Bike Meet Up

pg. 2

October Events

pg. 3

Snack Ideas pg. 4

Agate Picking

with Kids pg. 5

October 2016 Volume 3 #1

Hartley Nature Center 3001 Woodland Ave Duluth, MN 55803

218.724.6735 www.hartleynature.org

Halloween We’ll celebrate Halloween at preschool with costumes, songs, and fun in the woods. Children are welcome to wear their costumes to preschool on

the following days: M/W/F AM & M/W PM & M/W/F full day — costume day on Oct. 31 T/TH AM & PM & T/TH full day — costume day on Oct. 27

Howl-O-Ween at Hartley

Come join us at Hartley on Oct. 29th for our annual Howl-o-ween event! Pre-registration is required so stop in at the office or call 724-6735 to reserve your spot in the morning or afternoon session. Cost is $20/family.

Bike Meet Up

2 OWL October 2016

Sing-a-long Songs

Slippery Fish: Slippery Fish, Slippery Fish Sliding through the water Slippery Fish, Slippery Fish… Gulp….Gulp….Gulp! Oh No! It’s been eaten by….a….

Tuna Fish (flashing through the water) Octopus (squiggling in the water)

Great White Shark (lurking in the water)

Humongous whale, humongous whale spouting in the water Humongous whale, humongous whale gulp…..gulp…...gulp…… (spoken) “Buuuuurp, excuse me!”

Tiny Tim I have a little turtle, his name is Tiny Tim, I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim. He drank up all the water. He ate up all the soap. And now he’s sick in bed with a bubble in his throat. Bubble, bubble, bubble (x4) Pop!

Have an idea for an article? Contact your child’s teachers with your idea and get signed

up to have your article appear in a future OWL.

Want to see more pictures of our preschool day? Check out our social media sites:

Instagram: hncpreschool We also have a website with lots of great

information, forms, and pictures! Check it out at: http://hartleynaturepreschool.weebly.com/

Preschool mountain bike meet up at Lester Park on Saturday, Oct. 1, 9am.

Meet at 9am at the parking lot at the top of 7 Bridges Road. Bikers will head down the Duluth Traverse Trail in a large group and end at the playground to play together. Training wheels are not recommended for the mountain bike trails. Parents, you’ll want to be on bikes, too. If the trail is too much for

your family, you can head down the road. Don’t forget your helmet, water, and a snack. (Rain day is Sunday, Oct. 2, if the trails are closed from rain on Saturday. Same time, same place.)

Come bike and play at Lester with your preschool friends! Snack break on the trail

Fall Mazes and Farms Engwalls corn maze—runs weekends through Oct. 310

10am-6pm visit www.engwallscornmaze.com for more info

Simek’s Farm– Runs weekends through Oct. 23

10am– 5pm visit www.simeksfarm.com for directions and prices

Events Oct 7-9 Bayfield Apple Fest

Visit the Bayfield chamber of commerce page for more details.

Oct. 15 UMD Homecoming Parade 10 AM On the UMD campus

Oct. 20-23 Pumpkin Express Train Ride Visit http://northshoresenicrailroad.org for more info

Oct 15 and 22 Boo and the Zoo—10AM– 4PM Purchase tickets online at www.lszoo.org

Oct 29 Howl-o-ween at Hartley 10-noon or 1-3

Visit www.hartleynature.org for more details Oct 29 Halloween Carnival (Duluth Kids Club)

AM or PM options Visit

http://duluthkidsclub.org/halloween-carnival-duluth-kidsclub-2016/ for more info

Ongoing Events Nature Nook. Mondays, 10-11:30am. Hartley Nature

Center. $4 member child/$7 non-members. Main Library Storytime. Toddlers: Wednesdays, 10:15

am. Preschoolers: Wednesdays, 11:15 am. Free. Preschool Storytime. Tuesdays, 10:15 am. Mount Royal

branch library. Bedtime Storytime. Wednesdays, 6:30 pm. West Duluth

branch library. Vista Fleet– $5 Tuesdays

Play Gym at Duluth Heights 9:30am– 12pm Free at the Duluth Heights Community Center

33 Mulberry St. Call Pamela with questions at 218-730-4388

Event Calendar

Howl-O-Ween! at

Hartley Nature Center

Saturday, October 29

Cost: $20 per Family (pre-registration required)

An open-house style event for families

with children ages birth-age 8.

10:00-noon or 1:00-3:00 Call 724-6735 to register

Crafts & Activities

Games

Trail walk with costumed critters

Treats

October 2016 OWL 3

Playing in

the storm

damaged

Secret

Forest

A beautiful morning playing in Fairmont Forest

Healthy Preschool Snack Ideas

4 OWL October 2016

Wondering what sorts of snacks Hartley Nature Preschoolers typically bring to give them energy to play and stay warm and healthy outdoors? Check out this list for ideas.

Reminder: All snacks must be PEANUT and TREE NUT FREE to protect our children and staff with allergies! Fresh veggies with or without a dipping sauce like hummus or ranch

Try: sliced peppers, cherry tomatoes, sliced cabbage, carrot sticks, pea pods Fresh fruit, whole or sliced

Try: Apples, pears, clementines/mandarins, melon Cinnamon apples were a favorite last year

Dried fruit or trail mix (without peanuts or tree nuts!)

Granola bars or energy bars Fruit leather

Squeeze pouches

Applesauce or fruit cups

Crackers with cheese or meat Popcorn and/or pretzels

Sunflower or soy butter with fruit or crackers Yogurt with or without toppings (fruit, granola, etc)

Cheese sticks, slices, rounds, or cubes Deli meat or summer sausage slices or rounds

We’ll share a healthy snack idea in each newsletter. Let us know if you have a hit snack so we can share it with other families! Also, if healthy snacks are your thing, you could be the one to write the monthly snack column. Let Kaitlin know if you are interested in taking this on at psdirector@hartleynature.org

More snack reminders: *Pack a spoon if your child needs one to eat snack *Wash and peel fruit ahead of time *Juice boxes or milk are fine to send but please also send a water bottle *Snacks need to be able to be stored and eaten at room temperature or put a cooler pack in the lunch box *Cut food that poses a choking hazard into bit-sized pieces

A huge thank you to all of the preschool families that volunteered during two volunteer events to help clean up the playscape from all of the damage sustained in the July windstorm. Thanks to our volunteers, the playscape was ready to go on day one of preschool and we have been there daily since. Volunteers planted trees, hauled sand and woodchips, created paths, stripped bark off logs, and sunk the logs to create some vertical relief and climbing structures. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Fantastic Volunteers

Rock Picking with Young Children by Julie Bates

Children naturally LOVE rocks. They are durable, portable, colorful, plentiful, and come in all shapes and sizes. We are lucky to live in a place where rocks can be found anywhere and everywhere. The local beaches of Lake Superior are just one example of a great place to bring young children to play with and explore rocks of all types. Inland lakes and streams, gravel roads, parks, parking lots, and even our own backyards also provide great opportunities for kids to look for rocks. Another rock-related activity which has recently grown in popularity is "agate picking". This is a form of rock hunting where people look specifically for Lake Superior agates (which is the official state gemstone of Minnesota). Agates are prized for their transparent red color with beautiful swirling bands of white, orange and red. Lake Superior agates were formed up to a billion years ago within air bubbles of ancient lava flows in the Lake Superior region. Glaciers eventually moved through and deposited these semi-precious gemstones across most of Minnesota, Iowa, and parts of Wisconsin. As the popularity of agate picking has grown, public access to local gravel pits has become more difficult and many pickers are now met with "no trespassing" signs. And Lake Superior beaches near Duluth are often very picked over by locals and tourists, making it hard to find agates. If you want to hurt for agates near the Lake, try going after a storm or in the spring when fresh agates may have been washed ashore and the other rock pickers haven’t been out. Or, find an out of the way beach up the shore that hasn’t been as picked over. Go to the beach when the sun is low and walk into the sun, looking for the red glow that could indicate an agate. With practice, you and your child can develop an eye for spotting agates amid all the other rocks. Recently, an enterprising young couple has come up with a perfect solution. They have developed a business called "Get Pickin'" at their home in Cloquet, MN (20 minutes south of Duluth). They truck in loads of sorted rock from a local gravel pit and have it deposited right in their front yard. For a fee of $10.00, you are provided with a small cloth bag to fill with your own found treasures of jasper, quartz, fossils, Lake Superior agates, or any other rock that appeals to you. I have visited a few times in the past and was impressed with the knowledge and hands-on interaction the owners have with their customers. This is a great place to bring young children because it is a safe and fun environment with lots of space to climb on the rock piles and search for treasures. Adults will also find it enjoyable, whether you are new to rock hunting or a serious agate picker.

Owner Beckie Tikkanen explained that "Get Pickin" isn't only just about the rocks, but is also a great chance for kids and their families to spend time outside together. Many times the kids are more interested in looking at spiders and insects that hide in the rock piles, or just want to dig in the rocks with small shovels or other hand tools. If you go, make sure you bring your own hand tools as well as a water bottle with a sprayer (so you can clean the rocks to get a better look at them). Get Pickin' will be open until roughly mid-October, when it will close up for the season. For more information you can go to their website at: www.getpickin.com or give them a call at 651-387-1894. Check out their Facebook page as well to see some great photos!

Fictional Books about Rocks If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian A Rock is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston Rhoda’s Rock Hunt by Molly Beth Griffin Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry Non-Fiction Books about Rocks Amazing Agates: Lake Superior’s Banded Gemstone (field guide) by Scott Wolter Rock Picker’s Guide to the North Shore (field guide) by Mark Stensaas Rocks, Fossils, and Arrowheads by Laura Evert Let’s Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans

October 2016 OWL 5

www.agatecity.com