The first few weeks of the school year were certainly interesting! With fires devastating so much of our state and smoke hanging in the air on many days, we had to be ever-ready for whatever the environment threw at us. Everybody's been so great with being super flexible! Times are tough, to say the least.

We've already been having some great adventures at Outside School!!!

I decided to try leaving the shared materials on a bandana away from my backpack so everyone can feel more comfortable getting to them if desired since we're working on social distancing. Knives quickly became favorite tools and I now bring three each day. I had to bring in Otto's Orange Day! It's been one of my and the kids' favorite books for years now, and who could've predicted that on the second day of school we would've actually had an orange day! Author Jay Lynch was a master, a wise mentor, a supporter of my teaching, and a friend. If you've ever in your life liked Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages, Mad Magazine, or even ring pops... You have Jay to thank! 

We're still trying to capture the invasive goldfish we first saw in camp. The kids are amazingly patient and work so well as a team!

The kids wanted to know more about cooking with acorns and didn't want to wait for me to bring books so had me read to them from the internet on my phone. One statement was that if an acorn had a hole in it, there would be an insect inside so it shouldn't get eaten. One of the kids found an acorn with a hole in it and I suggested he open it with a rock or something to see if there was an insect inside. He replied, "Aw, but I don't want to destroy nature!" I responded that it would still be really cool to see what was inside. He found out! They later realized they could use the larva as goldfish bait!

We took a long hike in search of cows, and after the lunch break and some rest time, we were curious about where they went. They went in some trees and bushes to sleep and chew their cuds! There were easily 20 in there, and they were so quiet! We found a nearby spot to whittle, climb, and read. There was a squirrel family that had one brave baby that kept looking at us in the faces, stomping its little feet, and barking at us. It was trying its best to intimidate us into going away! That's where we saw a coyote!

Herpetology News

Andy Gluesenkamp was my old buddy from the herpetology lab at UC Davis. Check out this cool story of what he's up to now!

https://sanantonioreport.org/san-antonio-zoo-releases-precious-texas-horned-lizards-into-the-wild/?amp&fbclid=IwAR2_-fp4olPnXbe6pf-663PJ5To-xxV9y3JC8j_bbE0ABh-IXvSwliVey5s

Wrapping Up

There's still room for more enrollments for the remainder of the school year if you know anyone who's interested (https://www.teachoutside.org/outside-school). So far all the kids sit in on their morning zoom meetings either in their cars or from a tree before officially starting Outside School. So far, so good!Thank you for being a part of this community!

Well wishes,

Heather