Q: What are your favorite activities, hobbies or unique talents? A: Some of my favorite hobby activities are gardening, playing music, painting, beekeeping, paddling, reading Shakespeare, and exploring the woods.
Q: What is a favorite childhood memory of time spent in nature? A: Favorite childhood memories are times spent on my family's farm here in Driftless WI - scrambling up gullies, folding myself into mossy roots and rocks, taking stream walks, stargazing on warm summer nights, playing in the snow all winter long, and watching the gullies rush with water every spring. The magic of my childhood came from time spent in the woods and veggie fields. I love being able to share these types of moments with children at KVFS.
Q: What is your "why" for working at KVFS? A: It is an honor to encourage and inspire curiosity, gratitude, observation, play, and respect for the natural world. Adults who are dedicated stewards of the Earth grew from children who once romped around in the wild spaces of the world. Each day at KVFS we discover more about ourselves, each other, our nonhuman kin, and the natural spaces we love.
1 day ago, KVFS
Mark your calendars for one of the most enjoyable nights of the year!
4 days ago, KVFS
With our school year underway we wanted to introduce our amazing staff! Meet Hannah Bigjohn one of our two 4K teachers.
Q: What are your favorite activities, hobbies or unique talents?
A: Over the past few years, my hobbies have shifted as I’ve focused on raising my daughters. Physical activity is important in my life, so my days are generally filled with playing and moving as much as I can. I love sunrise trail runs and chasing my kids around the garden. We are getting quite good at naming the trees, bugs, wild plants, and birds around our property. I also enjoy having a sauna with close friends as a way to recharge, and connect. Being in two book clubs keeps me honest and on top of my reading.
Q: What is a favorite childhood memory of time spent in nature?
A: I have so many that have shaped my path! Canoeing and doing 'all things seasonal' with my family in Lac du Flambeau, cross-country skiing through quiet pine forests, hiking off-trail with my dad in Hixon Forest every autumn (to "chase deer"), and family camping trips are all highlights. But my favorite memories are actually the small, everyday ones: walking two blocks from my house to the nearby bike trail with my friend Sammie. We’d spend entire days there building forts, playing house, and collecting bugs for my bug collection. That unstructured play in the woods really shaped my love for the outdoors.
Q: What is your "why" for working at KVFS?
A: I’ve been teaching for 12 years and have seen education across five different schools, and what drew me to the Forest School is both its philosophy and the incredible team of leaders and educators here. What keeps me here now is the children and the unique experience I get to have with them each and every day. Guiding them as we hike, explore, and learn about our relatives (plants, animals, stones, water...) fills me with energy. In our modern world, slowing down to pay attention is a skill lost when we are distracted by all the other options. It feels like the most important work now to model and guide our future generation to do exactly that: notice and pay attention to their natural world. Their curiosity, joy, honest humor, and resilience make this work profoundly rewarding.
16 days ago, KVFS
Our 3-yo and 0-4 early childhood playgroups are starting back up! Drop in this Friday morning (September 19) for our open house, and make sure you're registered for our regular playgroups starting Friday, September 26. Interested in helping out? We are looking for adults to support our 3yo program. Reach out to Meaghan Gustafson at gustafsonm@lafarge.k12.wi.us for more information!
19 days ago, Meaghan Gustafson
Reminder: No School Friday. Happy Vernon County Fair!
24 days ago, KVFS
Reminder: No school on Friday, 3/28 and Monday, 3/31. See you in April, Snails!
6 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
KVFS will be closed Wednesday, 3/5, due to the forecast.
7 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
La Farge Schools and Kickapoo Valley Forest School will have a 2-hour delay on Tuesday, February 18.
8 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
Ever wonder why we chose a snail for our logo at KVFS? The snail represents so many interesting and important things for our Forest School.
The snail reminds us to sloooooow down, use our senses, and observe things closely- just like children do. The snail carries with it all it needs to survive comfortably in any environment and in an all-weather-nature-immersion school, we'll often be just like that snail!
And what better way to celebrate the snail-riffic joys of KVFS than with terrific silent auction items for this weekend's Heart of Winter event?
8 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
Registration for incoming 3K and 4K families is this Friday!
8 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
Enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is live!
Click on the enrollment button on our website!
kickapoovalleyforestschool.org
8 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
Monday, January 20 is a planned teacher inservice day. We will kick off second semester on Tuesday, January 21!
9 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
If you are a Viroqua Food Coop member we'd love for you to vote for KVFS in the for the "Give Where you Live" program now open! https://www.viroquafood.coop/gwyl
Your support matters to KVFS and is so appreciated!
11 months ago, Meaghan Gustafson
The KVFS Governance Council is excited to invite you to Music in the Park on Monday, August 26.
Loosey Stone, a local band featuring our very own teacher of the Oaks group, Ms. Rose, will be performing.
Walking Tacos and other refreshments will be sold, with proceeds to support KVFS!
Let's fill the park and show support for KVFS in excitement for a new school year!
about 1 year ago, Meaghan Gustafson
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
― John Lubbock, The Use Of Life
Yes, it's true! Rest is so important at Forest School. After practicing times tables or hiking on an extra challenging trail, finding a branch to hold you or a hollowed-out log to nap in, is a real treat!
#forestschool
#kvfs
#lafargewi
#optoutside
#learningoutside
#wisconsinforestschool
Enjoy your last day of spring break tomorrow, Snails! Tomorrow is a teacher inservice day. We look forward to seeing you back at school on Tuesday, April 2nd for the home stretch of the school year - is spring at forest school the best season at forest school?
over 1 year ago, Meaghan Gustafson
Interested in Forest School? February is enrollment month! Join us this Saturday from 10-11:30 to see our forest schooling spaces, meet staff and ask questions. We hope you'll join us.
over 1 year ago, KVFS
"Can you hear and feel a chickadee’s cold-weather chatter, the special crunch of snow beneath boots on a frosty walk when the temperature dips below zero, or the way hail makes pitter-patter noise on frozen ground?...The winter landscape lends itself to tuning in and noticing what quiet feels like. In forest school, we are taking time this season to listen in with more of ourselves, and in turn our world gives us so much to pay attention to." - from "the Owlet" issue 3, a KVFS publication
#winterquiet
#listeningskills
#forestschool
#lafargewi
#kickapoovalleyforestschool
#belowzero
#outdooreducation
#optoutside
#publicforestschool
over 1 year ago, KVFS
Hot off the presses, our Winter Edition of the Owlet! Head over to our website for a clickable link (scroll to the bottom to the "News" section).
