Global Foundations Digest, Week of October 6, 2020

All Things Fall!

by Jennifer DeVille and Kristin Royce

We had another amazing week at GFT!

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Who Doesn’t Love A Giant Leaf Pile??

Since we started the discussion surrounding the autumn equinox, the children have been abuzz with talk of building giant leaf piles in which they could all jump.  Well, Tuesday was the day!  

After tirelessly working to gather leaves with their hands, they enlisted the adults to go out in search of rakes.  Luckily, Ms Rowan had some on hand!  So not only did the speed in which the piles were built improve, but the size of the piles grew, as well.  They got their leaf pile fixes multiple times throughout the day, and the joy that brought them was so evident and so fun to experience!

Hitting the Woods!

We discussed the different sites, sounds, colors, and feelings of fall today.  As part of our nature hike, we went in search of materials that could help us create “paint”.  The children found flowers, mushrooms, leaves, and berries and went to town in their notebooks when we got back. 

Of course, no nature hike would be complete without checking on our forest buildings and adding to them.  We discovered some bricks in the forest today.  What was first a brick-layered floor later got turned into a throne for a student who just needed a little break.

Turtle Time!

The hands-down, fan favorite of the day is always the time we get to spend outside with the turtles.  Ms. Rowan brings a wealth of knowledge about the turtles each week.  The children are enthralled with watching the “hunt” as worms and beetles and other creepy-crawlies often get surprised and devoured by Tilly and Poppy.

While one group plays and watches the turtles outside, the other half of the group works inside with upkeep of the Nature Center that Holt so kindly opened up to GFT.  This volunteer opportunity encompasses a variety of methods.  Today, we helped clean the turtle tank, sprayed water into the snake tank to help regulate the humidity, and (a crowd favorite) use the shopvac to clear out the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies of the center.  The children are learning that many hands make light work and how we can create mutually beneficial relationships in our lives, as well.

In keeping with the “fall art” theme, Ms. Jennifer brought two books to share with the children today.  They really got into the book, “Look”, that showed various works from famous painters that showcased people.  We looked at facial expressions, body language, and the use of color to discuss why the people in the paintings may be feeling the way they do and really honed in on the specific details of the pieces to describe why that was so.

In addition to all of that fun, the children celebrated Kelsey’s 7th birthday with singing and apple cider donuts.  The children ended the day designing and coloring their own Halloween/Day-of-the-Dead masks to bring us further into the fall spirit!

Thursday was a perfect playground day at Towson Manor Park! We were so lucky to have Grady’s mom, Theresa, join us for the day!

With a brand new giant box of sidewalk chalk at the ready, the plan was to read the classic Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson and then draw our own worlds on the sidewalk. This only held the kids’ attention briefly, however, as the sandbox & playground called out to them on this beautiful fall day. 

I took advantage of the sandbox time to read two other beautifully illustrated classics: Swimmy and Frederick by Leo Leonni. We discussed the author/illustrators’ different styles and the lessons conveyed in each story (creativity & imagination). 

Grady found a moth wing in the sandbox—we were all so excited to inspect it under our portable field microscope! We also looked at chalk lines, dust and sand under magnification. What will we find next week?