The Forest Fridays program resumes on Friday, April 8! Teachers may sign up to take their students to the Garrison School Forest on Friday afternoons starting this week.

Local naturalist and environmental educator Pete Salmansohn expressed his excitement about the Forest Fridays program. "I'm so glad to see a reconnection with the School Forest," Salmansohn said.

Salmansohn, is an Education Coordinator with the National Audubon Society's Project Puffin Seabird Restoration Program. He's also an educator for the Hudson Highland Land Trust River of Words program. Each summer, he teaches at the Audubon camp at Hog Island in Maine. Salmansohn shared his favorite places to teach within the Garrison School Forest.

"You know where the School Forest entrance at 135 Snake Hill Road is? You make an immediate left, and there's a little stream there," Salmansohn said. "That's one of my favorite places. Even though that stream is really little, there's a lot in there. There's salamanders and frogs and fish, and all sorts of interesting water insects."

Salmansohn said he also enjoys taking students to the Blueberry Swamp. "It's a nice wetland, and it gives the kids a feeling of being away because it takes kind of a hike to get there," Salmansohn said. "Probably my favorite place is a vernal pool in the vicinity of blueberry swamp. I've taken kids there in the early spring to see breeding wood frogs and spotted salamanders.
 
"The South and the North Redoubts are wonderful places to go, as well, because they give children and adults alike a phenomenal panorama, and a feeling for the landscape," Salmansohn said. "Those sites show us just how lucky we are to live in an extraordinarily beautiful place."

BY STACY RICCI

Growing up in Garrison myself, I've always loved exploring local trails in the woods. When Forest Fridays started up this past fall, I jumped at the chance to take the kindergarten children on their first official trip there. On our first visit in mid-October, we went for a walk to observe all the different things around us (colors, sounds, textures, types of leaves, etc.). We also brought Mrs. VanDekker with us and did a mindfulness/listening activity. The children had so much fun that we went up a second time that same month.

On our second trip, we followed a different trail and just walked as far as time would allow to explore a new place before having to double back. This time we brought along clear plastic bags... we wanted to see if we could collect different colors and shades of the rainbow through collecting different types of leaves. The kids were so excited to show off their findings and genuinely had a great time on each visit! The nice thing about Forest Friday is you don't necessarily have to have a specific plan – you can simply just explore, go for a walk, and enjoy being outdoors.


​Photos © 2015 Stacy Ricci

After hearing the pitch regarding Forest Fridays, the idea received support. Members of both the Environmental Education Committee and the School Board agreed that a Forest Fridays program would provide a great opportunity for teachers to use the Garrison School Forest as an outdoor classroom.

During a nine-week period in fall 2015, teachers in all grade levels took their students to the School Forest to engage in lessons in a variety of disciplines. A bus transported students and teachers to a School Forest entrance adjacent to Snake Hill Road. And, the bus returned the students and teachers to the school following their outings. Students expressed great enthusiasm for Forest Fridays. On a warm, sunny afternoon in early November, first grade students found a frog in the stream and drew it in their journals. This was a highlight of their forest exploration that day, which Griffiths chronicled in the video above.

The Forest Fridays program will resume on Friday, April 8.

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Griffiths, John. "Forest Fridays." 2015. MP4 file.