Fall Quarter
What will Fall Quarte look like?
Students ages 4-8 will meet at the school headquarters on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10 am where we will start off with a morning circle including songs, games and stories. After this invigorating morning activity, we will joyfully look ahead to a variety of activities being offered, some quiet and reflective, such as a poetry lesson in the garden, while some activities will be designed for a more active and busy learner. Students will have an option to choose from a list of activities with a Montessori-style of presentation and particular effort will be made to tailor activities to fit individual student interests and engage the imagination. Activities will frequently take place outside in the center’s beautiful garden, or across the street in reknowned Cornwall Park, or include traveling to another destination to take part in a service learning project or other off-center learning experience. After an hour and a half of morning activity time, we will enjoy lunch together from 12:00-12:30. Following lunch, we will have time for a story and a game or project to end the day.
Upper Ages: If a learning experience that centers around adventure, community, nature and sense education sounds like an exciting alternative to you, then you’ve come to the right place. Just take a look below at a small sampling of our learning adventures from last year, and if you have a student who you think might thrive in this type of a program, email Crystal Scheer: mail@freerangeschool.org to begin the registration process, or just to learn more. The tuition and school hours for Fall 2010 are currently under discussion but will be announced soon. We will also be offering a W-F upper-aged (9-13) adventure program this Fall. The following descriptions include specific examples of the kind of learning experiences you can expect for the upper ages:
Free Range Upper-Age Program Adventures from Fall 2009
September 21- 30
Activity Site: Slide Mountain and Racehorse Falls in Deming
Math: We calculated the rate of flow for Racehorse creek by
dropping a tennis ball into the stream and timing it for one-
hundred yards about five times. We calculated the average
speed and the average depth and width of the stream. We
also began delving into long-division through this project.
Culture: We studied the first people of the area, specifically
the Nooksack through ethnobotany. We imagined spending
hours collecting fireweed fluff to weave into blankets, stripping
cedar bark to make clothing and foraging for various medicinal
and food plants of the area. We even made licorice fern root
tea, just as native people have done for centuries. Also, we
wove crowns from autumn foliage and held a ceremony to honor
past people, express gratitude and the celebrate the coming
of Fall.
Geography/Geology: We got to know the layout of area
mountains by studying an atlas as we drove to Slide Mountain.
Students can now identify Squalicum Mt., Steward Mt., Sumas
Mt. and Slide Mountain from the freeway. While staring down
the landslide at Slide Mountain we imagined immense glaciers
carving their way to form the rugged landscape we enjoy today.
In addition we scoured the area studying ancient fossils and
imagining the area as a sub-tropical forest of palm trees. We
also identified the mud-stone, sandstone, coal and shale that
scatters Racehorse creek.
Language Arts: We read some local creative non-fiction that
paid homage to the Nooksack River. We practiced writing our
own creative non-fiction pieces based on our experiences at
Racehorse Falls. We also read some Mary Oliver and Pablo
Neruda poetry and wrote some fall poetry.
Science/Botany: We identified several native plants, took
notes and sketched them in our journals. We learned about
how the tilt of the earth is responsible for the variety of seasons
we enjoy on earth.
October 5-7
Activity Sites: Whatcom Waterfront Hatchery, Bellingham Library, Coleman Glacier
Math/Geology: We worked on pattern identification by flipping through
a book that displayed an array of various land and water forms
that had surprisingly similar patterns and discussing possible
causes for the similarities.
Geography: We worked on creating a relief map of Washington
by applying clay to a board. We discussed the rain-shadow effect.
We visited Sehome tower to get a layout of Bellingham from
above. We hiked the Heliotrope Ridge trail at Mt. Baker and got
an up-close perspective on Coleman Glacier.
Science: We visited Whatcom Park and watched the Salmon spawning.
We spoke with an area fisher about the processes of catch and release
including which species are released and how the fish are sorted. We
collected leaves and learned about various tree species, soil conditions,
and pine-cone fertilization. We also dissected and sketched the parts
of a flower. We learned first hand about the bold grey-jay as it landed inour outstretched hands and on our head to receive the peanuts we offered.In addition, we learned about the importance of fungi in the eco-system. We picked some wild chanterelles and enjoyed our first taste of this delicacy sauteed in butter.
time and what animals might have roamed the area that long ago. We
completed research at the library and took notes and made sketches in
our journals.
Language Arts: We read a story from Kipling’s Just So Stories and practiced
writing our own myth in a similar style.
October 12-14
Math: We learned how to determine the height of a tree by measuring our
shadow and height and then measuring the tree’s shadow. We learned the
function of an equation by solving for the height of the tree using proportions.
Geography: We visited Stimpson Family Reserve and learned about the cycle
of a wetland. We also identified area mountains such as Look Out Mt. and
Steward Mt.
Geology: We identified boulders that were transported by glaciers during the
most recent ice-age.
Science: We were privileged to view a family of beavers playing and foraging
at Geneva Pond. We were careful to stay out of sight and used binoculars
to observe their behavior. We also checked out some books about beavers
at the library and took notes and drew sketches in our journals while cozying up to a fire.
Cultural: We were fortunate to discover a letter-box. We researched this
historical hobby and became excited about participating. We carved our
own rubber stamps and began our collection of other stamps with our first
discovery of the letterbox at Stimpson Reserve. We also went kayaking
and imagined the first people canoeing through Lake Whatcom.
