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Welcome 5
Exploring Nature in Winter e-Workshop
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0-1: HomeLecture1.1
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0-2: A Note From Victoria 30 minLecture1.2
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0-3: Introduction: Curiosity Questions 30 minLecture1.3
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0-4: Set Goals 30 minLecture1.4
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0-5: Become a “Winterscape” ResearcherLecture1.5
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Module 1: Embracing Winter 5
10 Nature-Based Activities
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1-1: Plan & Prep 30 minLecture2.1
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1-2: Discover Your Rhythm Outdoors 30 minLecture2.2
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1-3: Make a Winter Garden Journal 30 minLecture2.3
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1-4: Create a Winter Themed Children’s Library 30 minLecture2.4
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1-5: Winter Math Walk: Finding Math in NatureLecture2.5
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Module 2: Winter Inspired Classrooms 5
10 Nature-Based Activities
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2-1: The Cold Weather Outdoor Classroom 30 minLecture3.1
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2-2: Ten Nature-Based Winter Activities 30 minLecture3.2
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2-3: Behind the Scenes with Nicole Pelletier 30 minLecture3.3
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2-4: Natural Learning in the Outdoors in Winter: Virtual Workshop 30 minLecture3.4
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2-5: Bring Back the Life of Winter: Virtual WorkshopLecture3.5
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Module 3: Get Outside Rain for Shine 5
Winter Themed Children's Books
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3-1: Water Research: A Journal Entry 30 minLecture4.1
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3-2: Ten Nature-Based Winter Acticvities 30 minLecture4.2
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3-3: Behind the Scenes with Peter Dargatz 30 minLecture4.3
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3-4: Moments of Science 30 minLecture4.4
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3-5: Stay Outside Longer: Make Homemade Hot CocoaLecture4.5
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Module 4: Learning Rain or Shine 6
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4-1: Closing Circle: Guided Reflections 30 minLecture5.1
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4-2: Ten Nature-Based Winter Activities 30 minLecture5.2
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4-3: Collaboration Challenge 30 minLecture5.3
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4-4: Virtual Gathering Workshop 30 minLecture5.4
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4-5: Emergent Curriculum with Megan GesslerLecture5.5
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BONUS Virtual CallLecture5.6
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29 Comments
Thank you so much for this great interview, I loved listening to Nicole! It was very useful to get a peek into their daily schedule, thanks for sharing that as well. I loved how she encouraged the children to be independent, to take care of their belongings and be problem solvers. I loved to hear that the children were given the freedom to be individual little explorers, scientists, and inquirers. It is so exciting and rewarding to let them be and follow their lead, this is when the most amazing learning moments happen. The activities were fabulous. The covered porch next to the building is our dream!
I love this interview too! Simply amazing. Thrilled you found some good ideas.
This conversation inspired me a lot. I love to see all the different activities in nature including making fire and being responsible as a child, agent of their own learning. Taking the ownership what to do in nature! This feels like when we are all together as a family!
I would like to make our own animal track cards to have it in the Go Kit. Hopefully we can make fire and cook, toast since cooking and eating togeher is always fun and a great opportunity to have conversation about they have just discovered in the nature.
Thank you.
Great ideas are brewing! Can’t wait to hear your reflections from all these experiences and activities. Keep up the great work.
I really enjoyed this! Our school setting has a lot of similarities to Nicole’s in our love of nature and desire to be outside as often and for as long as possible. I loved her value of giving children freedom and independence to explore their environments and really get to know the space around them without feeling unable to move away from an adult and just be (this is something that has come to be of real importance in terms of my personal teaching philosophy). I feel like so often children aren’t given the opportunity to gain that risk assessment, spacial awareness, curiosity fueled independent discoveries, ownership over their bodies etc without an adult dictating a lot of their free exploration time. I loved when she referred to asking the children to really listen to their bodies and think about what they could do to take care of them during their outdoor play – we do this often with our children. Oftentimes we find the ‘natural consequence’ of allowing the child to jump in a frozen puddle and fill their boot with cold water will alter their desire to do the same thing next time they’re out. If they were able to actually experience the sensation of feeling really cold and wet without having an adult stop them before doing so and say ‘I’m worried you’ll be cold and wet.” they make a much deeper connection and can use that connection next time to take better care of themselves.
Lots of great food for thought! The photos were so inspiring. I wish we could cook with a fire – this is something we’ve been working hard on making a reality at our school. We’re in the process of looking at logistics and putting a plan in place!
I like the idea of starting right in September with the children practicing be responsible for learning to get themselves ready. Having the children also being able to think about remembering to bring what they need, such as gloves, instead of leaving it all on the parents, is a great idea. The children in our program have also names locations on our trail. They love the connection to these named places and can tell stories about these individual spots along the trail. I agree that the more the children are vested, the more interested and engaged they become in the exploration and learning.
YES!!! Love that you also have special names for your outdoor spaces. I agree wholeheartedly that the more we get our kids involved, the more invested they will be. Bravo you!
I also loved how Nicole Pelletier has the children take responsibility for their weather clothing. I want to come up with a weather guide for the parents. It was also really nice to see all the ways you can have a mud kitchen and how little space you really need. I will be guiding the children to measure with sticks this spring once the snow starts to melt in April. Lastly, I would love to create a space to make a fire pit for a lesson or two.
yea!
I loved this interview with Nicole because I am always fascinated with forest schools and their commitment to being outdoors. I like how she sets the tone early to get the kids working on independence and autonomy. Recognize that you need something and figure how you can meet that need. So often kids automatically look to adults for help and it”s important for educators to work on shifting the thinking back onto the children.
I feel like the whole interview helped to solidify my mindset towards outdoor education and play. I may not be fully emerged in the philosophy like they are but i want to incorporate more elements of it into my program. I realize that anything we do indoors can also be done outside.
Lastly, I liked hearing of the many activities the children are engaging in and how they are initiated by the kids. Nicole seems to be supporting their ideas, explorations, and discoveries wonderfully. I know this looks easier that it actually is. I would like to know what help she has and how her day and the children’s day is scheduled.
Wonderful reflections. I love your questions. I will reach out to Nicole and find some answers.
I loved this interview with Nicole because I am always fascinated with forest schools and their commitment to being outdoors. I like how she sets the tone early to get kids working on independence and autonomy. Recognize your needs and figure out how to meet them. So often children automatically look to adults for help and it’s important as educators to work on shifting that thinking back onto the children.
I feel like the whole interview helped to solidify my mindset towards outdoor education and play. I may not be fully emerged in the philosophy like they are, but I realize the benefits of it and I know that anything we do indoors can also be done outside.
Lastly, I liked hearing of the many activities the children are engaging in and how they are initiated by the kids. I like how Nicole is supporting their ideas, explorations, and discoveries and helping the children to develop them.
One thing I would like to know is what type of support does she have and how her day and the children’s day is scheduled.
8:30 -1:00AM Preschool Classroom (3 teachers and 25 kids)
8:30-9:00 greet children and families, provocation are out to extend previous inquiry or inspire, morning question to answer
9:00ish morning meeting, Meditation, story, songs, movement etc…
9:15ish small focus groups snack. No set time slow evolves to child led play.
11:00 ish clean up (sometimes story if they need grounding)
Weather permitting we eat outside and stay out until pick up at 1:00
1:00 – 3:00some children go home and others join me for Forest Days MWF. This is the schedule for FD below…. I followed in the fall but started to stray from it because I felt the kids need a bit more freedom. Afternoons are very different… they are tired and just need to PLAY! This next session (starting tomorrow) I am going to revisit with more structure as below because I think they will need it. Just a loose guideline…
1:00 walk through the wood and stop to take a deep breath for nature reports (keep notes in my phone)
1:15.. Put bags on the tree and give them a task.. Look for something red, small, lift a rock and find something. Sometimes they bring it back to our meeting area or me go to someone that found something interesting.
2:00 story and snack. good time to add another layer and change gloves.
2:45 finish our walk and
3:00 pick up
Fabulous!!! Thanks. I think this helps to see it all written out. I would be curious to see how it compares to others in the group.
Fantastic thank you for the schedule info!
There was a lot to take away from this interview. Nicole referred to places on the school property as destinations. I like that phrase. As we expand (hopefully) outside of our fenced area, I will be sure to name some of the other places on our property too.
I loved the snack of roasted vegetables. I don’t know if there is any way we can have a fire with the children, but our fire pit is near the play area. I’m going to give this a try!
Finally, the shadow puppet show. This was brilliant. We take the children out in the late fall/early winter for a 30-45 minute period before dinner. By the time we get into the house, it is dark. This is a perfect activity to do then!
So many good ideas!
It’s Nicole…At my last school we couldn’t have fires. We had the children peel, flavor, wrap in foil, write name on them (we had lots of allergies), and put in the oven. Longer they cook the better they taste…. so when we got cold and hungry we got them.
Children eating healthy food is very important to me. The first step for some kids is touching it and they may just use it as a nice smelling hand warmer.
Dark.. also stock up on glow sticks when they are cheap and attach to their coats.
Hello Nicole! Great to see you here. Welcome!
Hi Victoria, I had one more comment. This is related to the technology piece. I don’t know if this happened for others but my video had inconsistent audio. Your audio was loud and clear, but Nicole’s audio was soft and difficult to hear unless I turned the volume up and then your audio was too loud. This is something I experienced and thought you would like to know. Can you reply with the name of the conference in Vermont Nicole mentioned? I did not catch that. Thank you.
Hi! Thanks…I did notice that. It might have been that Nicole was not sitting close enough to her computer audio. I did get it to just the right spot—where I was not too loud and she was not too soft. Thanks for letting me know. I believe she was talking about the In Bloom Conference. Here is the link: https://www.antioch.edu/new-england/resources/community-resources/continuing-education-programs/in-bloom-conferences/
I’ve been to this conference several times in NH and it’s always very good. They also hold it at other locations in New England also, each with it’s own theme.
Good to know. Thanks for sharing.
I enjoyed your interview with Nicole. The photographs really demonstrate all the different ways children engage with nature and participate in a variety of activities- some of their own creation and some prompted by Nicole. Three takeaways I have are starting in the fall to encourage independence and responsibility for their own belongings and needs. I have noticed that care and concern for others will begin when you first have care and concern for yourself. That when a person feels comfortable and valued and proud of what they are doing then they have the capacity to care for others and that also includes nature. I love the acknowledgment that nature is all around us, in the city, in the schoolyard or at the park. We can look at the sky, feed the birds, dig in the soil, play in the snow, find ice anywhere. That is a really good lesson to learn and to teach. (and care for a garden/plants and feed the birds/animals everywhere). My third takeaway it is ok (when all the safety concerns have been addressed) for the teacher to walk around and do their own thing, gather sticks and put them in a pile or look for tracks, while the children are doing something of their own creation in the space and maybe those paths will cross due to curiosity and interest or maybe everyone will be creating their own learning spaces.
I am going to try that on our next time outdoors.
We had a fun day with ice a few days ago.. we were tapping small ice puddles on the paths with sticks to see how strong and thick the ice was. Whether or not we thought it could hold our weight and was it safe to go on a pond. How cold did it need to be to form ice and how many days to make the ice thicker? when the ice is really clear how beautiful the leaves and pine needles look under the ice. one child said “it looks like art”. I learned from this video more ways to incorporate ice into nature play and learning. Ok that was four… This video prompted more percolating of ideas. Thank you.
Fabulous reflections!! This interview has so much to it and you have really soaked your teeth into it and pulled out some wonderful ideas! Yea YOU!
wow! so many takeaways! I’ll likely have to watch this a few more times 🙂
I am really impressed by Nicole’s approach to preparedness and leading the children to take ownership over their well being. This is honestly not something I truly learned until I was almost 20 years old (on a 30 day backpackgin course when I got hypothermia). These children are so fortunate to be getting such grande life lessons so early! It blows me away!
I also love her closing comments on how you can make do with whatever you have and find nature anywhere. I appreciate the fact that although she is set in andover with acres of beautiful space, she began her career in the city! so perfect to hear!
also LOVE the idea of the drum outside! We took the children on a nature walk the other day and it was wonderful. We allowed them to “stop the engines” anytime they saw something they wanted to share with the group…a drum would have been a great addition! I’ll have to add that to my toolkit 🙂
Great interview huh? Glad you liked it. Such a wonderful mix of so many things. She does an amazing job.
This interview is just beyond incredible! I’ve watched it twice so far. I LOVE the way the children are empowered to be independent in managing everything from their preparation to go outside to problem solving issues while out there and even to contributing toward their space (gathering materials from nature and from home) and their experience in that space. It’s hard to pick only three things to take away, but I am also very intrigued by the shadow puppet show. I stopped running my nature based playgroup after it began to get dark out so early that school aged children and late nappers would be excluded from attendance. It never occurred to me that we *could* use the darkness as part of the setting. I also love the idea of the drum outside–both the get moving as well as to slow down and be mindful of the pace and space. Lastly, I just adore all the mud kitchens! Thank you so much for including this amazing interview in the Master Class–so inspiring!
I loved this interview too! Amazing! Glad you enjoyed it.