Rattlesnake Mountain, Rumney

The weather has treated us well this fall.  All of our outings have greeted us with bright skies and comfortable temperatures.  Rattlesnake Mountain in Rumney is a real hike for K-1 children.  We were successful by taking it slow and stopping often.  People say that teenagers eat a lot. . . I have met many 5 and 6 year olds who can eat just about non-stop!

On the way up, we focused some of our energy by working in pairs looking for natural objects from our scavenger hunt list.  At the top we ate our lunch, enjoyed the view and watched for hawks on their migration to South America.  After lunch I read the children A Seed is Sleepy.  This simple story explores the way seeds are spread and how long it can take some of them to germinate.  After the story we worked in teams to collect as many different kids of seeds as we could find.  The children decided at the bottom that the most popular type of seeds were berries followed by acorns.

I love this picture!  Two first grade friends!

On the way down, our energy was starting to get the best of us, and I feared someone would soon have a terrible trip.  We stopped and tried to slow our bodies by pretending to be butterflies working through their lifecycle.  First we balled up our bodies into caterpillar eggs and held this tight ball position for a few minutes, then we slowly climbed out of our eggs and wiggled around a bit, eating and eating and splitting our skin.  Then we started to feel a little like hanging upside down, so we got in our J shape and went into our chrysalis.  We stayed in our chrysalis with our legs elevated for a few minutes. . . trying to regain our composure.  This exercise did slow the crowd down a bit. . . but me hiking in front of them also helped!  They are a great group and really fun to hike with!

 

You can find both of the books below on our science shelf, along with the seeds we collected.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  I have spent too much time today behind this computer! Tomorrow is declared a technolgoy free day in my house!  Want to join me in the challege?  See you all soon.