Warrior Cats of Creek Clan

This week and and especially last, the siren call of unusually balmy weather pulled most students outside. Many played roleplaying games and built things with the bountiful supply of spent plant stalks and downed wood. Others enjoyed the freedom of wandering outside without coats. One day when temperatures approached 60 degrees, a young student complained that she was hot and asked to go swimming, but the creek water is still too cold for that.


Warrior Cats has been a particularly engaging and enduring roleplaying game among students from age 5 through 11. It is loosely based on a book series, although Clearwater students have gone far beyond the books by creating rich new worlds, characters and scenarios. Many of these students are working with a staff member to develop and rehearse an original play using their roleplaying characters as a starting point. (Look for future blog posts about the play.)

For many hours, students gathered materials to build shelters and dens.



One group of students helped some of the warrior cats to build a beautiful medicine cat den (photos below) and spent some time putting together a lean-to separate from the roleplaying activity.



The warrior cats themselves, who are known as "Creek Clan", are prodigious and industrious builders, as well as a close-knit and harmonious clan. They care for each other and have a complex culture and well-organized structure. They have a leader, warriors and warrior apprentices, a medicine cat (or healer) and apprentice, and kits (the young ones), which they take turns caring for and training.

Clan gathering

More text and photos after the jump.

Leader cat and kits

Medicine cat den opening

Medicine cat herself

Medicine cat and apprentice

Medicine cat at home

Apprentice gathering herbs

More herb gathering

The warriors have their own den and the warrior apprentices den up nearby.

Warriors' den at the base of last week's fallen snag

Woodflight enters the warrior's den

Thistlethorn above the warriors' den

Woodflight relaxes in the warrior apprentices' den

Just today three of the littlest kits went out to the clan lands without the elder cats and sought to imitate those same elders by setting up a nursery and starting to build their own den.

End of post.

New Bridge

North Creek, a lovely salmon-spawning creek, runs year round through The Clearwater School's property. Many students enjoy wading and swimming in the creek during warm weather.

April 2009 creek play

There is one bridge that provides access to the other side of the creek.

Watching creek activity from the bridge

The west side of the creek includes a couple of beach areas, a large open pasture with scattered trees and shrubs popular for playing capture the flag and a small wooded area, christened Creek Village by a group of students who have created and continue to develop the story of the village and their own characters as the village inhabitants.

The bridge pre-dates Clearwater's ownership of the property and the bridge deck has never felt as solid as a bridge should . A couple of years ago, we patched some deteriorating areas on the sides of the deck. This year it became clear it was time to replace the bridge.

Read more by clicking link below. After removing the decking, it was a relief to find that the upright posts, the horizontal beams and railings were still sound.

Rotten wood removed from bridge deck

Bridge bare bones with loose planks for workers to walk across

Tom Campbell coordinated rebuilding the bridge. He organized skilled parent volunteers to deconstruct the deck and rebuild it, salvaged and acquired sturdy materials and put a lot of his own time into the actual building.

Tom and Jonathan begin the rebuilding

In addition to Tom, huge thanks are due to Weylin, Jonathan, Matt, David, Chad, Eric, Bob, Ian and Kurt who donated their time and skill to making a sturdy new bridge, which re-opened in late October, about a month after work began.

Jonathan and Weylin attach new decking boards

Nearly finished after many hours and days of craftsmanship

Solid new bridge

A by-product of the bridge rebuilding is a new fire pit up the bank from the creek, which was created and used for the first time to burn some of the unsalvageable wood. No doubt there will be some wonderful gatherings around the fire pit in the future.

It is a pleasure to cross the new bridge, secure and sturdy enough to accommodate many thousands of running and walking footfalls across the creek for years to come.

Random Notes from Beginning of School year

• Ivy (8) and Maddy (9) are in the house reading the dialogue to a game on Ivy's Nintendo DS. I remember how last year the two of them were so interested in forming reading classes, some of which I taught. Today, they read on and I walk on by.
  


• James (17) just threw a touchdown pass to Gregory (11). Celebration! Today it's four on four in the parking lot.
  


• I lob a long pass to Nici (7) and hold my breath as he runs toward it...he looks back, stretches out his hands as far as they can reach and YES, he pulls it in while running full stride! He turns to look back at me with a huge grin on his face. Celebration!
  


• Nici, Gabe (9), and Kevin (7) are in the parking lot practicing football plays. It's amazing how fast they have improved in less than a week. On Monday, they barely knew the rules; now they organize their own games, make plays, and practice fundamentals.
  


• Lily (8) and Verity (5) just left me at the recently formed "Club Camp." I am in communication with them via walkie talkie while they do a school patrol. Club Camp is a very cool place. There is a sleeping area and a nice big rock is used for putting out food to share. Club Camp is situated under a tree near the parking lot and has been a major hub of activity over the last four days. The tree and its surroundings have been carefully decorated with flowers, woven grasses.
  


• Arlo (9) just got back from a trip to Greece, so I asked him how it was and what he did. "I hung out at the beach in Crete for a week," he said. "It was a nine-hour ferry to get there! In the morning we would hang out for awhile in the room because it was really big. Then we would go to the beach." He said the waves were medium small and were perfect for swimming. He and his family spent three days in Athens and a night in Santorini. He told me a few more things and then we were interrupted; he was dragged off to a game.
  


• Lily is reading a book to Max. Lily is learning to read, Max reads very well. They laugh at the Dr. Seuss brilliance. When Lily doesn't know a word she points at it and Max readily jumps right in.
  


• The football games continue to improve. We get in the bus, drive to the nice fields. When we get there we carefully mark the boundary with cones and warm up with some drills. We pick teams and play. It's so cool to see the older kids help the younger kids play. Even though the games are competitive, everyone is included. There are arguments, there are fights and intensity. We work things out, sometimes we are still working it out on the bus drive back to school....
  


• Stuck in traffic on the bus ride home. I hear Gabriel (10) imitating Joseph Biden's V.P. debate performance. He is making fun of how Biden kept saying Bush's name. This leads to a discussion of Palin. No one likes her.
  


• Delayney (13) playing piano while Sage (8) and I lie on the floor with our eyes closed and listen. I notice Delayney is using the sustain pedal to wonderful effect. She has little or no formal training but spends a lot of time experimenting. I mean, she really plays a lot. And it sounds good. Now she is talking of taking some formal lessons.
  


• Robert (14), Gabe (18) and I have started a morning exercise plan. Everyday for the last week and a half we have met first thing and practiced a routine. It's a great way to start the day.
  


• Michelle (13) let me read the first two chapters of the novel she is writing. It reminds me of Tom Robbins. She doesn't know who that is. Seriously, she is an amazing writer.