Kickapoo Valley Forest School -

Happy New Year from everyone at KVFS! May 2024 bring you many outdoor adventures, growth, laughter, creativity and life balance!

When we are out on an adventure we often mark distances and boundaries with natural features, saying “you can run to the bur oak’ or ‘stop at the sumac’. In this way the children are learning to identify plants and trees, but they are also gaining hands-on real knowledge of their place. They know how to test branches for strength, which kinds of branches bend well for making a bow, how much water needs to be in sand in order for it to be moldable, how to balance a rudimentary seesaw and so much more. They know these things not because we drilled it into them, but because they have had the hands-on experience that lays the foundation for fundamental scientific knowledge. This hands-on, site specific knowledge is math, science, language arts all rolled into one. #kickapoovalleyforestschool #forestschool

Reminder: If you haven't already, please return all Wonderstate Coffee and Ceramic Mug orders in your child's folder or email to kvfs@lafarge.k12.wi.us on Tuesday, 11/28. Reach out if you have any questions!

As we head into our fall break, the KVFS staff wishes to share how thankful we are for the opportunity to teach and learn with your forest schoolers! Wishing everyone a safe fall break and a Happy Thanksgiving. See you back on Monday, November 27!

Are you a member of the Viroqua Food Coop? Don't forget to vote for Kickapoo Valley Forest School as a 2024 Give Where You Live recipient! Vote here: https://www.viroquafood.coop/

It is through care that love grows. As early childhood educators, we see that the most effective way of fostering deep respect for the natural world in children is giving them the time and space in their early years to come to love the earth. It is through fitting themselves into a hollow in the ground, through laying their faces against a pillow of moss and inhaling its scent, through feeling the branches of a tree hold them, and getting dirt under their fingernails and in their hair and mouths, that children come to love wild spaces. For every adult who now fights to protect a wild space, there was once a child who felt at home in a wild space. #forestteacher #outsidelearning #KVFS

Forest School Merchandise is available in many styles, colors and designs. Get yours (and your friends' and family's) today! Click here, or find the link for KVFS Merch Store on our home page! https://www.bonfire.com/store/kickapoo-valley-forest-school-store/

Overheard at Friday Pick Up: Visiting cousin to Forest Schooler: "You don't go to a normal school!" Forest Schooler: "I know. It's rare and I love it!"

KVFS' Governance Council members devote hours of their time each week to provide leadership for our school. This week is Wisconsin School Board Week so take time to thank a Governance Council member today! Current members include Anne Marie Fryer, Prudence Tippins, Laurie Drake, Jen Oium, Danielle Olson, Emily Schendel, Shawn Donovan, and Barb Sarnowski. Pictured are scenes from last week's Apple Social and Annual Meeting! #LearningFromTheOutsideIn

Thank you teachers, staff, students and families for a beautiful first day back to school! Enjoy the long weekend and we will see you all on Tuesday! #backtoschool #forestschool #lafargeschool #lafargewi #kickapoovalleyforestschool #learningoutside #optoutside

Thanks to everyone who turned out for the La Farge 4th of July parade! #forestschool #lafargewi #learningallthetime #forestschoolcommunity #publicforestschool #lafargeschooldistrict

Incoming four-year-old Forest Schoolers and their families enjoyed a beautiful morning playgroup today! Stories, mud kitchen, and exploration of some new natural play spaces in and around the La Farge School District Organic Garden made for a lovely time together. Thank you to Ms. Julia! #LearningFromTheOutsideIn #ALittleDirtNeverHurt

KVFS 1st graders have been so lucky to work with volunteer Laurel Lee this spring as a guest artist. After a few weeks of landscape drawing techniques, this morning the children packed their watercolors and took a hike, where they were prompted to paint something inspired by the pond. How wonderful it is to be a forest schooler! #LearningFromTheOutsideIn

"My feet touch the earth. My hands touch tall grasses. My face touches sky. I run through the morning. I am alive in this world." -from 'Breathe and Be' by Kate Coombs #outdooreducation #forestschool #kickapoovalleyforestschool #publicforestschool #optoutside #lafargewi #wisconsin

Are you enthusiastic about early childhood education and spending large parts of the day outside all year? KVFS is seeking more staff to join our collaborative team of 4K - 2nd grade educators serving young children in a public forest school charter. Join us in implementing a child-led, place-based and inquiry-based forest school curriculum where children explore, learn healthy risk-taking and grow into resilient individuals who care about our natural environment. #publicforestschool #kickapoovalleyforestschool #lafargeschooldistrict #learningoutside #learninginallweather #forestcshool #lafargewi #kickapoovalleywi

Early Childhood Education Majors from UWL visited KVFS with their professor Heidi Masters as part of the new class that Masters is offering called Learning with Nature. Students met with members of the KVFS Leadership Team for a Q&A and to learn about the ways in which KVFS is different from a traditional public school. They then hiked out in the field to have a guided observation of KVFS children at play. #forestschool #outdoorlearning #highereducation #UWL #teachertraining #KVFS #KVR #kickapoovalleyforestschool #lafargewi #learning

Intrepid hikers make their way to that special place, the creek! The sun is shining, the birds and frogs are loud. Hands and feet are finding the ground. Finding their own loud voices! Gazes attune to the immense detail all around. Scan the waters surface and then reach through to unearth a colorful stone. What will they build today? What will they build tomorrow? This creek, like many creeks, has been a place of learning for a long, long time. #forestschool #kvfs #lafargewi #optoutside #learningoutdoors #natureschool #publicforestschool #kickapoovalley #kvr #leaningallaround

While it is fun to find your food outside, it's also great to grow some too. We received a plethora of seeds from a Seed Savers grant to help us grow the school garden at the district school. Forest school students helped to plant vegetable and flower starts that will be transplanted into the garden late May. They also planted a mixture of flowers particularly appealing to bees to plant at home. :) #americorps #schoolgarden #springtime #learningoutside #optoutside #publicforestschool #kickapoovalleyforestschool #lafargeschooldistrict #wisconsin #lafargewi

"...we look forward to watching these forest school children grow into confident nature enthusiasts with flexible minds and bodies, compassion for each other and the earth, and the physical, mental and emotional skills to help them step successfully into the wide and beautiful world." -from the "Owlet" issue 2, a seasonal KVFS publication #learning #forestschool #publicforestschool #unitedstatesforestschool #kvfs #lafargwi #lafargeschooldistrict #optoutside #educatinginthegreatoutdoors #kickapoovalleyreserve #kickapoovalleyforestschool #natureisourclassroom

"To create a living relationship with nature and each other is a most essential part of our education today. When young children have this opportunity, it later translates into creating a healthy economic and cultural life as well as genuine caring for the well-being of others and the earth. " - from the "Owlet" issue 3, a seasonal KVFS publication #natureschool #forestschool #publicforestschool #unitedstatesforestschool #kvfs #lafargwi #lafargeschooldistrict #optoutside #educatingintheoutdoors #kickapoovalleyreserve #kickapoovalleyforestschool #natureisourclassroom