Sense of Place
The "Blue House at the Edge of the Forest" site was not selected because it featured opportunities for nature study. It held no plans for literacy, math, or science activities. It was not a classroom moved outside into the forest and yet it is very much in line with what we do every day at our school. The school is designed around destinations and the forest site was chosen because it offered multiple zones for play, because play is what we are after!
On Being...Scared
Using the book as a guide, we can also see that simply acknowledging the fear and giving it room to breath would serve the scared child better than dismissing the fear with false reassurances. Try this on instead..."You are afraid. What information, tools, and materials will you need to build your wagon that will take you to the starry sky?" Or even better, "I will sit with you and this fear. Tell me more about it."
The Small Things That Loom Large
The children found two headless baby birds. What happened? Things are rough for birds out there. That it was a predator was certain, because the heads were gone. So that was the discussion. What did it? And should the pink beads go in the ground when it is buried? The facts, just the facts.
Three Breaths
He chooses "Thorny Devil" breathing. A thorny devil is a lizard native to Australia, but what do I know about it? Nothing. I ask if it is covered in spiky thorns and wondered if it rolls in a ball. I just need a couple clues so that I can figure out how a thorny devil can take a deep in-breath and exhale slowly, to then fill the lungs again. Three times we will breathe in and out like a thorny devil.
When all the shelves are empty
Without picking up a pencil, without using a worksheet, without direct adult instruction -- these materials and the children's imagination leads to exploration in quantity, attribute, position, movement, direction, order, sequence, and pattern.