Our Nature Table and Center

"Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink the wild air." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

        The two things I love most about this area of our room is that it's mostly been built by the students. It houses their treasures (as they deem them) which they constantly show off to one another. And second, behind each of their nature finds is usually a story or memory of some special outing they had with a friend or their family---which they're always eager to share! Many of them even chose to write their personal narratives about their nature related adventures at the beginning of the year.

       Many of our treasures don't stay for long though as the children are constantly bringing in new finds and there's only so much space! Here have been some of the favorites though so far this year...

       One student brought in a birds nest, so I found some quail eggs online to order to go along with it. We've had sea shells from various summer vacations, parts of bee and wasp hives, butterfly wings... and the list truly could go on.

       Probably by far the most favored part of our nature center is our class pet toad, Frodo (because The Lord of the Rings was a tad to long of a name). Frodo also has a book (class community journal) about all of his many adventures authored by the students. 

 

       We also keep a small--yet most used--part of our class library dedicated to nature related books. Here have been some recent favored books from it:

The center also houses the students' phenology journals and nature study sketchbooks:

"We need the tonic of wildness... At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature. "~Henry David Thoreau