Weekly Wolf Journey 4 PM Youth Class * (adults please see 7 pm class listing)

Our class for kids and youth is designed to teach one of our Earth Skills Topics each week. In addition, take a look at Field Exercise 1A - Exploring Potential Study Sites for an example of optional homework between classes. However, students can simply attend to enjoy the topics taught directly in class. It's simply important that each student meet these requirements: 1. Sincere Interest in Wolf Journey Classes. 2. Adherence to normal classroom etiquette. Students who do complete at least one field exercise from Wolf Journey in advance of each class will receive a personal review of their work, as well as tutoring to prepare them for subsequent field exercises. The online Wolf Journey Earth Skills Training Course guides students through field exercises that interest them, including those in: Volume I - Trail of the Naturalist Mentor; Volume II - Trail of the Traditional Herbalist; Volume III - Trail of Wildlife Tracker; Volume IV - Trail of the Survival Scout; Volume V - Trail of the Ancient Artisan; Volume VI - Trail of the Honorable Hunter; Volume VII - Trail of the Sustainable Pioneer; Volume VIII - Trail of the Outdoor Educator. We'll run class no matter the number of students (between 2 and 20 or so) and your student-teacher ratio will remain low, as Kim and other veteran instructors closest to you will join us to break groups into smaller circles (based on age, experience, and other factors) when necessary for efficient sharing and skills practice. Everyone can attend on a class-by-class basis for $15 (and $10 for additional family members), or for $10 per class if pre-registered for the remainder of the season. Parents may observe the first class their children attend, and are encouraged to email or call us at any time with any questions and requests for references. Lead instructor Chris Chisholm started teaching elementary aged children while he himself was just in high school, employed as an after-school gymnastics instructor and a summer camp music instructor in Ramstein & Landstuhl, Germany. In college, he taught all-girls middle school classes at the Working Boys Center / Family Unity Int'l in Quito, Ecuador. He became Washington State's youngest CD Counselor II - Youth Specialist in 1992-95, and taught Spanish at the Whatcom Hills Waldorf School from 1995-97 before starting Wolf Camp In order that we can prepare for the exact number of students, is very important that you register in advance through Meetup or at http://www.wolfcollege.com/wolfjourney/classpuy.html by 12:00 Noon before each class. You can also RSVP anytime before class begins by calling us at the cell phone number listed on our website. The topic and itinerary for this week is based on suggestions from students who shared the journaling work they did before last week's class, and may changed based on the "finds" that we all bring this week. For instance, if you harvested a plant that you need help processing and which we can all learn something from, let Chris know in advance so he can prepare for that. Otherwise, here's what he has in store for this week: 4:00 Based on a tradition that when sharing around the campfire in the olden days, we would often be working with our hands to create tools and materials needed in the coming seasons, so students will receive instruction to work on a craft such as making rope from raffia, cedar bark, or nettle stalks, or perhaps making a medicine pouch from scraps of leather. This is also a chance for continuing students to show new students the skills they've learned in the past (as teaching others really makes us learn the skills better:) while also giving us a chance to meet one another. 4:15 Once everyone has started a craft, Chris will share his study site experience, which this week is from Volume I - Trail of the Naturalist Mentor, Chapter 1 - Field Exercise 004 Celebrating Your Study Site. We may then divide into groups if necessary, based on experience, student progress on Wolf Journey field exercises, and group size so that everyone gets a chance to share about their own nature experience from the week. 4:30 Students will then have the chance to introduce themselves and share any experiences or insights from nature which took place over the previous week or month. Historically, this has been where many people experience their greatest learning, either from telling their own story and therefore processing what happened at their study site, or by receiving feedback from others who have experienced something similar in the past. During this time, all students who complete at least one field exercise from our Wolf Journey Earth Skills Training Course in advance of each class will receive a personal review of their work from our assistant instructors, as well as tutoring to prepare them for subsequent field exercises. 4:45 Those who are done sharing about their nature experiences will take this time to add to our Interactive Earth Skills Calendar which is designed to display when certain things happen in our bioregion. For instance, when did the Indian Plum bud and bloom this spring? When did the Western Red Cedar produce pollen cones? When did the Chinook Salmon start spawning in the streams? When did we have our first frost at sea level? When did we plant and harvest various crops in our garden? 5:00 The second hour of class is dedicated to learning a specific earth skills topic. Today we will start with Sensory Awareness exercises as we walk to find a group study site. 5:15 We'll play a couple of games that are designed to help students practice their Sensory Awareness skills, including the Owl Eyes, Deer Ears, Bear Nose, Snake Taste, Coon Hands, and Fox Walk. One of the games is the ever-popular Cougar, Fox & Hare. 5:30 Next we'll switch to a more inward game called Bear Nose, where students take time to smell all the foliage around our study site, then line up with eyes closed to practice identifying plants by smell. 5:45 Finally, we'll fox-walk back to the library, working on bird vocalizations and sampling wild edible and medicinal plants along the way, while also learning to identify poisonous plants. 6:00 Orientation for New Students who attended today will last up to 15 minutes after class. If this is your first day, please make arrangements to stay for a few minutes. Thanks, and we'll see you Thurssday!