I

love I love skunk cabbage. It is one of my favorite signs of spring. As a child, I would carefully navigate the edge of brooks and swamps, making sure not to step on skunk cabbage plants. It was fun to be a bit scared of the potential stink, though the fear of the smell was worse than the smell itself.

Each year, as the light changes and the air warms, I…

Check out this tremendous program from a small coastal town in Oregon. You will be blown away.

One page fact sheet on Outdoor School for AllNEWS RELEASE Contact: Darcie Meihoff, on behalf of Outdoor School for All, 971-998-3782 or darciepdx@gmail.com…

North Branch Trekkers is an outdoor based after school program for children in grades 4 through 8.  It is run out of the North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier, VT and meets every Thursday, throughout the school year… really, it is me and a bunch of kids goofing off in the woods.  But that goofing off is important and when done in a thoughtful…

It was one of those wonderful accidents...after making a winter collage to hang in our window, we noticed the shadows of birds at our feeder.  

We decided to replace the…

PLATEAU Conference – STEAMING Across the Plateau

March 5 – 6

Canyon Country Discovery Center

Monticello, UT

Four Corners School of Outdoor Education presents the annual PLATEAU Conference, providing teachers working in schools across the…

Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten Newsletter - December 2015

By Erin Kenny ©2015

December in the forest was dark and foggy. We had several of the coldest days so far, with temperatures in the low 30’s (Fahrenheit). Our teachers had to work diligently to make sure the children stayed warm. We also kept open communication with the parents about what clothing was working and what was not. Because children this age (2-5 years old) are so tactile, they kept wanting to take off…

https://youtu.be/e_2xZm3wM-g

https://youtu.be/4OtKLtPDMAE

https://youtu.be/XAIfCXSAwMc

https://youtu.be/DI1kuraW7To

Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten Emergent Curriculum - October 2015

Compiled from our daily nature journal entries throughout each month to document the learning

By Erin Kenny ©2015

 Although we had more rain this month, the temperatures stayed quite warm resulting in an explosion of mushrooms in the forest. The children were genuinely excited each time they discovered a mushroom and of course our teachers modeled their own authentic wonder and curiosity too. We…

Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten Emergent Curriculum - September 2015

Compiled from our daily nature journal entries throughout each month to document the learning

By Erin Kenny ©2015

The weather this month has been warm enough for many of the kids to strip off most of their layers including their footwear. It was only towards the end of the month that we began to notice signs of autumn. When we asked the kids how they knew the season had changed, they responded…

I apologize that I have been so delinquent on my Blog posts. I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last May and, after surgery, underwent 6 months of chemotherapy. I am finally finished with the chemo and it was grueling but the prognosis looks really good.

Now, I am back out in the forest with the forest kindergarten kids and it is supporting my healing immensely. Being in nature is profoundly therapeutic for me; and, I believe, for all humans. The slower pace of nature, the natural…

https://youtu.be/0-HKkNao-NE

https://youtu.be/0-HKkNao-NE

https://youtu.be/1GG-U-X5xvA

https://youtu.be/dYM_ELLQ35o

I signed up my Boy Scout son for the hiking merit badge. It’s one of the merit badges required for Eagle rank. Because of my son’s autism, I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to complete all the Eagle requirements, but this checks off one that I was confident he could complete.

Hiking is actually an option – Scouts have the choice of completing swimming, cycling, or…