Last week's winter storm provided fresh snow for finding animal tracks and replenished the sledding hill behind the school, which was looking a little bare! This past Friday students were out of school while Crestwood teachers teamed up with the staff from John Muir Elementary for a day of PD, during which a whole hour was devoted to sharing our outdoor spaces and exchanging ideas for outdoor learning.
We bundled up and split into groups. Mrs. Farrell strapped on showshoes and led her bunch down the trail into the woods, following the tracks where she had done the same with many of her P.E. classes at Crestwood last week. A group of second grade teachers met in the classroom circle for a listening and orientation activity. Our art teacher led a tour of the area where we will build a living stage with funding from our Art-in-the-Garden grant from Community Groundworks. Other groups toured the front gardens and orchard.
Honestly, I think the fact that all of our teachers were outside sans students was more important than the particular observation activities they were doing. The Crestwood forest is truly a special place, in no small part because of the many, many hands - large and small - that have helped in its restoration. If you stand in the classroom circle now and really look around, you can see the entire forest, covered with a layer of quiet snow, bare trees lending geometry to the landscape, and white plastic tubes topped with colored tape marking the hundreds of saplings that young hands have planted since the restoration project began. Last Friday morning, I heard several comments (some through chattering teeth!) about how beautiful the forest is in the winter, and how valuable it is for the students to have access to it.
It's such a contrast to the beginning of the school year, when students return to school and are re-oriented to the outdoor learning spaces. At that time, when the view is obstructed by 6-ft jewelweed enveloping the trails, and the garlic mustard pops right up where you swear you yanked it all three days ago, and burdock burrs burrowing into your socks threaten to ruin your next load of laundry, and the mosquitoes send everyone running for cover, it's easy to feel overwhelmed at the enormous work it takes to keep our woods accessible. There are weeds to pull, trails to mulch, ephemerals to plant, burdock to smother. But that is then. Right now, teachers, students and volunteers can just walk outside - maybe with snowshoes on - with eyes and ears and minds open, looking and listening and just being a part of it.