Working with Smokey

We had an early morning as we got up to head to a local elementary school by 8am.  I always love to see my children ready and out the door early in the morning, and it is especially nice when they are doing this to help someone else!  A proud moment for this Mom!

We were asked to help with one of four stations to show a group of 160 kindergarten/first graders about nature.  Our station was called "The Shape of Things" and was teaching the children about being aware of their surroundings in nature.  We were specifically discussing using our observation skills to see the various shapes found in the tree leaves.  However, I had to put in a little bit about all the senses to add to the experience.

We had the children make the shapes with their fingers and then showed them some of our leaves that were the various shapes.  We were having so much fun with the first group because it was so fresh for us all.  When we got to the start shape...I realized it was not going to be possible to make a star.  However, my clever children said it was a good time for team work and Amanda, Katy and Sean created a star together!  This was a big hit with all the groups!

Then we were off to hunt for new leaves (and shapes) around the school yard.  THe children really liked learning about the Spanish moss growing on all the trees.  We told them it is often called old man's beard and so they had to act the part.  We had another helper, Samuel, along with our crew.  I was thankful for him because he showed a real love for the trees and shared so well with the children.  I was so surprised to learn that his parents wanted him to become a doctor...he obviously had a love for nature.

The other stations were set up with snakes (even venomous snakes!), which Tamberly and her youth alliance led this fun station.  A great group that I wish we could spend more time getting to know.  Our good friends from our Amigo group taught about birds.  And, the Forest Service had a group of fire fighters teach about their equipment.

Edward enjoyed being with the birds (and his new friend Kaleb), so he stayed with this group.  Brendan spent most of his time getting dirty as we were atop a sandy hill that he could not resist! Zaira slept as I had her on my back in a pack!

After meeting with the four groups of children, we went inside to perform a Smokey skit.  Amanda was the narrator...Sean and Henry were Forest Service fire fighters....Edward and his friend Kaleb were the children who encouraged Smokey to fight the fire.  Smokey was an undisclosed youth who was super at this role!  He really acted out his part well!  They all had a great time with this skit.

Then I asked my crew to help clean up.  They went outside and did not return for a long time.  I should have known they would be with the snakes!  They especially enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with a cottonmouth (it was behind glass).  There were also red-tailed boas, timber rattlers, rat snakes, corn snakes, king snakes, and bull snakes (Tex is my favorite!).  We did not hold any of the snakes today but we did enjoy looking at them all.

We were then given a special treat as we were invited to enjoy a cool drink with everyone involved at a local coffee shop.  The children and i enjoyed smoothies and milk shakes before heading home.

It was a fun morning!  I am so glad we had this opportunity to share nature with the children.