Little River Outdoor School

Today we got to see a tiger swallowtail just as it emerged from its chrysalis. It fell to the ground, almost like it was injured, but we figured out pretty quickly it was just because it had just come out. She quickly climbed up a tree and we watched as she stretched and tested her new wings. We could still see tiny drops of green hemolympth (essentially caterpillar blood) on its wings. This turns black within a few minutes of them coming from their chrysalis so it was so cool to see it before it turned. One of our favorite nature finds so far!

This week we made our own paper from recycled paper and added petals from the wildflowers we dried. The students started a fire with flint and steel and made ink from boiling ripe pine cones that we collected. They have also been collecting feathers over the past few weeks to make quills. Everything was finally done today and we got to practice using the quills, ink and paper. It was tricky at first getting hang of it, but towards the end they were able write clearly with it. We’ve been learning about the American Revolution for the last few weeks and this was a great project to really be able to see first hand how things were written back at that time.

Drying wildflowers to add to our handmade paper that we’re making next week and unripe pine cones to make mugolio - pine cone syrup.

This week we finished up our anatomy unit that we’ve been working on for awhile now.

We found a black swalowtail at the end of her lifecycle. She is still alive, but barely. They named her Astrid, figured out what she would like to eat, gave her some wet moss to drink from and built her a habitat. Once she passes, they want to check her out under their microscope. It was cool getting to see as she uncoiled her proboscis (tube tongue) to drink. We learned all about butterflies before, but none of us had ever gotten to see that happen up close before.

We also got to spend some time with Scone and Camo, the new pigs, and the new chicks.

Io moth, a first for us!

There is so much to see this time of year. Here are some of our nature findings just from today.

We collected violets with the goal of making violet paint. We talked about acidic and alkaline substances and went over the pH scale again. We played a guessing gamed involving the pH scale as well. After we collected violets we made the paint by boiling the violets on the stove. We added lemon (acid) and baking soda (alkali) to see how it reacted and changed the paint. We made hypotheses beforehand and then saw how the acidic substance lightened and changed the color of the paint and the alkaline substance darkened the color of the paint. After, for fun, they mixed the acid and alkaline substances and saw it react. In the end, our paint was too light to use as a paint (next time we need more violets!) but we still enjoyed the process of collecting the violets and doing the experiment.

Today we finished the fort! It was just windy enough that we were able to really see how it would block the wind for us. Later in the day some students read in it.

We found a butterfly chrysalis and have been finding all sorts of moth and butterfly wings all week. We love watching the swallowtails circling around overhead while we eat lunch.

This week we’ve been learning about the urinary system so today we did an science experiment to reinforce what we’ve been learning and then went on a hike in search of horsetail, a natural diuretic (just to see and not use, luckily!) We didn’t find any horsetail, but we did get to see baby goslings and some beautiful azaleas. Later, while exploring the creek we found various macro invertebrates, salamanders and crayfish.

We’ve been working on shelter building. They had to figure out which way the wind usually comes from and consider water flow during rain before selecting the right spot. Then they made the frame and filled it with large sticks. Now they’re in the process of covering the large sticks with thinner sticks and sealing the edges with mud. Afterwards they’ll cover the whole thing with leaf debris. They’re also working on a fireplace (for looks) and will fill the inside with leaves and pine branches to lay on to help insulate themselves against the cold ground.

Today we got to take a field trip to help plant native trees at Springhouse Community School to help offset carbon emissions. We had such a great time and all together got about 75 trees planted.

For this birthday celebration we tried something new - orange campfire cakes.

Acorn, ash, beech, bluebell, buttercup, catkin, dandelion, fern, hazel, ivy, mistletoe, heron, kingfisher, nectar, newt, otter, pasture, willow, heather.
What do these words have in common? They’ve all been taken out of children’s dictionaries in the last few years.

Attachment, block-graph, blog, broadband, bullet-point, celebrity, chatroom, cut-and-paste, MP3 player, voice-mail were added in their place.

It may not seem like a huge deal, but it indicates a huge shift away from nature for children. That’s why we’re so grateful we get to have moments like today, building bug hotels and fairy houses. They followed the ants until they found their nest. They collected acorns, walnuts, dandelions and violets. And when the storm started to come in they noticed a change in air pressure, heard the birds get quiet and saw the swallowtails stop flying.

We’ve been learning about the digestion system this week and it all starts with your teeth. Today we hiked until we found a dogwood tree, and then chewed the twigs to clean our teeth the way Indigenous Americans did. It was a bit bitter, so some of the students chose to chew some wild mint afterwards. We walked back to our main area via a new, unexplored area which has now been dubbed ‘Hidden Creek’.

Today we enjoyed a plant that is often overlooked or even disliked - dandelions! The students started a fire with flint and steel, gathered and washed a bowl of dandelions, made a batter with eggs they collected from the barn and fried dandelions. This recipe is known as ‘appalachian style dandelions’. The history of dandelions is unclear, but it’s believed they came over from Europe with white settlers and spread across the country quickly. Indigenous Americans quickly learned to love this plant for both its medicinal properties and how versatile it was for eating.

We talked about loving the unloved things like dandelions, the rain, ants and wasps. Being fully outdoors allows us to really connect with nature and our surroundings. We get excited when it rains because that will make the dandelions grow. After the dandelions start to grow, we know we’ll see the bees and swallowtails. Soon we’ll hear the baby tree swallows and see the baby fawns. We’re so glad we aren’t missing any of it.

Lead teacher Isabelle is in training to become a certified master naturalist. Today, with the other master naturalists, she got to make moss terrariums with all the kids who attended the Earth Day event at the Blacksburg Price House Nature Center.

Moss is so important for our environment. Did you know there are 12,000 different species of moss and it grows on every continent? Moss also offsets more carbon emissions than trees. And while most animals don’t eat moss, reindeer will eat it because of a chemical in moss that makes their blood warmer.

To celebrate Earth Day, we were lucky enough to have Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke (the same place we took the baby squirrels to) visit us and bring some of their educational ambassadors with them. We got to see a red tailed hawk, a Virginia opppssum and a 3 legged box turtle up close and ask all sorts of questions. We learned a lot about these animals and other animals native to Virginia. We got learn about conservation and some best practices to do when we come across wildlife too. It was such an amazing day! Happy Earth Day.

Today we came across a very, very injured red-bellied woodpecker. We suspect she narrowly escaped prey and then the sudden and unexpected cold impacted her as well. She also had a broken wing and wasn’t able to fly at all. We were able to capture her in hopes of bringing her to the wildlife center for rehabilitation but unfortunately she passed quickly and before we were able to get her there. After she passed we were able to respectfully investigate and learn about her. We saw how long and sharp her tongue was and discussed her feeding habits, how big her wingspan was, looked at her talons and researched her breeding habits. We learned that she was a female and talked about what she was doing this time of year. Then we dug a grave, spoke some fond words about her and thanked her for letting us learn about her.

Spring oberservations

Today we hiked over to what the students call ‘the mud pit’ to observe tadpoles. We discussed the differences and similarities between frogs and toads beforehand and talked about what to look for. We caught and released various tadpoles at all different stages, and it was cool to see the difference in sizes and trying to guess if they were frogs or toads. We got to see all sorts of plant life and creatures like a luna moth, wild mint and water striders. And of course we had to get a little muddy too because that’s the best part.

5 Southern Schools That Are Leading in Outdoor Education

Blue Ridge magazine named us as one of the 5 southern schools leading in outdoor education!

https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/magazine/may-2022/5-southern-schools-that-are-leading-in-outdoor-education/?amp

5 Southern Schools That Are Leading in Outdoor Education Here’s a look at schools in the Blue Ridge that are leading students into the wild with outdoor education.

Finding the wild onions yesterday inspired them to do some cooking today. They built their own fire and lit it themselves with flint and steel, collected and washed chicken and duck eggs from the barn, gathered and washed wild onions from the forest, collected fresh birch twigs and pine needles and made themselves a meal of scrambled eggs with onions and pine and birch tea.

Tasting some wild onion that they found

The students made and hung 8 bird houses to attract tree swallows. We want tree swallows so they eat the flies and mosquitos that bother the horses in the pasture. After they were ready to use, they had to go into the pastures and use some of their math skills to figure out where to hang them and they had to be aware of their cardinal directions to make sure each house faced east, as tree swallows can be picky about the direction and spacing of their homes. We learned all about tree swallows and we’re looking forward to monitoring them over time.

We’ve noticed so many changes in our space recently. There is so much life and excitement this time of year. Today we went to the pond and creek to make observations and to see what we could find. Today we found all sorts of creatures and a few of our students got to see their nature name creatures. They found and identified Eastern Two Lined Salamanders, Fowler’s toads, tadpoles, fish, Appalachian Brook Crayfish, mating geese and Blue Ridge Two Lined Salamanders. We also found an opossum skull with the whiskers still attached! We wrote our observations in our journals so we can see how these creatures and our space change throughout the year.

Giving children opportunities to have hands on experiences with nature is what’s going to instill a love and passion in them for the rest of their lives. Our world needs more people who care about it and these scientists and environmentalists are the next generation to do so.

We started learning how to start fires with flint and steel today. One of our biggest challenges was finding dry tinder for our ‘birds nest’ after our wet weekend so they spent awhile collecting leaves, dead grasses, birch bark and other other things and dried them by the fire while they practiced making sparks with the flint and steel. After awhile their tinder was dry enough so they were able to work on getting their tinder lit. We had a few successes and got some fires started!

Today a few students were in the woods playing when they saw a nest fall from a tree and heard crying. They immediately ran to get a teacher for help. We originally thought it was going to be birds, but soon realized it was actually a nest of 3 baby squirrels. Their nest somehow fell from a high tree, got caught on multiple branches and the babies ended up on the ground. We observed them for awhile and it became clear that mama squirrel wasn’t returning and 2 of the 3 squirrels were possibly injured. We knew with the cold and wild animals they wouldn’t make it through the night. We called Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke and they heard what we observed and encouraged us to bring them in. They’ll keep them for a few weeks as they heal and get bigger and then release them into the wild. We’ll be able to follow along with updates and see how they progress over time.

Our goal this month is fire building. They’ll learn the ins and outs of making a fire with matches and with flint and steel. They chop they’re own wood, collect sticks, build the fire, light the fire and tend to it throughout the day themselves. Today they even successfully started their fire in the rain with wet wood.

This month we celebrated and honored Black History Month by learning about and enjoying various black heroes. We started off by reading ‘Dreams’ by Langston Hughes and creating a dream collage. We learned about Charles Drew and his contributions to the medical world, read and discussed ‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou and learned about Edmonia Lewis and her artististic impact. We also used her stamps to write and send letters to others.

Each student was assigned a person to learn about and teach others about. We had Mae Jamison, John Lewis, Maya Angelou, George Washington Carver and Louis Armstrong. They did various writing, reading and art projects about their people and then taught the other students about them as well.

We also celebrated Fredrick Douglass’s birthday and reveiwed what we already knew about Fredrick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Our vocabulary words this month were ‘trailblazer’ ‘influence’ and ‘innovate’.

So many signs of spring coming! Not only have we noticed geese returning the the pond to nest, new mushrooms and a return of some insects, but we also found these lines on one of their forts. Their first thought was that a bear caused them. But upon further investigation they decided that the lines were too neat and small for bear claws, and bear scratches usually go up and down, not sideways. We went for a walk and observed that only the rhododendrons had these lines, and that the rhododendrons also were budding when most other tress were not. We knew from our photosynthesis lesson from the fall, that that meant the rhododendrons had begun the photosynthesis process and they made hypotheses that whatever caused these lines may have been going after the sweet glucose (sugar) that the rhododendrons are now making. This lead to a lesson on xylem - the tissue in trees that carry water and minerals, and phloem - the tissue in trees that carry sugar. We still didn’t know what caused these lines though so we did some research and settled on it probably being either European Hornets or Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers. We aren’t certain yet which it is, we will continue to observe the area until we know. We are seeing new lines pop up each day so hopefully soon with more careful observation we’ll be able too see first hand what is causing it.

This week we started on the respiratory system. We made model lungs and discussed how lungs work, made hypotheses on what we thought the functions of the respiratory system are and found out if we were correct or incorrect, and talked about gas exchange. Its been great hearing them tie information they learned from the circulatory system into what we were learning about this week. Our hero of the week is Florence Seibert, who helped invent the first tuberculosis test.

We took advantage of a good snow day to make some yummy snow ice cream too!

We’ve also been celebrating Black History Month by learning about and enjoying different black artists. Today we read ‘Dreams’ by Langston Hughes and used his poem as part of our Imbolc celebration. Imbolc marks the halfway point between winter solstice and spring equinox, and signifies light, hopes, dreams and courage. We’re halfway to spring!

Fresh snow makes for easy animal tracking! We believe we found rabbit, bird, squirrel and deer today.

This week we finished the circulatory system. We learned about what blood is and what the functions of blood are. They made hypotheses about what they thought the functions of blood were and then figured out if they were correct or incorrect. For math we discussed bar graphs and made a bar graph about our heart rates, both when we had rested and after we ran for awhile. We learned about William Harvey, who was the first person to accurately describe the circulatory system over 400 years ago.

Knot tying has been going really well! We’ve learned 4 knots so far and use them almost everyday for various reasons.

Photos from Little River Outdoor School's post

Today we talked about blubber, how it keeps marine animals warm and then made our own blubber gloves to really be able to see first hand how well it does keeping you warm. We used lard as our blubber and put both our blubber hand and our bare hand in the snow and then timed how long we could keep them in. After about 30 seconds our bare hand was too cold, but our blubber hand never got cold even after multiple minutes in the snow. We talked about how the capillaries in the blubber constrict which reduces blood flow which reduces the energy needed to heat the body. They were able to relate this information to our lesson about the circulatory system from last week.

We also made snow ice cream, which everyone enjoyed - even Juno!

This week as been our coldest week but we’ve been staying warm with the proper clothing, a hot fire and tea. We started our anatomy unit with the circulatory system and have started to learn all about the heart, arteries, veins, blood and more. Today we listened to our heartbeat and figured out what our heart rate was and learned how to find our pulse. We also calculated how much blood we have based off of our weight. We learned the difference between red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets and what their jobs are.

We also introduced our new group book this week, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. This book is challenging to read because there are a lot of differences between our lives and the lives of the people in the book. It’s led to a lot of child led conversations like ‘how different would our life be if we didn’t have electricity?’ and ‘what would we do if we couldn’t go to a doctor when we needed?’