Session Two, Day One

Urban Rangers are back after a long weekend with a whole new group of Rangers, and after just our first day, we already know this week is going to be a blast!  Loads of enthusiasm, ideas, and energy in the group, and also, a very different courtyard from last week!  We got  A LOT of rain over the holiday weekend, and our very dry, snail-barren courtyard was a whole new place today.  The rain brought back the snails--in full force!  Last week was all about roly poly bugs and anything we could find, but today we were greeted by tons and tons of our slimy, shell covered friends as the group set out to explore.

roly poly

 

roly poly

sprouts from our marigold planting last week

 

Loads of snails!!!

 

 

Reflecting on last year's excavation project

Vincenzo even found a tennis ball and had some ideas as to where it came from.

nature journaling

We took a quick break for snack and to share things we all observed in the courtyard using our senses.  The wonderful thing about learning outside is that all of our senses are engaged and activated--we see, hear, smell, and feel everything around us.  From a brain development perspective, this is an optimal learning environment because many parts of our brains are taking in and processing information.  If we think about muscle development, when we use a 5 lb. weight on one arm, that arm will over-develop while other muscular areas will be left weak and under-developed.  Our brains develop in a similar way--the more parts we exercise, the more parts get strengthened, and even better when this happens with different areas working together at once!

Mr G gave a demonstration on nature journaling and the Rangers set off to quiet spots, either independently or with a partner to sketch something.  After that, we had a little more time for "painting en plein air", (French for painting in the open air--a technique popularized by the Impressionists), and still more exploring!

snail escape!

Next we headed down to the refreshing cool of the art room and discussed challenge # 1 and our take home tree projects.  We also brainstormed some ideas for "things we want to do" this week, and played a game called "Save the Monarch".  Ask your Ranger what this was about!

Our last activity was creating tin creatures that inhabit the courtyard using aluminum pans, sharpie markers, and wood skewers.  So much creativity and fun!  One Ranger suggested we make a puppet show using these creatures.  It's on the agenda for tomorrow!

And oops for me because I forgot to take pictures of our finished creatures but will try to remember for tomorrow!  We made a brief visit back to the courtyard to release our collections of live specimen back into the wild, washed up, ate lunch, and it was time to go!

We have some big plans for tomorrow and are so excited to get back out there--preferably with slightly cooler temps!!

Session One, Last day

What a fabulous week we all enjoyed!  Today was all about wrapping things up and getting ready to share our learning with our families.  It was great to have so many parents and family members able to come and all the Rangers enjoyed taking them around the courtyard and sharing our work.

Painting Urban Rangers 2014 on our tye-dyes

bug hunting

painting en plein air, cont'd

bug hunters in action

painting together

 Friendship and belonging are big themes for Urban Rangers that lie beneath all of the wonderful science, art, math, and literacy connections we make.  In every activity we do, we observe positive social interactions between boys and girls, boys and boys, girls and girls, and kids of different ages.  Part of the philosophy behind multi-age groupings in schools is the environment of nurturing they naturally facilitate.  Younger children seek help from older kids, and it is wonderful to observe older kids eagerly assisting their younger friends.  This creates an opportunity for older children to take on the role of "teacher", and one of the surest ways to know a child has learned something is to observe them teach it to someone else--that's called authentic assessment.  Authentic assessment gives us real information about what our students know and can do vs. a general, standardized number that tells us what our kids did at the time they completed a test.  Big difference!!

Another benefit of multi-age groups is that the social structure of the group is more like real life.  As adults, we rarely find ourselves working in groups of people who all live in close proximity to us and are the exact same age--except maybe at a high school reunion, right?;)  So the dynamic in a multi-age group operates more like adults do in the real world--at work, at social events, in families.  The friendships that form within the UR groups are in some ways predictable, but always surprising at the same time because they are so genuine and purely based on common interests.  

bug identification app on the ipad

new find: caterpillar!

 Each session of Urban Rangers ends with a morning of painting en plein air with direct instruction from Mr G on perspective as we sketch the courtyard.  

The burning sun proved to be too much so we decided to complete our sketches with watercolor paints inside.

prepared to speak about her work en plein air

sharing the courtyard with families

Our last day together was emotional, exciting, and lovely.  Three of our Rangers are moving on to middle school next fall, and so they each received a small gift and certificate for lifetime membership as an Urban Ranger.  Once an Urban Ranger, always an Urban Ranger!

Session One Rangers:  You were AWESOME and AMAZING to work with!  We had a great time and are so glad you did too!  Stay tuned for more Ranger news and events and please feel free to contact us anytime with a cool sighting or find or experience!  We'd love to  post stuff on this blog!  Email us at:

urbanrangers4@gmail.com

Have a wonderful summer!!!!

Thank you!!!