Fall 2022
Level 2
This is our first class and with the brand-new gear, we are getting used to knowing how to get ourselves ready and be prepared for the outdoors. With our new backpacks and journals, we used this time to get to know each other. We did a “touch it” scavenger hunt. We looked for things that were smooth, rough, wet, and dry. We also found leaves that were big and leaves that were small. We also found some crunchy leaves. We received stickers for being on time, comping prepared, building with natural materials, and listening. Each week we will get stickers for attendance as well as our behavior and participation.
Queen Elizabeth Park
Sepember 10
We are getting a new card added to our journals which is our land acknowledgment. We acknowledged we are visiting the Musqueam, tale wututh, and Squamish nation’s ancestral, traditional and unceded territories each week. We also made promises to do land acknowledgments before starting our class, to stick together, to take care of the environment, stop when the teacher says freeze. We are focusing on how to be safe outdoor and learning some trail tips. We learned if you are quiet with your feet and voices you may see some squirrels or different bugs and birds. If we are loud and make loud noises with our feet and bodies we may scare animals, birds, and bugs away. We are also learning how to measure a stick with our arms to see if this is the right stick we can use. We did a fitness challenge and stomped like bears, hopped like bunnies, and flapped our arms like birds flying.
Pacific Spirit Park
September 17
We walked around the gardens and found many leaves that are big or small. We read a story about many things a leaf can be like a mask, a hat, a boat, or a blanket. We did a leaf scavenger hunt and found many different types of leaves that belong to different trees. These leaves come in many shapes and sizes. We also searched for leaves that could transform into things like in our story and found humungous leaves that could be a blanket. We also found seeds that come from a maple tree that was called helicopter leaves. When we let the seeds flutter down turns and propels like a helicopter.
Van Dusen Garden
September 24
October 1
Today we talked about hibernation! When it gets cold, some animals find a cozy place to sleep for the whole winter. Bears, mice, and fish all do this. We talked about why some animals hibernate and some don’t. We walked around Queen Elizabeth Park and played a game where we found a good hiding spot for a stuffed bear. Then, we played a game called camouflage where we practice our hiding skills. Finally, we had snack and met our parents!
During our walk at Camosun bog, we learned about the difference between a coniferous tree and a deciduous tree. Coniferous trees stay green all year long and have pine cones. A deciduous tree's leaves change color and the deciduous tree loses its leaves. We added a page to our journals about coniferous and deciduous trees.
Queen Elizabeth Park
Camosun Bog
Musqueam Park
November 12
October 29
November 05
Today we talked about how apples grow, where they grow, and some different kinds of apples. UBC farm was full of ripe apples growing on trees, which the kids loved to see. Some apples had fallen off of their tree, so we talked about why that might be and what happens when they fall off (maybe a hungry animal comes and eats it). We learned the words blossom, seed, apple, tree, bud, and core.
October 15
UBC Farm
Vanier Park
October 22
Pacific Spirit Park
Our lesson was focused on wind. We talked about how wind is invisible, what the word “invisible” means, and what wind can do to people and objects (it can move objects and we can feel and hear it.) Our class walked around and tried to find some signs of wind. We had lots of fun making wind wands, which show us the motion of wind.
Today we talked about nocturnal animals as a big group. We focused on owls and bats, and spent time walking around Musqueam Park looking for an owl. we used binoculars to try finding an owl in the trees. We worked as a team to build a human-sized bird nest with fallen branches, twigs, and leaves. Inside the nest, we ate snack and listened to a story named “baby owls”.
Our group walked around Pacific Spirit Park today, looking for decomposers. It must have been too cold outside for slugs and some insects to be active, as one of our students observed. After some careful searching, we were able to find worms at the bottom of a still pool of water. We looked at the worms and took some of them out of the water to hold and measure them. After returning the worms to their home, we walked through parts of the forest that had been damaged by the previous-night's storm. We even had to crawl under a massive tree! Finally, we found a nice log to have snack on, and made our way back to the meeting area.