November 2023

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

— GK Chesterton

Letter from the Head of School

From the heart of Amanda Martin...

Hello Wauhatchie families and welcome to November!

This beautiful month of fall has been pure magic. How wonderful it has been to dwell among these changing leaves with the sounds of children exploring in the distance. October brought us some beautiful days together as mornings became a bit cooler and afternoons remained warm and full of sunshine. The days have been filled with sweet hammock swinging, water play that is being taken in with gratitude as the season is shifting, building first fires together, crunching leaf piles, fall crafts, and tender care for our forest friends who are preparing to stay warm for the winter. This season goes by so fast and we are soaking it up!

School photos will be wrapping up this week! The kids have been so fun to interact with during the photo sessions so far. We have captured some pretty great silly faces!

Exhibit week is coming up on November 7th-9th. This is always such a special time for us as we get to welcome our parents and caregivers into their child’s world here in the forest. We look forward to all of you being here to share those experiences with your child’s respective class. On November 16th, we will be having our 2nd annual Three Sisters Feast at Reflection Riding and will be hosting a campus-wide one at Audubon Acres this year as well! We look forward to sharing this tradition of gratitude and community together while we honor the indigenous people who once lived on this land. 

We enter this season of gratefulness and community with gratitude and a promise of presence with one another.

Happy November!

Site Highlight

Lookout Lake Preschool Class

Lookout Lake is a well-loved location for our Wauhatchie community. With two full preschool classes, many of our students start their forest school journey at this beautiful location nestled at the foot of Lookout Mountain. Lookout Lake offers a beautiful, relatively enclosed space for our littlest learners to grow, hike, play, explore, sing, and learn the ways of nature and forest school. There's a stunning pond, an (appropriately long) hike to the site, a creek to splash in, farm animals to listen for and visit, trees to climb, and so much more in the way of forest learning.

This month, we're sharing some updates from this magical site. First and foremost, we're thrilled to announce that Mamie Henderson has officially joined the Lookout Lake teaching team. Mamie has been a long-term sub for our Reflection Riding Kindergarten class since the beginning of the year and will now be with our Lookout Lake crew for the rest of the year! She has spent her life traveling and living all over the world, has taught adults and children with cognitive differences, and is currently learning ASL.

Learn more about Mamie and our whole team here!

An Update from the Lookout Lake Team:

We have had a lovely year so far at Lookout Lake! Recently (and with the help of some amazing volunteers) we were able to build a new permanent shelter that will serve to accommodate our students as the weather turns colder and wetter, providing much needed space to stay dry. A very special thanks to all parents who donated funds and helped build! 

We love having access to the waterfall and creek that run through our site. On warmer days, most of our play time is spent at the creek and mud kitchen, making mud cupcakes and soups, or fishing for small minnows and clams! 

When the weather turns colder, our students love relaxing in the hammocks together, huddling close to read books, and going on longer hikes. As the seasons change, we use our tree and wildflower field guides to identify the different species that we see, and how they change with the seasons. Our students always love painting with watercolors, too! 

One of the aspects of our site that is different from some of the others is that we have some different farm animals on site that we can visit, including several goats and a sweet donkey named Alfie. The students like to feed the animals sassafras leaves and honeysuckle through the fence! 

Soil Science & Microbiology

Students at Reflection Riding at Audubon Acres recently dug into some soil science with a visit from soil microbiologist Krisi Olivero of Alter Eco Farms.

Our budding scientists learned about the differences between dirt and soil, what makes good soil, how soil supports plants and other life, and about many of the microscopic and macroscopic critters who call the underground home!

Friends of the Forest

Wauhatchie's version of a PTA is open for any parents or family members interested in volunteering or being more connected to our school community this year! If you're interested, find the Friends of the Forest group on Minga and Request to Join to get plugged in.

What's in a Sit Spot?

A sit spot is a specific location in the forest chosen by the learner. During sit spot time each day, students take space from other learners and teachers, still the body, quiet the mind, and tune in to their senses to deeply observe and connect with nature. Students are encouraged to take in the minute happenings, including sounds, smells, sights, and feelings, and to note the effect this calm time has on their bodies, minds, and attitudes. A daily sit spot practice increases awareness of yourself and the natural world around you as you observe the changing of the seasons, the patterns and movements of animals, the plant growth, and more. This time cultivates close encounters with nature, a greater capacity for understanding and processing emotions, time to fully focus, deep listening and observation skills, improvement with sensory awareness, and enhanced problem-solving and critical thinking abilities - not to mention some amazing naturalist skills like bird identification!

STEAM at Wauhatchie

Our STEAM - science, technology, engineering, arts, and math - program is woven in to the learning of each student here at Wauhatchie School. Rebecca Westbrook-Toker (STEAM Integrationist) and Bob Cook (STEAM Support and Tech Integration) are working tirelessly to bring science, technology, engineering, art, and math to life each day in interactive, engaging ways. These wonderful enrichment teachers travel from site to site and work with each student to varying degrees depending on the grade level and curriculum for that specific class. Our STEAM theme of SOIL has sparked so much thought, curiosity, discovery, hand-on learning, exploration, and problem-solving already this year and we can't wait to see what else this program and our students can do!

If you have a particular interest in the work of our STEAM programming, please consider supporting it by providing any requested supplies on our STEAM wishlist. We're extending a HUGE thank you to those of you who have already sent us some great items!

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