The 3 Rs guide how we play, learn, and treat each other at Flying Deer. They stand for: Respect yourself, Respect Others and Respect the Earth. Early Tuesday morning, we asked the Woolly Bears how many earths there are and they exclaimed, “One!” We told them they have an important job as earth guardians and the 3 Respects can help guide them on their journey.
The Woolly Bears can be a microcosm for the type of culture and relations we hope to embody in the world. The culture of respect we build together here has the possibility to imprint an important sense of belonging, acceptance and care our world sorely needs.
New campsite!
Our beloved Woolly Bear campsite is in need of some deep rest and restoration. The erosion of the soil and the high water table have made our site a total mud pit! So, we have transitioned to the Nest as our home for the rest of the season. With a lot of muscle and teamwork, we’ve successfully moved our mud kitchen and other items and have added a whole bunch of new play areas and forts. The children have been busy building a store and lots of new play areas. Our campsite is really starting to feel like home! In just a few short days our campsite has come alive with all sorts of new nooks and crannies.
Respect Tokens
We bring out our special kindness tokens at our closing circle each day, so that students may honor their peers who have done kind things during the day. This week we decided to make respect tokens to honor our guiding 3 Rs. We are hoping this new ritual of sharing respect tokens can help students to connect with these values on a deeper level.
Students molded their clay tokens and used gathered natural materials to made impressions that we later painted. They look beautiful! Each child will now have a token to mark their sit spot and the others will be added to our token pouch to use at our closing circle.
Body Radar
On Thursday, we activated our internal Body Radars. Woolly Bears got some big belly laughs out when they heard the phrase “Follow your gut”! We talked about intuition and this special area of our body that acts like ears, a heart, and a brain to help us make decisions and tune in to how we feel. JJ brought in a special body radar key that activated each child’s internal compass. Once activated, each child had a turn to hold the key and guide the group as we made our way through the land like a long snake, following the leader through the brambles, over streams, up steep muddy hills and through trees covered in moss.
It was a magical, and at times challenging, feat to navigate all these obstacles and take turns. Miraculously, we eventually ended up right back where we started! We reflected on the experience and students shared that they felt connected to their body and felt the key gave them special direction on where to go, and some shared that they liked having the chance to be a leader. The children were excited to learn that they now have this special internal intuition to guide them wherever they go—if they can remember to listen to their bodies!
Some highlights of the week:
- Playing in the new willow area in big field
- Playing awareness games about bird language, stealth, and body awareness
- Reaching new heights on balancing trees and fences
- Building new houses, a restaurant, and forts at the Nest campsite
- Observing the rush of the melted stream
- Sharing our observations of spring sightings that included new plants, birds, and weather patterns
- Seeing a shark tooth, deer bone, birch bark bracelet and more at Show & Tell!
We look forward to all the springtime adventures that await!
—JJ, Raei, and the counselors
March 24, 2022