She Crosses the Water and Thunder Spirit

I told this story to my group today for the first time. This is where I learned it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Wny29iybw

I highly recommend the full length movie Dreamkeeper. It contains many great Native American myths, and the encompassing modern story in the movie is about living a life of integrity and compassion.

Enjoy!
Red Tail.

The Night Hike was the Coolest Thing Ever!

In the night hike, I heard a mourning dove and saw many star constellations. Red Tail showed us how to find north. One way is to find Cassiopeia, then look at its middle 3 stars, those stars point toward Polaris, the north star. Another way is to find the Big Dipper. It points toward Polaris too!

Red Tail also told us about rods and cones. Hawks have cones which makes them see color. Owls have rods that make their vision into night vision. Rods have rhodopsin, and cones see color. Another thing was that Red Tail gave us these crystals that glow when you break them with your molar teeth.

That was the best hike ever. Oh, and in the night hike we saw a meteorite. Red Tail told us that the meteors falling were pushing against the air making friction. That's why meteors never made it to land, they burn out in the atmosphere!

By Tempest

Two accounts of yesterday's night hike

The night hike is usually my favorite part of the week. Countless teachers have come on my night hikes, but in almost five years no administrator has ever observed one of mine.

Night hikes are transformative, but don't take my word for it....

Dark yet light is what I saw on the night hike.

The moon and stars guide my way,
but the trees hide the sky.

I learned about courage, responsibility,
and trust towards nature
on the hike I had at night.

Soon after the sun went down, my life changed.
I experienced the fun and peacefulness of the dark
and the right way to touch the bark
on the hike I had at night.

I wish that the walk would never end,
for the peaceful silence was beautiful. A word
or a short talk never occurred.

This is why I loved
the hike I had at night.

- Arielle Smith a.k.a. "Blue Jay the Big Fat Bird," (Yavneh School)

---

As you begin to walk,
You try, but you can't talk
For it feels great to see the stars
During the night when there's no cars

I learned a story,
a tactic for hiking, and there's
glowing moss around Walden West.

During the night hike,
I experienced a major activity
that changed my fear into
fun. The night hike felt scary at first,
but after we learned to trust each other,
it felt exhilarating and great.

- Jadon Bienz a.k.a. "Helium," (Meyerholz School)

11-Year-Old Boy speaks out about "What's Wrong with our Food System"

If you think just because you're 11 years old you have no power to help the world, think again! This kid isn't old enough to vote in the US yet, but he is making a huge difference by educating millions of adults about our food system.

A three-pound hawk named Suju (see older posts) has been a teacher to me and hundreds of thousands of others. Likewise, every child can be a teacher to the adults in her life.

Go out and spread knowledge and inspiration! Don't wait until you are grown up, or have a college degree. Start today!!!



Birke Baehr: What's wrong with our food system | Video on TED.com

"We can either pay the farmer, or we can pay the hospital." Birke Baehr (in this talk)

Looking through a Leaf

The flat tissue of a leaf decomposes sooner than the thicker connective framework - when this happens, it leaves (ha-ha!) a pattern that fascinates people like this student. (2010)

[UPDATE! May 1, 2011 - This photograph won First Place at the California statewide Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education 2011 photo contest!]

Scat ID practice

Red Tail and his group examining some scat to identify the animal it came from. (This was real scat.) (2008)

Miwok hike

Hiking with my trail group at Walker Creek Ranch, Sept 15, 2010. (I worked there for a week as a sub.) The kids are sixth-graders from Mount Tamalpais School in Mill Valley, CA. A beautiful partly cloudy day.

This shot was taken as part of a Coast Miwok hike. The hike also included a ceremonial smudge with white sage, a calling in of directions (invocation), a visit with "Grandmother Oak," a romp in a big pile of bay leaves, a solo hike, a story, and a time of deep reflective silence.