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Day: November 4, 2014
Visiting Nature – Chicagoland fieldtrips
Lucky for us Chicagoans, taking a walk in nature is not as an illusive a plan as it might seem. In our town we are blessed with numerous parks, forest- wood- and praire- preserves, quarries, river walks, beaches, ponds, aviaries, nature centers and museums, lake front trails, nature trails, and easiest to find, beautiful neighborhood streets. That’s right, you don’t need a specific destination in mind to take a nature walk. Nature is all around us. If you look closely, it’s overwhelmingly everywhere. Just the other day I was walking through the high rises of downtown on a building to building pavement street. There was only a narrow strip of grasses growing between the cracks in the sidewalk. Though, there it was…a dragonfly. Probably the largest one I have ever seen. Vibrant and iridescent greens, blues, oranges, purples, and yellows. I might have thought I was dreaming. It spurred in me a glimmer of hope, that no matter where I am, to stop, look, take a second Making Every Moment Count by finding nature anywhere I go.
Young children are great explorers, they seemingly wander the world on an endless scavenger hunt. They notice the youngest blade of grass, the largest black ant, the most beautiful fall leaf. If only we could find time to appreciate each discovery with them, acknowledge their observant nature and in the moment agenda.
For more information on any of these locations email us. maplewoodcdc@gmail.com
However, if you are looking for a place to visit, check out our favorite Nature spots around the Chicagoland area.
Eden Place Nature Center
Peggy Notebart Museum
Bloomingdale Trail (aka The 606)
North Park Village Nature Center
Garfield Park Conservatory
Emily Oaks Nature Center
North Pond Nature Sanctuary
Indian Boundary Nature Center
Lincoln Park Conservatory
Hyde Park
Hombolt Park
Logan Blvrd
Montrose Beach
Montrose Aviary
The Grove
Chicago Woman’s Garden
Promontory Point
Loyola Park
Rainbow Beach
12th Street Beach and Park
18th Street Beach
Heller Nature Center
Chicago Botanical Gardens
Morton Arboretum
Lake Shore Bike Path
Deerfield Trail
Maxwell Street Community Garden
Taylor Street Community Garden
Green House Community Garden
Machine Park Community Garden
Ontario Riverfront Park
China Towns Tom Ping Park
Jens Jensen Park
Grant Park
Washington Park
Portage Park
Marquette Park
Jackson Park
Lincoln Park
Douglas Park
Columbus Park
Calumet Park
Burnham Park
Ned Brown Forrest Preserve
Arie Crown Forest trail system
Burnham Greenway trail system
Busse Woods bicycle trail
Centennial and I&M Canal trail system
Deer Grove trail system
Des Plaines trail system
Des Plaines River Trail follows the river through much of Cook County and Lake County.
North Branch trail system
Palos trail system
Poplar Creek trail system
Sag Valley trail system
Salt Creek trail system
Thorn Creek trail system
Tinley Creek trail system
Region 1: Northwest Cook County
Poplar Creek Division
Includes: Spring Lake Preserve, Crabtree Preserve, Arthur L. Janura Preserve
Activity Areas · Barrington Road Pond · Beverly Lake · Bluff Springs Fen · Bode East · Bode Lake · Crabtree Nature Center · Great Egret Family Picnic Area · Old Stover Trailhead · Penny Road Pond · Poplar Creek Bicycle Lot · Poplar Creek Equestrian Parking · Poplar Creek Model Airplane Flying Field · Shoe Factory Road Woods · Spring Creek Valley Headwaters · Spring Lake Nature Preserve
Trail Systems · Crabtree Preserve (Paved) · Poplar Creek (Paved) · Poplar Creek (Unpaved) · Spring Lake (Unpaved)
Region 2: Northwest Cook County
Northwest Division
Includes: Deer Grove Preserve, Jens Jensen Preserve, Paul Douglas Preserve, Ned Brown Preserve
Activity Areas · Baker’s Lake Overlook · Baker’s Lake Younghusband Prairie · Busse Forest-Central · Busse Forest-North · Busse Forest-South · Busse Forest-West · Busse Forest Elk Pasture · Busse Forest Main Dam · Busse Lake Beisner Road Access · Busse Lake Boating Center · Camp Alphonse · Camp Reinberg · Deer Grove · Deer Grove-East · Deer Grove-West · Deer Grove Lake · Grassy Ridge Meadow · Highland Woods Driving Range · Highland Woods Golf Course · Ned Brown Meadow · Woodland Meadow
Trail Systems · Busse Forest (Paved) · Deer Grove (Paved) · Deer Grove (Unpaved) · Paul Douglas (Paved)
Region 3: North Cook County
Indian Boundary Division, Des Plaines Division
Includes: Seymour Simon Preserve
Activity Areas · Allison Woods · Axehead Lake · Beck Lake · Belleau Lake · Big Bend Lake · Blandings Grove Family Picnic Area · Blue Beach Family Picnic Area · Camp Baden Powell · Camp Dan Beard · Camp Ground Road Woods · Camp Pine Woods · Catherine Chevalier Woods · Che-Che-Pin-Qua Woods · Chippewa Woods · Dam No. 1 Woods-East · Dam No. 1 Woods-West · Dam No. 2 Woods · Dam No. 4 Woods-East · Evans Field · Fullerton Woods · Fullerton Woods Family Picnic Area · Harry H. Semrow Driving Range · Indian Boundary Family Picnic Area · Indian Boundary Golf Course · Iroquois Woods · Irving Park Road Canoe Landing · Jerome Huppert Woods · John E. Traeger Family Picnic Area · Kloempken Prairie · Lake Avenue Woods-East · Lake Avenue Woods-West · Lions Woods · Massasauga Family Picnic Area · Northwestern Woods · Potawatomi Lake · Potawatomi Woods · River Bend Family Picnic Area · River Trail Nature Center · Robinson Homestead Family Picnic Area · Robinson Woods-South · Schiller Model Airplane Flying Field · Schiller Playfield · Schiller Pond · Schiller Woods-East · Schiller Woods-South · Schiller Woods-West · Sunset Bridge Meadow
Trail System · Des Plaines (Unpaved)
Region 4: North Cook County
North Branch Division, Skokie Division
Includes: William N. Erickson Preserves, George F. Nixon Forest, Frank Bobrytzke Forest, Clayton F. Smith Preserves, Roman Pucinski Preserve
Activity Areas · Billy Caldwell Golf Course · Blue Star Memorial Woods · Bunker Hill · Caldwell Woods · Calvin R. Sutker Grove · Camp Adahi · Camp Glenview · Chick Evans Golf Course · Chipilly Woods · Edgebrook Golf Course · Edgebrook Woods · Erickson Woods · Forest Glen Woods · Forest Way Grove · Glen Grove Equestrian Center · Glenview Woods · Harms Woods-Central · Harms Woods-North · Harms Woods-South · Irene C. Hernandez Family Picnic Area · LaBagh Woods · Linne Woods · Little House of Glencoe · Mary Mix McDonald Woods · Mathew Bieszczat–Volunteer Resource Center · Miami Woods · Perkins Woods · St. Paul Woods · Sidney Yates Flatwoods · Skokie Lagoons · Somme Nature Preserve · Somme Prairie Grove · Somme Woods · Thaddeus S. “Ted” Lechowicz Woods · Tower Road · Tower Road Boat Launch · Turnbull Woods · Watersmeet Woods · Wayside Woods · Whealan Pool Aquatic Center
Special Activity Site · Chicago Botanic Garden
Trail Systems · North Branch (Paved) · North Branch (Unpaved)
Region 5: West Cook County
Salt Creek Division
Activity Areas · Andrew Toman Grove · Bemis Woods-North · Bemis Woods-South · Brezina Woods · Brookfield Woods · Callahan Grove · Cermak Family Aquatic Center · Cermak Quarry · Cermak Woods · Cummings Square (General Headquarters) · G.A.R. Woods · Hal Tyrrell Trailside Museum · LaGrange Park Woods · Maywood Grove · McCormick Woods · Meadowlark Golf Course · Miller Meadow-North · Miller Meadow-South · National Grove-North · National Grove-South · Ottawa Trail Woods-North · Ottawa Trail Woods-South · Plank Road Meadow Boat Launch · Possum Hollow Woods · Quercus Woods Family Picnic Area · Salt Creek Woods · Schuth’s Grove · Silver Creek Family Picnic Area · Stony Ford Canoe Landing · Thatcher Woods · Thatcher Woods Glen · Thomas Jefferson Woods · Twenty-Sixth Street Woods-East · Twenty-Sixth Street Woods-West · Westchester Woods · White Eagle Woods-North · White Eagle Woods-South · Wolf Road Prairie · Zoo Woods
Trail Systems · Salt Creek (Paved) · Salt Creek (Unpaved) · Salt Creek Greenway (Paved)
Special Activity Sites · Brookfield Zoo · Chicago Portage National Historic Site
Region 6: Southwest Cook County
Salt Creek Division, Palos Division
Includes: Palos Preserves
Activity Areas · Arie Crown Forest · Belly Deep Slough · Buffalo Woods-Central · Buffalo Woods Family Picnic Area · Buffalo Woods-North · Buffalo Woods-South · Bullfrog Lake · Camp Kiwanis Equestrian Staging Area · Columbia Woods · Country Lane Woods · Cranberry Slough · Crawdad Slough · Crooked Creek Woods · Dan McMahon Woods · Henry De Tonty Woods · Hickory Hills Woods · Hidden Pond Woods-East · Hidden Pond Woods-West · Joe’s Pond · John Husar I&M Canal–Bicycle Trail Parking Lot · Lake Ida · Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center · Maple Lake Boating Center · Maple Lake-East · Maple Lake · Maple Lake Overlook · Morrill Meadow · Palos Fen · Paw Paw Woods · Pioneer Woods · Pulaski Woods · Pulaski Woods-East · Pulaski Woods-South–Mountain Bike Staging Area · Red Gate Woods · Saganashkee Slough-Central · Saganashkee Slough-East · Saganashkee Slough Boat Launch · Spears Woods · Sundown Meadow · Theodore Stone Forest · Tuma Lake · White Oak Woods · Willow Springs Woods · Wolf Road Woods
Trail Systems · Arie Crown (Unpaved) · Centennial (Unpaved) · John Husar I&M Canal (Paved) · Palos (Unpaved)
Region 7: Southwest Cook County
Sag Valley Division
Includes: Black Partridge Preserve, Cap Sauer’s Preserve, John J. Duffy Preserve, Edward M. Sneed Forest
Activity Areas · Bergman Slough · Black Partridge Woods · Cap Sauers Holding · Cherry Hill Woods · Forty Acre Woods · Horsetail Lake · McGinnis Slough · McClaughrey Spring Woods · Orland Grassland · Orland Grove · Paddock Woods · Palos Park Woods-North · Palos Park Woods-South · Papoose Lake · Sag Quarries · Sagawau Environmental Learning Center · Southland Volunteer Resource Center · Swallow Cliff Woods-North · Swallow Cliff Woods-South · Tampier Greenway Family Picnic Area · Tampier Lake Boating Center · Tampier Lake-North · Tampier Lake-West · Teason’s Woods
Trail Systems · Centennial (Unpaved) · Sag Valley (Unpaved)
Region 8: South Cook County
Tinley Creek Division
Includes: South Green Belt Preserve
Activity Areas · Arrowhead Lake · Bachelor’s Grove Woods · Bartel Grassland · Bobolink Family Picnic Area · Bremen Grove · Bur Oak Woods · Camp Falcon · Camp Sullivan · Carlson Springs Woods · Catalina Grove Family Picnic Area · Coopers Hawk Grove Family Picnic Area · Elizabeth A. Conkey Forest-North · Elizabeth A. Conkey Forest-South · Flossmoor Road Bicycle Lot · George W. Dunne National Driving Range · George W. Dunne National Golf Course · Goeselville Grove Family Picnic Area · Midlothian Meadows · Midlothian Reservoir · Rubio Woods · St. Mihiel Woods-East · Tinley Creek Model Airplane Flying Field · Tinley Creek Woods · Turtlehead Lake · Vollmer Road Grove · Yankee Woods
Trail Systems · Tinley Creek (Paved) · Tinley Creek (Unpaved)
Region 9: Southeast Cook County
Calumet Division, Thorn Creek Division
Includes: Plum Creek Preserve
Activity Areas · Beaubien Woods · Beaubien Woods Boat Launch · Brownell Woods · Burnham Prairie Nature Preserve · Burnham Woods Golf Course · Calumet City Playfield · Calumet City Prairie · Calumet Woods · Clayhole Woods · Dan Ryan Woods-91st Street · Dan Ryan Woods-Central · Dan Ryan Woods-East · Dan Ryan Woods-North · Dan Ryan Woods-South · Dan Ryan Woods-West · Dixmoor Playfield · Eggers Grove · Flatfoot Lake · Glenwood Woods-North · Glenwood Woods-South · Green Lake Family Aquatic Center · Green Lake Woods · Indian Hill Woods · Joe Louis “The Champ” Golf Course · Joe Orr Woods · Jurgensen Woods · Kickapoo Woods · King’s Grove · Lansing Woods · Little Calumet Boat Launch · Michael J. O’Malley Preserve · North Creek Meadow · Plum Creek Play Meadow · Powderhorn Lake · River Oaks Golf Course · Sand Ridge Nature Center · Sand Ridge Prairie Nature Preserve · Sauk Lake · Sauk Trail Woods-Central · Sauk Trail Woods-East · Sauk Trail Woods-North · Sauk Trail Woods-South · Schubert’s Woods · Shabbona Woods · Sweet Woods · Thorn Creek Model Airplane Flying Field · Thornton-Lansing Road–Nature Preserve (Zander Woods) · Wampum Lake · Wentworth Prairie · Whistler Woods · Woodrow Wilson Woods
Trail Systems · Burnham Greenway (Paved) · Major Taylor (Paved) · Plum Creek (Unpaved) · Thorn Creek (Paved) · Thorn Creek (Unpaved)
Living and Learning: Our Environment In and Out of Doors
First and foremost for Maplewood to be a successful place for children to live and learn is for the environment to emulate home as much as possible. The Maplewood home is separated into two categories, indoor and outdoor. Within these environments children have freedom to explore the kitchen, family room, exploration room, outdoor living room, back garden, front play yard and occasionally the garage. Children are always directly supervised both indoors and outdoors.
We have a larger than normal, fenced-in front and back yard as well as an outdoor living room. Alongside local landscapers, Ms. Susan will be designing two outdoor spaces coming in Spring ’15. These two spaces are focused on child centered learning experiences in a diverse natural setting. The yards themselves will offer an abundance of opportunities for children to interact with and learn about the natural world. Child initiated activities are often enriched by the teachers outside, and may include music activities, story time, arts and crafts, math, science, dramatic play. Many of these learning experiences are based on natural cycles such as seasonal changes and life cycles. Children will learn about and from the natural world, celebrating and learning about the changing seasons, plant and animal life cycles. Children will develop a deep respect for and connection to the natural world through their investigations and play. Curriculum is developmentally appropriate and borrows from many great nature education resources.
At Maplewood, because of the Neighborhood, we are fortunate to live and learn on a quiet residential block in East Avondale. While we are close to the excitement of Logan Square, Bucktown, Roscoe Village, West Lakeview and North Center we are lucky to have beautiful neighborhood streets to walk along and local parks and a river walk to visit. We are looking forward to the many partnerships with local businesses which will provide a greater community for our Maplewood children.
Our natural playscape and garden and area under the deck will continue to be developed in Spring ’15 though plans are already underway. Our plans for the outdoor yards will feature a small tree forest, river stone stream, nature paths, sensory garden highlighting tasting, smelling, touching, looking, hearing experiences with indigenous plant species including fruit trees. As the garden and natural playscape take shape our children will have an opportunity to observe, learn about, help with, and eat from our backyard gardens! In our yards we have plans for a sand and dirt pit with large balance scale, grass area with mulch and stone walkways, log gathering area, log cabin, plenty of space to run and play, a small tree forest for additional shade and a material’s shed. Loose parts are important in a nature-based outdoor playscape (i.e. planks, tree cookies, variety of rocks and trunk blocks). We have been gathering a slew of wonderful materials and by spring will have a shed to contain them when they are not in use. Children love working with these loose parts and in order to do so we will have a wheel barrow, wagon, buckets and baskets, sleds, shovels, tarps, fabrics and crates.
Child initiated activities are often enriched by the teachers outside, and may include music, story time, arts and crafts, math, science, dramatic play. Many of these learning experiences are based on natural cycles such as seasonal changes and life cycles. Children will learn about and from the natural world, celebrating and learning about the changing seasons and plant and animal life cycles. Children will develop a deep respect for and connection to the natural world through their investigations and play. Curriculum is developmentally appropriate and borrows from many great natural education resources.
Our outdoor living room is designed to bring the comforts of home outside. Since we spend most of our day outside we have created this cozy resting and rejuvenating space. Our outdoor living room is set up in many ways like an indoor living room with sofa, coffee table and rug, though we also have picnic table for the children to use for snack. Often times we will bring baskets of books, blocks and other learning materials to our outdoor living room.
Our garage will on occasions act as an additional open air space (heated during the winters’ coldest days when exploration outside is no longer safe). We will bring learning materials into the garage and set it up to be a mixture of our outdoor living room and exploration room. We will also have a variety of bikes, scooters, and ride-on toys for the kids and if necessary we use a driveway safety fence to prevent balls and children from venturing into the street. We are also looking forward to visits from Mr Carlos as he guides us through woodworking projects on our adult and children’s shop benchs.
Our home has been divided into child care space, family space and shared space. When children aren’t spending time outside on our property or on neighborhood excursions, they will spend time in the family room, kitchen, dining room, exploration room and art studio.
Our Family Room is set up as such, a typical family room. Children often gather here first thing in the morning, before and after rest time and at the end of the day. We use this time to meet as a group to plan and reflect on our experiences together.
Our Kitchen & Dining Room will be visited for meals and cooking projects. In many early learning environments children rarely have access to the kitchen and spend their meals eating in a dining hall or in most cases, in the classroom. Our center is different because our children are invited into our kitchen to take an active part in meal preparation activities as they would be free to do so at home. Our kitchen has been child proofed and designed with children in mind. We have many work stations and children are encouraged to participate fully in putting away groceries, checking inventory, looking through cook books to plan meals and engage in food prep and cooking activities. The kitchen has purposefully located fridge, panty, dishware cabinets, and table décor options so they can aid in setting the table. We encourage children to help with clean up, washing dishes and loading the dishwasher whenever possible. All of our children including infants are encouraged to actively participate in meal time. We serve food family style and our kitchen furniture allows children to be independent with low tables and chairs. Meal time as a family can be the one time all the members of the household are able to come together and we emulate this with our Maplewood family at both breakfast and lunch. We are a community of lifelong learners and active explorers, what better time to come together as a family to discuss our experiences and future plans, than meal time.
Our Bathrooms are located in central areas of our main floor and lower level. Unlike many home bathrooms we have one bathroom specifically designed with children in mind. While the bathroom off the Exploration Room on the lower level of our home has many of the typical design elements, ours has been fitted with a child sized toilet and our bathtub has been retrofitted with a changing table.
Exploration Room Children have opportunities to explore each of the open ended learning centers laced throughout our Exploration Room. It is the room in our Maplewood home most like typical classrooms, yet we’ve gone above and beyond to integrate our green initiative, eco-sustainability, and 9-Rs in the selection of our materials as well as a commitment to bring nature into the classroom. We are fully equipped with learning centers to encourage exploration in language art’s (literacy) & writing exploration, science exploration, math & numbers, small manipulation & perceptual skills, physical development, art, dramatic play, construction and blocks, sensory exploration, games area, practical life skills. However, our exploration room will reflect the current children in our program and be equipped with only materials and furniture which best suits their interests with safety in mind.
Our Art Studio is a off shoot of the exploration room and is home to our messiest of indoor explorations. This room has been carefully designed to embrace the ever growing creative minds of our Maplewood children.
The Infant Area is designed to provide a safe quiet environment for independent free motor exploration and quality caring experiences with your child’s first teacher. The materials and furniture lend itself to a slow and calm experience for infants in our care allowing them to set their own pace for exploration. We have a cozy sofa and feeding area, a changing table which lends itself to all developmental stages of infants: immobile to mobile, a large rug for uninterrupted self-initiated exploration and a quiet area for resting and sleeping infants. Infants will spend much of their outdoor time in the infant area of the patio which in many ways is able to emulate their indoor space.