PK incorporated their study of night and day and the solar system with their scheduled outside day by helping build a campfire and roasting marshmallows over it.
PK teacher Emily Hon ’86 came up with the idea to have a campfire and enlisted the help of Ashley Martin, a counselor in our Bright Afternoons program, to show the students how to build a campfire.
In the morning, students gathered rocks to surround the fire area and found sticks to use as kindling. After lunch, students returned to find Miss Ashley had made three small piles of sticks inside the fire ring. She showed them the different ways to make a campfire by placing sticks in different directions, and then they watch her use a flint to light the tipi-style pile of sticks. They marveled at how the fire grew and listened for the crackling of the wood as it burned.
Class by class, they roasted marshmallows over the fire with sticks. Some students had experienced a campfire before and knew what to expect, but others had not and commented on the smell of the smoke and the colors of the fire.
Miss Ashley and another PK teacher, Katie Shirley, brought camping gear like tents, backpacks and blankets for the children to look at and play in while they waited to roast marshmallows.
PK spends more time outside every Thursday as part of our eco-literacy initiative. Teachers incorporate outdoor learning into their regular curriculum. Activities include weekly hikes on the wooded trail, planting and harvesting in the garden and playing in the mud kitchen.
