The Rookery

Recently, I've been reading a book called Wild Play, by David Sobel.  In it, he encourages parents to allow their children unstructured time in the woods with as few constraints as possible.  He feels this allows children to discover the natural world more authentically and more deeply.  He also feels that children need to explore their own abilities through responsible risk taking.

This year, I wanted to use the same approach in some of the Heron's work.  The fine weather gave us the opportunity to do some tree climbing during P.E.  I set a few ground rules for safety.  When we climb trees, students need to have their feet not higher than I can reach with my arm upstretched.  They also need to have three points of contact with what they are climbing.  Students cannot jump off objects.  Heads stay above feet at all times.  One person per tree.

I didn't know what to expect when I first introduced the activity.  Some kids ran to a tree and started right up.  Others watched for a while.  Some climbed in small groups, encouraging each other from the ground.  Others worked alone and chose a tree that seemed to be a just right challenge.  Some students were completists, climbing every tree that had even a nubbin of a branch at climbing height.  Others climbed the same tree repeatedly but from different angles.

I learned some valuable lessons:  children know themselves well — no one got stuck up a tree, no one took a risk I was uncomfortable with.  Discovery was key.  Had I given a tree climbing lesson and showed them the tree everyone was going to climb, the adventure and authenticity of the activity would be lost. I had many children surprise themselves with what they were able to do.  One demanded that I get my camera so I could take a picture of him right now!   It is a powerful, powerful thing to overcome doubt and fear and achieve a goal.

Metaphorically, it was a good lesson, too.  In teaching and learning, we have to go out on a limb sometimes and take risks.  Often, the footholds aren't obvious and we have to try many different approaches and slip back repeatedly before we find success.

We've also been able to take advantage of the nice weather to do a lesson in our new outdoor classroom.  We have 8 beautiful log benches built by Stephen Mohring, Karl Bouvin and Dave Geist with donations from the Hanifl/Rappe, Kasten, Warren, Jaranson, Mohring/Rawson, Falcon/Geist, Joyce/Bouvin and Sawyer families.  We spent our whole lesson finding details in the wood to sketch and point out to others in the class.  The longer the students looked at the benches, the more they found.  On the end of each bench, you can count the rings of the tree's life.  I was struck by the second life these trees have found — they will create a special learning space at Prairie Creek for years and years and years to come.  Thank you to all the families involved.