Making Learning Natural

A blog from Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center

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Battling stormy weather over the past two weeks, our Pond Ecology classes have had some of the best finds of my many years doing similar work. We use "ponding" as a basis for a "biodiversity" count - having students list the different species they find, where they fall on a pollution tolerance scale and determining the health of Long Pond with these discoveries. This spring? We're finding everything - including some macroinvertebrates that are a little harder to come by. These students from Bridport, Vermont also built model watersheds in the landscape to test the dynamics of creek flow, and the problems inherent with runoff. Let me say now: we're going to have some engineers from this group.

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When on hikes up Sugarloaf and Rattlesnake mountains here around Pok-O, I tend to "nerd out" on plants, and probably overshare with the kids, whatever new information I find out from my experts, peers and books. The things that students connect with best in regards to plants? Their edible and medicinal quality. While foraging can be a tricky business, and we keep it pretty conservative with kids - plants that are VERY easy to identify and ready to eat/taste.

I also talk a lot about invasive species. Combining the two? Perfect. Thanks ADK Life Magazine.

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Human Props: 12 person "School Bus".

Well done, boys, well done. Students from L’école Saint-Barthélemy in Montreal had some of the best prop interpretations I've seen all school year.

Particularly impressive: "Alien Invasion"

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Important note: Students still really like to dance to "Call Me Maybe".

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Our group from École Primaire des Hauts-Clochers was one of the first of the season able to participate in my favorite class: Pond Ecology.

The Spring Peepers have been singing for weeks, the fish have been swimming for months, and we are starting to see our first Dragonflies molt into adulthood.

We had some great ponding sessions and with the increased rain, I'm hoping things will be even more alive in the coming weeks.

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I sincerely apologize for the lack of reasonable updates lately - we've been swamped (and most Pok-O staff have been on again, off again sick sick sick.)

I'll post some photos soon from the last two weeks, but in the meantime - here is a photo of some students from École Primaire des Hauts-Clochers who were my first group on the Teams course all year to successfully balance the new balance beam - and use amazing teamwork to do so.

It was a very proud moment for me and a great achievement for a group that I won't soon forget!

[explore-blog]

Where do you work? Do you work ‘inside’ or ‘outside’? To work inside is to deal with the internal conditions of the work — the melodies, the rhythms, the textures, the lyrics, the images: all the normal day-to-day things one imagines an artist does. To work outside is to deal with the world surrounding the work — the thoughts, assumptions, expectations, legends, histories, economic structures, critical responses, legal issues and so on and on. You might think of these things as the frame of the work. A frame is a way of creating a little world round something. […] Is there anything in a work that is not frame, actually?

Brian Eno, born on May 15, 1948, on art and culture. (via explore-blog)

Brian Eno is clearly one of the most thoughtful musicians I know of. PMOEC loves the context of putting our ideas, our "frames" and our children outside.

And here is one of my favorite pieces in Eno's discography:

Lantern Marsh (youtube)

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This week we had students from École Le Ruisselet visiting us from Quebec. On Tuesday night, all 60+ students made the first evening hike up to the summit of Bare Mountain, a tradition for groups visiting Pok-O. The sky was clear, allowing for the best sunset we have had in months!

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The female Pok-O staff have the day off today after putting in hard work mentoring young girls over the weekend at SUNY Plattsburgh's SHINE ON! conference. Did they decide to rest today? No way, Lindsay, Jill and Kirby are making the most of their time in the Adirondacks and hiking a high peak with one of the best views: Big Slide!

Now, most PMOEC staff this season are far away from becoming ADK 46ers, but we're counting summits slowly!

What's your favorite summit in the Adirondacks?

Photo Credit: Summitpost.org

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More pictures from the past week!

Our sensory course is one of the most rewarding experiences students can have during their stay at Pok-O. Blindfolded and urged not to make sounds, students navigate through the forest, using their sense of hearing and touch, exploring nature in new ways.

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Andy here.

Found this moss photo I took on Friday to really capture how great this past week of warm weather has been here at Pok-O. Things are green, flowers are blooming, worms are moving and moss is shining.

In anticipation for the greening of the Adirondack landscape, I purchased Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History last week, and cannot wait to dive in.

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Here is a quick photo set of last Thursday afternoon's class testing their climbing skills at The Crux with Taylor. As is often the case with new climbers, the students came to our rock climbing center a bit hesitant to climb so high, but by the end of the period we had to nearly tear students from the walls.

They just left yesterday afternoon, but the students from École La Mennais were fantastic young learners, and the Pok-O staff misses them dearly!

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Spring Cleaning? More like Spring Renovations! With the warm weather of the past week, The PMOEC staff has been hard at work replacing the roof of the Junior House dormitory when there are no student groups here.

And the faint sunburns showing up on their faces shows the hard work. Keep up the good work, staff!

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Our Survival class takes many shapes, sizes, forms and functions depending on which instructor is teaching, but one activity is always a constant: teaching students the basics of building a simple fire for warmth.

Here, PMOEC staff member (and all-around excellent fire-builder), Lindsay is teaching students from École La Mennais the importance of starting your fires small, before gradually adding larger fuel.

[mothernaturenetwork]

La Chanh Nguyen’s moss carpet brings a little green into your bathroom in an unconventionally natural way. This living bathmat features three types of green mosses — forest moss, island moss and ball moss — that grow in plastazote, a decay-free, recycled latex foam. This mat will certainly liven up your shower space, and it’s wonderfully low maintenance. Because moss flourishes in damp, humid places, your bathroom is the ideal location for the moss carpet — even the green-thumb challenged can keep it alive!

See more weird and wonderful green inventions.

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We like to make moss jokes at Pok-O, #allmosseverything #likeamoss, etc.

But really, some of our instructors are very fond of the unique moss we have in the Adirondacks, and this invention is just too good to be true.

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Here's a quick review of some of the events our first Spring group, Ecole Saint-Clément de Ville Mont-Royal.

We loved having this first-time group from Montreal - and we think they loved being here. We hope to run into this group of students again, they were amazing adventurers!

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PMOEC staff member Andy has a habit of forcing his listening habits onto all other staff members. Currently, John Denver reigns supreme, and the "Spring" section of his "Season Suite" fits perfectly for changing season.

Open up your eyes and see the brand new day Clear blue sky and brightly shining sun Open up your ears and hear the breeze essay Everything that's cold and gray is gone Open up your hands and feel the rain come on down Taste the wind and smell the flowers sweet perfume Open up your mind and let the light shine in The earth has been reborn and life goes on And do you care what's happening around you? Do your senses know the changes when they come? Do you see yourself reflected in the season? Do you understand the need to carry on?

Riding on the tapestry of all there is to see So many ways and oh so many things Rejoicing in the differences there's no one just like me Yet as different as we are we're still the same

And oh I love the life around me I feel a part of everything I see And oh I love the life within me A part of everything is here in me A part of everything is here in me