**Forest Forays:\
Exploring the Pieces, Patterns\
and Processes of Barnard Brook**

**An interdisciplinary unit for 6th grade by Rob Hanson\
The Pomfret School, Pomfret, Vermont**

"I have traveled a good deal in Concord..." *Henry David Thoreau*

For most, embarking on a journey implies moving through a landscape in
search of something or someone of import: understanding river and
mountain, farm and farmer. Yet, as Thoreau clearly expressed, this
knowledge may be obtained just as well by staying put and letting rivers
and mountains come to you.

Forest Forays afford students an hour each week at make such a steadfast
excursion. Students begin their foray be walking a mile-long stretch of
Barnard Brook at The Pomfret School. During this first foray, students
choose a "Power Spot" of their own: a place on the bank of the brook
which draws them. Then, over a course of ten months, they stay put and
engage in a variety of ways of journeying through their spot. Central to
this journey is the discovery of the "pieces, patterns, and processes"
of their Power Spot through such activities as writing field journal
observations, mapping their site, sketching the landscape, tracking,
writing poetry, creating their personal tree field guide, trapping and
studying insects, and creating natural sculptures using stone and wood.
From their spot, summer, autumn, winter, and spring come to each student
in turn allowing them to directly experience and carefully observe the
continuity and change of this profound cycle.

The Forest Foray journey will culminate with two events. The first, a
solitary overnight stay at their spot, will allow students to directly
experience and reflect on another powerful natural cycle: day and night.
Finally, from their collected Forest Foray writings, the class will
perform a coming of age SpeakChorus for the Pomfret community at their
graduation ceremony in June. This final event will occur on the banks of
the brook, providing the appropriate babbling accompaniment for the
Chorus.

The reader may regard the accompanying Forest Foray tasks as the
thoughtfully planned itinerary of a journey by which children travel a
good deal in Pomfret.

**Vermont Standards and Learning Opportunities Addressed**

Standards and Evidence

1.12 Personal Essays

aa Relate personal experiences to concepts, patterns and ideas.

b Trace the process of reflection, making connections between thought
and experience; and

c Establish a commonplace, concrete occasion as a context for the
reflection.

d Maintain a thoughtful voice and style.

1.15 Expression: Speaking

> Students use verbal and nonverbal skills to express themselves
> effectively. This is evident when students:

a Share information.

> d Make effective use of such devices as pace, volume, stress,
> enunciation, and pronunciation;
>
> e Use language expressively and persuasively; and
>
> f Constructively express preferences, feelings, and needs.

1.16 Artistic Dimensions

> Students use a variety of forms, such as dance, music, theater, and
> visual arts, to create projects that are appropriate in terms of the
> following dimensions:
>
> Skill Development: Projects exhibit elements and techniques of the art
> form, including expression, that are appropriate to the intent of the
> product or performance.
>
> Reflection and Critique: Students improve upon products and
> performances through self-reflection and outside critique, using
> detailed comments that employ the technical vocabulary of the art
> form.
>
> Making Connections: Students relate various type of arts knowledge and
> skills within and across the disciplines.
>
> Approach to Work: Students safely approach their media, solve
> technical problems as they arise, creatively generate ideas, and
> cooperate with ensemble members where applicable.

1.23 Information Literacy: Poetry

> In writing poetry, students use a variety of forms. This is evident
> when students:

a Write poems with a purpose and an awareness of audience; and

b Use words for their sounds and texture, as well as their meaning

c Use figurative language and descriptive words and phrases in their
poems;

d Write poems that express mood, thought, or feeling.

Arts, Language, and Literature

5.12 Students participate as members of a literate community, talking
about books, ideas, and writing.

5.33 Students use aspects of voice -- including volume diction, pause,
tempo, and inflection -- to enhance a role.

Science, Math, and Technology

7.13 Students understand the characteristics of organisms, see patterns
of similarity and differences among living organisms, understand the
role of evolution, and recognize the interdependence of all systems that
support life. This is evident when students:

b Describe and show examples of the interdependence of all systems that
support life and apply them to local systems.

**Unit Overview**

**\
Essential Question:**

Overall: Who am I?\
Forest Foray: Who am I in this place? What do the pieces, patterns, and
processes of Barnard Brook mean to me? What should they mean to others?

  ------ ----------------------------------------------------------------
         **Forest Forays Through the Seasons**

         Summer

         First Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Choosing Your Site

         Second Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Power Spot Free Write Journaling, Sketching,
         and Music

         Third Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Sketching, and Music

         Autumn

         Fourth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Mapping your site/ Music

         Fifth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Evidence of Animals and Humans

         Sixth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Earth Window Haiku

         Seventh Foray: Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical
         Park\
         Learning Activity: Ranger-guided forest activity/Power Spot
         selections, journaling, poems, art

         Eighth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Senses Hunt

         Ninth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: I wonder.../recorder/journaling

         Winter/Spring

         Tenth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Personalized Tree Field Guide

         Eleventh Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Prose Journaling: Learning From
         Nature/Sharing Your Site with a Friend

         Twelfth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Muir's Stickeen/Animal Riddles

         Spring

         Thirteenth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Insects, Spiders and Other Creatures

         Fourteenth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Personalized Tree Field Guide

         Fifteenth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: finding Pieces, Patterns, and Processes

         Sixteenth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Reading the Forest Landscape Quest at
         Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

         Seventeenth Foray:\
         Learning Activity: Welcoming the Night

         Community Forest Foray SpeakChorus Performance\
         Learning Activity: Forest Foray SpeakChorus Script Writing and
         Rehearsals

         Field Trip: Vermont Institute of Natural Science\
         Learning Activity: Welcoming the Night

         Field Trip: Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology
  ------ ----------------------------------------------------------------

**Fifth Foray\
Mapping Evidence of Animals and Humans**

Autumn

Search for pieces of evidence of animals and humans. This may take any
form: tracks, artifacts, scat, pine cone middens, larvae casings, direct
observations, or a host of other signs. Remember, animals come in many
shapes and sizes! Neatly record your discoveries on your map.

Finally, infer or hypothesize what processes (reasons) may explain the
pieces and their locations. If possible, support your inferences by
citing patterns (past and present) you may find. Record your findings
and hypotheses in your Forest Foray Journal.

*What Nature Teaches*

*"A tree holding up a rock shows me to let people help you when you are
in need and not let your ego rise and try to do something you cannot do
by yourself. Also, help people when in need. Helping a friend can mean
so much to them, especially when they are desperate.*" (Student)

**Eighth Foray\
Senses Hunt, Questioning, Adopt-a-Habitat Journaling**

Autumn

**Senses Hunt**\
Find the best place to listen for nature sounds. Then, see how long it
takes to hear at least three different sounds. Name this place and mark
it on your map. See if you can figure out what is making the sounds.
Write down the sounds in your Field Journal. Remember to begin your
entry with the date, time, setting, and present weather.

Now describe a bird\'s call or any other natural sound that you hear,
using words or letters. For example, the gathering call of the
California Quail has been described as \"Chi-ca'-go!\" or
\"Come-right-here!\" and the sound of a seal as \"Arhk, Arhk.\"
Phonetically write the sound you hear.

**Hot and Cold**\
Use your hands to find the warmest and coldest places and mark each of
them on the map. In your journal, explain how these places change during
the night.

**The Nose Knows**\
Stop at two different places. Close your eyes and focus your attention
on the sense of smell. Find two different smells and describe them in
your journal. See if you can figure out where they come from.

*What Nature Teaches Me*

*"The river taught me to keep going, go with the flow because it always
is moving even under ice in the winter. It can be the same with a tough
problem. You might get stuck and come back later or get some help. If
you work through the problem you will feel proud of yourself and you
will be confident to tackle the next problem that you may come across.
The river also taught me that you shouldn\'t be pulled under by
depression, pressure, anger, or frustration. If you are, then you should
try to calm down or, if the instigator is a person, try to think about
their good point, not their negative points.*

*"The trees taught me not to break under pressure. If you are over
burdened you should put some of whatever is your burden down instead of
yelling at everyone and being really on the verge of super frustration.
During winter the trees are burdened by the snow. If there is too much
they will let some of it drop off instead of having their branches snap
off".* (Student)