Palo Alto Tender Tracks Day 15, 2011

Waxing Moon
Foothills Park-The Island

Bodi and Alexi were absent today.

The day began very, very slowly with children popping in one step at a time.   It seems the Halloween Holidays might have affected some in some goulish ways, as is wont to happen.  Our circle was gentle and sweet. We had new songs for the month of November. Two are all about the squirrels which we are surrounded with and which we watch and watched quite a bit on this day.  The story was how Squirrel learned to bury then find his nuts and how and where he makes his nest.  After circle we searched the ground discovering Squirrels marks where he left and/or retrieved his nuts.  We looked up in the trees and did find a nest or two and then we played leisurely for awhile.

Giulio’s birthday was last week and usually the birthday child gets to choose where we go for the day if they wish.  He was not able to do so due to all the preperations for the Halloween party. So, today he said he really wanted to go to a place with a pond and the Islands pond was just right for him.  Jasper however did not like this idea yet by the time we got there he was doing just fine about it.

The day was easy and filled with a nice gentle flow.  There was great discoveries and explorations of the many, many types of mushrooms all around.  They were so impressive as to how they just push their heads straight up out of the Earth. Some small some HUGE!  The children all had such a good time exploring these fascinating friends with slits on their bellies where the little mushroom babies/spores do live and let go.

On the Island there was the usual: much running, hiding, sneaking, climbing, exploring, finding treasures, falling , slipping, laughing, watching Coots and “baby” ducks.

Lucy was quite popular today and Giulio really wanted to sit next to her and play with her a lot.  Lucy really wanted to sit next to Jasper and Angalie wanted to sit next to Lucy.  Kashi and Grace were fine where they were and all were playing together.  Kashi and Grace actually played happily with each other too quite often throughout the day.  There was a lot of easeful playing with one another.

I started to make an practice run dream catcher for when we make them for everyone in the future and Anjalie and Lucy really wanted one.  However, it was a practice one.  They all wondered  if it was the same thing as the one hanging in the bus.

Audrey found a dead Bird carcass and Anajalie, Lucy, Jasper and Giulio were really interested in this.  She then  took them all see this but Grace stayed on the Island eating our lunch together.  Later Jasper, Lucy and Anjalie took me to see it, after Jasper went poop on the hill.    We spent quite some time looking at it and noticing so many parts with so many questions to spur us onto wondering who this bird was, where it came from and who had it for dinner!

They gathered some of the feathers, to be washed, in order to use them for the future dream catchers.  Then back onto the Island to try sneaking up on the others we went.

Audrey and Grace made a very lovely snail home made out of Cat tail down and red Toyon Leaves.  Kashi had a wonderful and large stick that was really a “birds nest” which had a clumb of dirt and grass in it.  It did look like a wonderful birds nest.  However, he kept laying it in the middle of the trail and getting upset when people tripped over it.  I suggested he put it out of the trail and then he found a hole in the bench they were sitting on and was able to put it in there and have it be quite happy, safe and sound. Giulio also had a wonderful stick that he was quite attached to yet without a nest in it.

We found a decent size Woodrats nest and it’s scat and then on our way back to the bus found another one much larger. We also spent time looking all around the Island for Squirrels nests up in the trees.  The children found Bay nut babies and had fun helping them be born.( when the nut’s/babies are ready you can shoot them out of their little beds. VERY FUN!)

On the walk back we were all filled with finding many wonders on the earth from spider webs, more mushrooms, birds in the trees, and looking for frogs and seeing small ducks.  Kashi, Grace,and Giulio were diligent with the wonderful Earth treasures that they found and loved so much from leaves, stones, berries and more.

On the way back they had their books that they love and shared pictures and stories about them with each other all the way back.