Educator Spotlight: Robin, Lead Teacher @Theler

"In October we experienced the shift from chilly days to outright downpours and strong winds, with the water levels at Theler reaching all time highs. Despite the crazy wind, we celebrated our first location day near the Salmon Center!
At our windy location I was very surprised by how little accommodation our three and four year olds needed. They were happy to be there and used their time in many creative ways to explore and enjoy their environment. They huddled around the pretend fire with tea, telling stories, climbing mulch piles, finding fungus, navigating lake-sized puddles to splash in, or exploring the creeks and seeing our first salmon in Sweetwater Creek. We even visited the Salmon Center barnyard animals!

Hazel decided that she needed to collect all the water from a drain to save it for the summer when it would be most needed. Some found creatures to care for- Charlie found a defenseless slug who needed a shelter. Many found the simple joy of standing under a rain shower the best way to pass the time. Many children chose to listen to story time from TA Kelli.

Wild animal sightings were also abundant! We had the pleasure of seeing seals and many seabirds, including a Great Blue Heron chased away by a bald eagle from a high tree perch!
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If there is any take away from this past month, it is that children have an extremely resilient sense of fun, adventure, and discovery. From an outside perspective- weather-wise- it might seem like a challenging time to run an outdoor early-childhood program, but we find, time and again, that the number of fun activities is as vast as ever!"

A fully vaccinated Robin experimented with blowing bubbles through a sifter away from children.