Evolution and Metamorphosis

Summer camp was so amazing this year. When I started doing these camps, I thought it would be a preview for potential school year families. Instead, it’s been a steady flow of children I’ve taught year after year, whether that’s been in previous camps or my school year programs. I relish this reunion, the experience of watching these kids grow- how their interests get deeper, and how they remain true to themselves. Their confidence in knowing what to expect lends them an air of ease, and I love how excited and happy they are each day. It’s an honor to spend time with them. 

Goat love! Each year so far the Outside School summer camp kids get to watch another kind of kids as they eat away the brush to help prevent wildfire spread.

A couple examples of their long-term growth happened during the last week of Outside School camp. The children showed care and empathy in the ways I've always intended to happen at Outside School, and the reason I've made my schedules and policies as they are: ways of being that take a long time and a lot of practice to develop. We impart this care and empathy in relationship with each other and the land. First off was one day when we went down to the creek. We found that either a lot of hands or someone with a lot of time had used the rocks to grind down bricks. The children were quite upset with the mess left behind, and we decided to remove the rest of the bricks we found so others coming to use the space wouldn't be inspired to do the same activity. Later, I sent a group to the bathroom and they came back complaining that some went faster than others, and couldn't be convinced they were supposed to stick together as part of the group. We had a chat about it, and when I sent the same crew together again later in the day, they complained. I pointed out that this would be an opportunity to practice what we'd all talked about, which they readily realized. On the way, one of the kids twisted their ankle a bit, so another offered to carry them. That didn't really work out, so they all tried hopping together. As it was, the bathrooms were jam packed with other groups, so they all came running back (because the ankle wasn't really that hurt), and one of our ranger friends offered advice on minor ankle pains before our group put on hand sanitizer and enjoyed lunch together. We’re in this together!

Uh, oh! The Outside School summer camp kids are disappointed to find a big mess at Wildcat Creek one morning.

Nature News

Most mornings for the last several months, we’ve been starting our day down at the creek. After some play time we’ll find a space to do some mindful moments before deciding where to spend the rest of the day. The light changes each day, we get to watch as the trees change, and listen as different birds come and go. We’ve enjoyed watching the life cycle of the newts!

Back in 2019 the creek was flowing in the summer, and there were very few newt tadpoles. They were tiny, and I was sad one day when it seemed they’d all died. They’d turned white. I wondered if perhaps there’d been a poisoning, but since the other creek flora of algae and fauna of water striders, aquatic snails, and insect larvae were still present, a poisoning didn’t make sense. It took several months of contemplation for me to realize the culprit may have been excessive temperature. During the summers of 2020 and 2021, drought took its toll and the creek bed was bone dry. This year, early rains caused the creek to flow, and it even got thrillingly high. We got to watch newts migrating, mating, and laying eggs. We moved one stick heavily laden with eggs to deeper water as the creek slowed its flow, hoping to increase the babies’ chances of surviving. Finally, the newts hatched out and we got to watch as they developed, even as the creek stopped flowing and puddles formed in its place. As the larvae grew, it became easier to see their external gills, and finally their rear legs began to form followed by their front legs. We wondered if the ponds were going to vanish before they had a chance to develop enough, and I thought that perhaps they’d do as Marty Crump noted in her book, In Search for the Golden Frog- maybe their development would accelerate as the water evaporated more quickly. Soon enough the puddles began to get smelly and stagnant. The children described their surfaces as oily, and we all observed various biofilms- red algae, maybe? Although the newts’ external gills were still present, we got to see them swim up to the surface, take a gulp of air (leaving behind a little bubble), and float back down to the bottom. I’m certain that everyone reading this knows the story of animal life evolving from sea to land. And finally here, this perfect example of animals suited for aquatic life, metamorphosing for their change to a terrestrial adult life. It was beautiful to see this happening, a gorgeous illustration of life’s tenacity to exist wherever possible. We were so lucky to see these lives before us for many months, lucky to have had rain over a longer period of time than has been the case in recent years, and lucky to know our environment will still support these delicate creatures, indicators of our ecosystem’s health.

Good morning, baby newt!

We learned through research that our creek has supported California newts (Taricha torosa) and rough skinned newts (Taricha granulosa), along with hybrids of the two. The ones we saw this year are the California newts. The one above is from Friday, July 29, 2022 at Wildcat Creek.

Enrollment

It’s my calling…

I don’t really know why I find it so surprising whenever people ask me if I started teaching when my children were young. I know that a lot of adults are parents- I am not one of them! I had some very strong, informal life mentors who let me know that I needed to be an educator, and that’s finally what I did when I sought a second career.

A lot of people in outdoor education don’t have professional educator training and experience- I’m not one of those, either. I’m a California Master Teacher and used to be a State of California Mentor Teacher, back when I taught at the preschool level. I had years teaching in formal/traditional environments, and none of it ever felt right to me. I’ve been a teacher for over 20 years now!

Since 2005 I also have helped my husband run his business. Once I decided to step out of the formal/traditional teaching environments, I used my business skills to help another person with her outdoor teaching business. This is how I know that many of these schools aren’t legitimate businesses- unpermitted to be in their spaces, not fingerprinting their employees, and not paying their employees or taxes on time- if at all. The practitioners are usually parents who got into this because of convenience for raising their own young children. I knew I could use my business skills to operate my own school, and Outside School was turned from an after school program into my own program! I have my fingerprints on file with the Department of Justice, I have the appropriate permits to operate with the East Bay Regional Parks District, and I pay my taxes. And, I’m operating in a COVID-safe way. It’s truly important to me that my and my family’s health, your and your family’s health, and our collective community’s health is protected as much as possible.

And most importantly, I love what I do! I relish getting to see the effects Outside School has on my students and their families, and I feel so proud.

Although priority enrollment for the 2022 - 2023 school year closed on Monday, and I still have space for kids K - 12. Please check out my website for more information: www.outside.school.

Whew, what was a steep hike! I used all fours to get up, but the kids managed to stay upright. Good on them!

Resources

When I was growing up, what I’d been taught in school and during Saturday morning cartoons I learned about the United States being a mixing pot of people from all sorts of lands being equal here. I embraced this quality, as did everyone I knew in my predominantly white neighborhood and school. It was only more recently that I learned about how simplistic and untrue this was. I needed to study up on our racist past and present, and learned about Black August. It’s an internet deep dive, and one I highly suggest you have a go at.

I was horrified last week to see that two more California children had died of COVID. Vaccinations are now recommended for young humans aged six months to five years, and now anyone over the age of five can get boosted. The vaccination numbers here in California are very low for these age groups, so I hope that writing about it can help encourage more people to get their children cared for.

Take care,

Heather

Heather Taylor, EMT

Founder/Director/Teacher, Outside School (www.outside.school)

Founder, Teach Outside (www.teachoutside.org)

California Master Teacher

Connect

From the internets: Striving for realism is what Outside School is all about!

Feel free to forward to anyone you like!