The Great Level 2 Leaf Dump!

At Outdoor School, Level Two students learned all about the layers of soil, and how forest duff decomposes to make the rich topsoil in which plants grow. They put their knowledge into practice several weeks ago by mulching the lot that will soon be the Community School's Learning Garden! Equipped with shovels, wheelbarrows, and other garden tools, the Kestrels, Merlins, and Falcons had to practice teamwork and communication in order to move and spread the massive leaf piles through the garden.

As they dug through the piles, some students made an exciting discovery: the center of the pile radiated warmth, steaming into the cold outside air! The presence of so many microorganisms and other decomposers in the pile, hungrily breaking down the organic material, can actually generate heat. It is this rich, decomposing matter that will ammend the soil, improving its quality for planting in the Springtime. Great work level two students!

If you would like to learn more about the development of our educational garden, please contact me at e.morgan@fgcschool.org. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures below. Thanks!

Swallow Shelters in the B Street Wilderness

On recent Out and Abouts, Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows have been hard at work learning wilderness survival skills. Before the cold drove us inside for the Fall, students learned to make shelters using natural materials.

Several weeks ago, students began preparations by investigating how animals make their homes. Sherry's Barn Swallows went on a search for homes underneath a rock or log, and recorded the living creatures they discovered there, from slugs and worms to colorful fungi. Karen's Tree Swallows used cameras to record natural animal homes they found all around B Street. They photographed hollow logs, bird nests, and gopher holes, and used their knowledge to predict who might make a home there.

Next, the classes read about building shelters from a wilderness survival guidebook, and spent one week investigating B Street to find excellent locations for a shelter. They had to consider many factors, such as the slope of the land, water drainage, the direction of the sun, and natural hazards that might endanger their shelter!

Once a prime spot was chosen, teams of students had the opportunity to practice building their own shelters! One type of shelter is a wiki-up, a stick structure similar to a teepee, insulated with leaves and other debris. Find a nearby swallow student, and I'll bet that he or she can explain all the steps to build this shelter. The second type of shelter students built was a lean-to. This was a challenge for all the groups, but with amazing teamwork, they succeeded beautifully! See below for pictures: