Nature Detectives Day 1

We started the morning with Gratitude Circle (sharing something we are grateful for today). Next, I shared with them an inventor’s journal Ms. Melissa found in her attic. It showed instructions for putting together a time machine needed to transport a plant to the future to help cure a disease. The author of the journal said all the parts are hidden around this property at Little Rose. We all agreed we should try to find the pieces to build his machine so we could help those in the future. The first day of our adventure involved making a compass (using water, magnet and a needle) so we could find "the northern trees". Then in teams they used compasses to follow a trail of mushrooms (learning about local edible mushrooms as they went). Then they had to find an "energy stick" and make a circuit to set it off, which gave them a clue with lights blinking red, green and blue to open a chest with a map. They used the map to find symbols on trees and followed the symbols to a gear. The gears had to be placed correctly on a board to give us the answer to a lock box that contained the Stirling engine of the time machine.

With the first piece found, we took a snack break and discussed characters for their original play (to be performed this Friday @ 2). Then we went to the obstacle course (zipline, slack line, hammocks and more). Back at the classroom, they started designing and crafting an Automaton. 

Then we had lunch, played Observation (a game kinda like find the difference but with contestants) and went to the creek.