip, the children and I spent time talking about what the rink is like, what ice skating is like, and discussing their questions and concerns. Several of the children, who had been in Kindergarten and gone ice skating the previous year, were able to answer their friends' questions, and their enthusiasm for the trip became contagious. The day of the trip the children arrived with snow pants (to cushion falls) and great expectations. They knew they could hold onto the side rail, hold the hand of a friend or their Older Group partner, or go out onto the ice on their own, as they felt comfortable. They were amazing to watch--everyone made tremendous progress during the course of the time we were there, which was a little less than two hours. Those who had spent time watching were venturing out holding onto the wall railing or the hand of an Older Group partner. Those who had started out holding the rail were skating freely across the ice. Those who had started out skating freely across the ice were making longer and longer glides between falls. They beamed with pride and satisfaction! The glow came in with them the following morning, when several Kindergartners asked if we could go ice skating again. After looking into some possibilities we came up with the idea to invite families for an after school ice skating time. The children dictated the beginning of the invitation and we copied that along with our notes on possible days and times. Copies were delivered to each group, so they could consider the idea before the next day's all school meeting. I sent an email to families, so they could weigh in on the choices of days as well. At the meeting the children narrowed the choices to Saturday and Sunday, and then took an oral vote, one child at a time, to determine that Saturday would be our school family ice skate. The Saturday skate was well attended, and the children continued to develop their skating skill and speed. There is something very satisfying in over coming fears, developing new skills, and moving our bodies through space--ice skating has it all! The children ended their week on Friday with an Antioch School Younger Group-Kindergarten tradition--the Leprechaun hunt. The Younger Groupers invite the Kindergartners to the Younger Group room for a Saint Patrick's Day celebration, consisting of a hunt for Leprechauns (each one unique and hand-drawn by a YG artist) and to share a very green snack. There was green cake, celery, broccoli, green dressing, grapes, snap peas, pickles, and green melon. This year's Leprechauns were delightful, and the Kindergartners were delighted to find them. This was our first whole group visit and activity with YG, and we look forward to more as we move into spring.

The idea was proposed shortly after we were back from winter break. We were gathered in our fire circle area to plan our hike in Forest Kindergarten. "Let's cross the creek," suggested one wide eyed Kindergartner. I explained the hiking options that include creek crossings, but it was several more weeks before the group was up for a longer hike with the possibility of wet feet. It was a somewhat warm morning (high 30's to low 40's) for mid-winter in Ohio. Most of the children were wearing boots, and everyone was in agreement that we would forgo a fire and take a longer hike that included two creek crossings. We were accompanied by two Antioch School alum--Mia, our Antioch College Miller Fellow--and Landon, a high school senior in Yellow Springs doing some community service hours. Having three of us to lead and assist the children in the crossings was very helpful. Some children went leaping from stone to stone quickly, while others liked to take their time, measuring each step and occasionally having a hand to hold to make it across the wider spaced stones. One child, who was not wearing boots, changed into a pair of extra wool socks after the first crossing. We hiked all the way to Meatball Rock by climbing the stairs up to the Trailside Museum. Some of the children tried counting the stairs on their way up. Once we got to the top, the children organized a game of freeze tag, before we ate our snack near the bike path. This was our longest, most technical hike of the year, and the children made it in record time and with not one complaint. As evidenced by their freeze tag game, they had energy to spare. It's a good thing, because some of the children are already talking about hiking further. A Kindergartner recently asked "Can we go to the Yellow Springs?" It's going to be an exciting spring in Forest Kindergarten!

     Last week ended with our whole school Lunar New Year celebration.  Each group prepares a dish for a shared feast at lunch.  The Older Group made egg and spring rolls; the Younger Group made rice, noodles, and stir fry veggies; the Nursery made tea; and the Kindergartners decided to make fortune cookies.  For many years Kindergarten made almond cookies, but for the last several years groups have opted for the Chinese-American restaurant tradition of fortune cookies, instead.  We do a lot of reading about the Lunar New Year celebrations of various cultures, often referred to as Spring Festival, and stories about children and their families with Asian ancestors.  This celebration is very important to our school culture, so much so that my son was in middle school, before he realized that everyone in the U.S. does not generally celebrate Lunar New Year.  

          It is tradition for the Kindergartners to make a dragon and perform a dragon dance through each of the rooms, leading the entire school to the art/science room, where the food is ready for us to begin our feast.  This year the children designed and made a fantastical dragon in art/science with Sarah.  They did this over the course of two days.  Then we brought the dragon to our room, and they had a couple of days to practice, before the day of the feast.  So, everyone got to try out being in the head--it was heavy this year with horn, scales, and eyebrows even!  The children cleaned out their cubbies, another Lunar New Year tradition, and we got out of box of (mostly) Chinese artifacts--some of them given to us by a former Kindergarten, who was born in China and brought them back from a visit there with her mother. 

     The children then planned their places for the actual dance.  Who would be in the head, the body, the tail?  Did anyone prefer to walk behind with instruments?  Three children wanted to take turns in the head.  Could they each have two minutes? they wondered.  It was impractical for me to time them, I explained, as I would be busily laying down bubble wrap ahead of them--our stand in for firecrackers.  They then decided to take turns by room--one child leading through the Nursery, one through the YG and one through the OG.  It worked beautifully!

     After a yummy and satisfying feast, where Kindergartners sat all up and down the hall with their friends from other groups, we had a simply glowing afternoon.  Some children drew pictures of the dragon dance, others carpeted the library with bubble wrap, but everywhere throughout the room was the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.  Lunar New Year celebration is a vital and important tradition in our school, and Kindergartners are proud to lead the way!

     Our first Forest Kindergarten morning after winter break was our first snowy Forest Kindergarten morning this year.  It was also our first really cold morning in our forest classroom with wind chill temperatures in the single digits.  A kind parent volunteer came early to start and tend our fire.  I had gathered up all the spare school mittens and gloves, as well as any that were in the lost and found bin in preparation for the combination of snow on the ground (which in Kindergarten equals snow in the hands or hands in the snow, as the case may be) and very cold temperatures.  

     The children decided to hike to the creek to see if it was frozen.  Everyone decided that it would be, after all there were large sheets of ice in our fire circle area from the water that had collected and frozen on our tarp.  On our hike down to the creek, we saw several feeder streams.  Some were frozen, but the larger ones had frozen sections with water running underneath, as well as unfrozen sections of just water.  This was puzzling.  When we arrived at the creek, it was mostly running with just small frozen parts. 

     "Why isn't it frozen?" I wondered aloud.  At first the children were stumped.  "What do you see?" I asked.  

     "The water is moving!" announced an excited Kindergartner.  "The frozen parts are around the rocks," noticed someone else.  "It's like us," the first child piped in again. "When we move we stay warm, when we stand still we get cold!"    

     We didn't stay there too long, but turned around and hiked back to our forest classroom and our fire, lest we freeze, too!  There the children enjoyed hot cocoa, popcorn popped and bread warmed over the fire.  Fed and warmed, the children shared news.  Then most headed off to explore the forest classroom, do some additional building in the lean-to area, or to gather kindling to feed the fire.  It was a wonderful start to our week!

     On the designated day, Kate, an assistant to the director at the Glen's Raptor Center, came to pick up the donated items, gift cards and money for the birds.  Some of the children helped gather the items from around, on, and behind the tree.  We brought them back to our room and laid them out on a table.  There are some avid number crunchers in the group this year, so we opened the donation envelopes and added up all the donations.  The group did this by mental rather than paper notation.  They pondered the last two numbers to add 345 and 40.  There was some discussion and convincing, but they finally agreed that the total raised was $385.  A major portion of this came from employees and Nick from ElectroShield.  There were several sacks of donated items and two gift cards as well.  The children were very proud of the results of this effort.

     Kate gave a very informative program on owls, which was attended by the entire school.  We heard about screech owls and met Milo, a gray phase screech owl that was hit by a car and now has a bad wing.  We learned about barred owls and met Grinnell, an orphaned barred owl, who imprinted too strongly on people.  We also got to see an example of the type of owls that were the inspiration for the idea of ghosts--barn owls.  Louis, an Eurasian barn owl, was given to the center from a captive breeding program to help people learn about and hopefully help preserve and expand barn owl populations.  It was a wonderful way to finish our giving tree project, and Kate reminded us that the Raptor Center is open every single day of the year, if we want to visit to see the birds we have helped.

     For many years at Antioch School the Kindergarten has selected a pine tree to be the school's giving tree.  The Kindergarten group then selects a group to ask the wider school community to help.  In the past the children have collected hats, scarves, and mittens; food; and items needed by hurricane victims.  This year the children again wanted to select a tree.  They discussed collecting food, toys, or warm clothing, but none of those ideas really caught for this group of children. 

     After a recent Forest Kindergarten morning the children continued a discussion about helping nature and specifically birds.  All afternoon in our room, a few of the children made birds out of craft and nature materials.  The next morning, I brought my son's photo of Tundra, a peregrine falcon that we had sponsored at the Glen Helen Raptor Center.  I explained that their interest in birds the previous day had reminded me of The Raptor Center.  "Would you like to help the birds with our giving tree?" I asked.  The answer was a resounding yes!  A parent, who had volunteered to help us, communicated with Rebecca, the center's director, to find out what was needed.  The children dictated the following letter:

     "Dear Parents,

     We're going to take care of the birds.  We need:  money, paper towels, disposable gloves (latex or non-latex), tissues, saline solution, vet wrap, flat sheets, and gift cards from Lowes or Petsmart.  Put those things under the pine tree or behind.  Rebecca from The Raptor Center will take the things underneath and behind the tree on Wednesday, December 14 for The Raptor Center's birds.  Rebecca's going to have some birds here at Antioch School to show us.

Love,

Kindergarten"

The following story was told by a Kindergartner around the fire circle during snack in our forest classroom and is retold with permission:

     "Saving America

     Once upon a time there was a little girl, and when she was three, and four and four and a half, she went to Nursery.  Then when she was five she went to Kindergarten.  She was with all different ages--four and a half, five, six.  Then on the last day of Kindergarten a baby came to be in Kindergarten.  The baby climbed to the top of a tree and got stuck.  Then another Kindergarten girl got the baby down from the tree.

     Then the baby and his mom flew on an airplane to America to bring food, because there was no food.  They saved America.  Then all the children and the teachers were together.

     The End"

 

 

     The children seem to be feeling at home in our forest classroom.  Last week they decided to spend the entire morning there, rather than take a hike in the Glen.  They had been waiting to begin whittling, and we decided that this would be the day.  A small group gathered around the fire circle area where our whittling stones sit.  There are three Kindergarten pocket knives and three stones, so just three children at a time can whittle.  The children take turns whittling, sometimes asking me to keep track of time and switching turns.  After a discussion about safety and some basic instructions the children found appropriate sticks and began whittling.  A half dozen children went through several cycles of turns before snack.  Several children continued their work after snack.  A few children located a new area for harvesting clay and made some mud sculptures.  They are looking forward to cooler weather, building fires and roasting marshmallows, which we have planned to do in celebration of our first fire.

     A new tradition that this group has started is having a morning meeting at the beginning of Forest Kindergarten.  Once everyone has arrived and had a chance to take a bathroom break, if needed, the children call everyone together to sit on one of our tarps in the meadow at the entrance to our forest classroom.  Once the weather gets cooler, and we are building fires, I imagine we will gather in the fire circle area.  In the beginning, we used this time to plan our Forest Kindergarten time, hikes, etc.  Eventually, the children expressed a desire to have news, our version of show and tell, at this time.  We have decided that Monday news in Forest Kindergarten will be just a time to tell about something.  The children have enjoyed finding replacements for our traditional talking stone, which we use for news indoors.  So far we have had talking sticks and a talking hedge apple to pass around the circle to indicate whose turn it is to talk.  After everyone who wants to has had a chance to tell the group about something, we go on to plan our morning outdoors.

     Another plan the children are working on, now that we have completed color days, is name days.  Each child will have a day that she/he gets to plan for the group.  The children are looking forward to celebrating each person in the group.  Last year's name day plans were carried out in the forest classroom, as well as indoors, and I imagine this group will continue that tradition, too.

 

     It started a couple of weeks ago.  A couple of children began talking about wanting Kindergarten to do some kind of performance.  Someone suggested a circus, and there was a burst of children trying tricks on the A-Frame monkey bars.  Then someone suggested a play.  One afternoon that week, three children gathered at the big table and collaborated on a play.  I wrote the words, as they decided on the characters and plot.  They were thrilled with the story and immediately decided to perform it for the rest of the Kindergarten that very afternoon.  There was a flurry of costume making which culminated in a performance on the raised, stage area at the end of the tire swing side of the playground.  The rest of the  Kindergarten and a few by-standing YG and OG friends came to watch. 

     In the following week various groups of the Kindergartners have dictated and performed a half dozen more plays.  On Tuesday the OG came to our room for a meeting of the two groups about the use of the 100 Acre Wood--our Forest Classroom and the OG's Enchanted Forest.  The Kindergartners asked the OG to not change their lean-to or the fire circle area and "Can we come to see the Enchanted Forest skits?" The OG agreed.  Last Wednesday the children got to see The Pirates of Penzance, a children's travelling opera, which included many YG and OG volunteer performers.  The latest Kindergarten play contained enough character parts for all the children to be performers.  Two children opted to be in the audience along with me, audience member and narrator. 

     This week Kindergartners will be the audience for the YG's traditional Halloween play and the OG's skits in the Enchanted Forest, which are often inspiration for Kindergarten performances.  I am delighting in this group of young thespians and looking forward to the coming acts!

     Here is the first Kindergarten play:

     The Spooky Night Play

     One day there was a dark spooky night.  There was a witch that came out that night.  There was also a good Thingy that was 1/2 woman, 1/2 tree. 1/2 cat, 1/2 paper, 1/2 penguin, and 1/2 frog.  A ghost creeps up behind the witch and goes, "Whoooo! Boo!"  The witch and the ghost sneak up on the Thingy and go, "Boo!" The Thingy chases them and keeps shouting, "Boo!"  Then the witch and the ghost go to jail.  Then the Thingy accidentally locks itself in jail.  They all make friends and chat for a long time.--The End 

 

     This week's Forest Kindergarten morning dawned crisp and cold.  Some children broke out their winter jackets for the first time and donned mittens and woolen hats.  There was just a slight breeze blowing through the trees along the meadow's edge, making the arriving children appear to be emerging from a snow globe filled with golden leaves.  Last week the children discovered walnuts in one corner of our forest classroom and spent a good bit of time figuring out how to share them and squirreling them away in great piles.  They wanted more time to "cook" them they said.  "We didn't get enough time to play!" announced one avid walnut hunter.  Later in the week some children discovered a pine cone shortage (there was only one) at the science table in our classroom.

     So this week, we took a collecting walk.  Instead of going to the Glen, where we cannot collect things, the children opted for a shorter walk across our school property and the Antioch College Farm to collect pine cones and osage oranges in an edge wood along an osage orange tree-fence row.  We stopped at the pine tree on the edge of the school drive first to collect pine cones.  On the way to find osage oranges, we discovered that there were milk weed pods opened up in the mowed pasture.  Just by lifting the fluffy, white seed ends and throwing them into the breeze, the tiny seeds would fly, aloft for quite a ways, before replanting themselves among the mowed grasses.  Children and milk weed seeds created the second snow-globe effect of the morning.  I hope the monarch butterflies will appreciate our efforts next fall.  

     Just as we reached the opening in the edge wood, with the children exclaiming, "It's a door!" our third and most magnificent snow-globe effect appeared in the sky above us.  A large flock of vultures, just beginning their thermal powered soars, wheeled and circled very close above our heads.  "There are hundreds of them!" one child declared.  We stood in awe, until the flock circled away on rising air currents.  Then we entered the edge wood.  It has been a good year for osage oranges or monkey brains, as some children refer to them.  I know them as hedge apples, but regardless, they were numerous and good-sized this year.  The children took what they could carry, and we returned to our forest classroom with arms and pockets full of walnuts, pine cones, hedge apples, and one red feather.  To cap off our morning, and aptly the beginning of our current color day--white--the children discoverd a basketball-sized puff ball growing very near our fire circle, and everyone had ample time to play in our wood that morning.