Fall 2024 Knee High Naturalists | Week 4

Hello one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! Pack your bags, gather your snacks and prepare for a magical migration to the Gulf of Mexico.

A warm, beautiful fall morning made us all so excited for another day filled with nature play. We welcomed a new friend to class today and eagerly invited them to explore as we looked for bugs and read a silly book called Moose on the Loose by Kathy-jo Wargin. Our Good Morning song gets a little louder every time we sing it, the perfect way to start our day. So excited to learn about feathered friends, we hurried over to the pavilion making the best bird calls we could.

We learned about migration and that birds and other animals migrate to find more food and resources like shelter and water during different times of the year. Some of our friends even knew that many birds migrate to Florida in the winter, just like some of our grandparents! We learned that birds have feathers so they can fly and that different types of birds have different beaks and feet to help them eat. We got to explore turkey feet and owl feet to learn how they use their talons to dig or grab their food. We even got to explore an owl and compare it’s differences to a turkey and a duck! Before we washed our hands to eat snack, we examined three different types of nests and learned that different birds make their nests differently to best protect their eggs!

We were quick to eat snack today, we were so excited to enjoy the day and play, play, play! Before we became Mallard ducks and migrated to the Gulf Coast, we played a balloon game as a team to help our bird (balloon) fly to its new home. We discovered that it can be harder for birds to fly in the wind! After this, we were ready for a magical migration. Along the way, we picked up different resources like water (blue), food (green) and shelter (yellow) as we made our way through the Mississippi Flyway. Some our feathered friends picked up the bird flu (red) and we rested to let them recover as we flew over Tennessee and Alabama. If some of the birds in our flock didn’t have enough resources, we shared with them to make sure they made it to our wintering grounds near Florida.

At our wintering grounds we climbed trees, worked on our fort and conducted a bug investigation to feed our very hungry flock. After many holes being dug and logs flipped over, we decided that bugs may have started to prepare for winter with the frost last week, making them much harder to find! We rolled over a huge log and finally found a few roly poly’s, a millipede, one beetle and some very large earwigs. We all flocked around to behold the bug spectacle with magnifying glasses in hand. Soon, it seemed that spring was on the way so we packed up our gear and began one last migration back to Michigan. Along the way we discovered rabbit scat and determined that we must be in rabbit habitat! As we continued our journey, we noticed that our “resource” piles were smaller than our first trek and realized that we must be competing with other birds for food, water and shelter. Thankfully, we all made it back home safe and sound, ready see our families and ready for class the next time around!

Thank you all for another magical week in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists, we can’t wait to see you next Monday to learn all about animal adaptations!

Winter/Spring '24 Knee High Naturalists | Wednesday, Week 9

Hello to one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! We took a wonderful walk to our wild wetlands to learn more about frogs today, bundle up, grab a net and prepare to learn more about a day in the life of your Knee High Naturalist!

We started off our morning cold and a little confused about the changing weather and having to wear winter boots! We returned to our secret spot under the pines, paying careful attention to the garden design. We learned that spring ephemerals are growing right now, they’re special flowers and plants that bloom and are in their prime for a very short time. We found Bloodroot and Trailing Arbutus waiting for us! With the colder weather, we were ready for a move to somewhere sunnier and better. We packed up our bags and headed to the pavilion where we moved picnic tables to catch the perfect sun and learn something reptilian.

We learned about amphibians and reptiles, cool friends that hope, slither and make us smile. We learned that amphibians are things like frogs who are born in the water with gills, not lungs. They go through metamorphosis as they grow, growing legs and arms before losing their tails. We can find amphibians (usually) in places with water nearby like bogs, ponds and marshes. We also learned that snakes are reptiles who have scales for skin and begin life on land with lungs and no hands! Snakes look the same when they’re born as they do when their adults, they don’t grow arms or legs and it’s not their fault! Both of these critters are cold blooded, meaning they rely on their environment to maintain their body temperature, unlike humans!

We got to explore snake and frog skeletons, as well as a preserved Northern Ribbon Snake and an American Bullfrog through all of its different stages. We ate snack and didn’t color today, instead we opted for outdoor play! It take long before we hit the trail with a few nets and a frog catching pail. We wound our way down the big hill and big steps, over tree roots and rocks until reaching the boardwalk, kind of like a dock. We got quiet and still, waiting and watching to see any frogs were out with the chill. We looked high and low, to and fro, waved sticks in the water and tried to feed them food. We discovered the it was for too cold outside for the frogs, so they buried themselves in the mud and under logs until it gets warmer, we hope it won’t be long! We had fun finding the perfect sticks, we used them to catch algae, “seaweed” and other plants. While no frogs were found, smiles and laughs were abound. All too soon, it was time to head back, so we climbed the huge hills and steps once again, happy to be with all of our friends. Our families were so excited to see us, we can’t wait to discuss the fun things we did today!

Thank you all for another incredible and wild week in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists, we look forward to seeing you all next week to celebrate your naturalists accomplishments and growth over the past few months! Please plan on arriving 10-15 minutes early for pick up, we’ll have you all line the walkway by the nature center doors and we’ll present certificates to all of the naturalists! Thank you for helping us celebrate your wonderful children!

Fall 2023 Knee High Naturalists | Week 2

We had an incredible second week full of fun, curiosity, and loads of detective work!

As we walked into class today, Ms. Miranda was reading "Animal Homes" by Debbie Martin. The book helped us learn about habitats and how different animals, just like us, need air, food, water, and shelter. After our reading session, we all gathered to sing our good morning song, discussed our plan for the day, and then headed out to the pavilion for handwashing and snack time.

Once we finished our snacks and tidied up, Ms. Aspen surprised us with our very own magnifying glasses, transforming us into Nature Detectives. Our mission was to search for tracks, scat, food, or shelter that could lead us to someone's habitat.

Our adventure began near the small observation deck by the pavilion. We discovered numerous holes in the ground that could be homes to snakes, worms, mice, chipmunks, or bugs. Investigating them up close was so much fun! As we hiked through the pine forest, we discovered a bee habitat near goldenrod flowers and marveled at mushrooms with various shapes and colors. Feathers from a blue jay were scattered along our trail, too, adding to the excitement.

Towards the end of our hike, we identified coyote, rabbit, and deer tracks and scat around the playscape—cool finds that connected with what we learned about Michigan mammals last week!

Our day ended in the playscape, where we tested our balance on logs and played together on tree stumps. Then, we moved over to the spider web for some silly spider fun. To top it off, Ms. Miranda and Ms. Aspen had a bag full of tiny mammals and insects. We got to pick and create our very own habitats for them—an imaginative and hands-on way to wrap up our day!

Thank you all so much for an amazing second week, we are looking forward to seeing you next week to learn about terrific trees while getting muddy and having fun!

Fall 2023 Knee High Naturalists | Week 1

Welcome everyone!

We had a great first day at Knee High Naturalists. We started with a story titled: Moose on the Loose by Kathy Jo Wargin! From there we sang our good morning song, a repeat after me song that goes like this:

The Good Morning Song

Good morning, dear Earth.

Good morning, dear Sun.

Good morning, dear soil;

And beasts on the run.

Good morning, dear flowers;

And birds in the trees.

Good morning to you,

Good morning to me.

We headed outside to wash hands and eat our snack. At the end of snack time we gathered in a circle under the pavilion to introduce ourselves. Each of us said our name and our favorite food. If we also liked that food, we gave a thumbs up! If we didn’t really like that food, we gave a thumbs down. After we all talked about our favorite foods, most of us like pasta and pizza, we talked about how to stay safe during our program and while hiking on our trails.

Many of us agreed that it’s important to stay safe by:

• Staying on the trail

• Using our walking feet

• Keeping our voices down so that others can enjoy nature too

• And staying within our “teacher sandwich” so that everyone can have fun safely

We headed down our Fox Den trail to see all the cool things that the Natural Education Reserve has to offer! We stopped at the overlook to view the river from a safe distance and talked about what we saw and heard while there. We then continued on the trail to Jack’s Creek where we took a peek at where we will get to play in the near future- we cannot wait! Our hike stopped at another overlook where we got to see a praying mantis and a large grasshopper- this was so neat!

We headed back to the pavilion to complete our activity about mammals. Ms. Aspen and Ms. Miranda shared with us what a mammal was and what kind of mammals lived in Michigan. We worked hard together to guess which animals our teachers had with them today and also which ones we have seen in the wild! We learned that mammals have:

• Fur

• Are warm Blooded

• Have live birth (rather than laying eggs)

Last but not least we learned that WE are also mammals!

We cannot wait to see you all next week to learn about more animals and more specifically their habitats!

Thank you all for a great week 1!

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