December 16, 2016

 Baby It's Cold Outside!!!!

We arrived at school today and it was BELOW Zero and the Wind Chill was -23 F! Mrs. Sparrow and Ms. Black Bear had thankfully thought ahead and rearranged our day with the hope of going outside once the weather had warmed up! We were so happy! We really wanted to go outside and play in the snow.  We started our day with the same routine of writing our Forest Plan and then we met together of an inside Forest Meeting in the Kindergarten room.

Our activity time was shifted to inside stations. We were excited! Check out the pictures. We got to make our very own neck warmer with the help of Mrs. Sparrow and her amazing sewing machine. Mrs. Eckert worked with us to create fire starters to use outside to light our fire pit and our Kelly Kettles. Mrs. Karner taught us how to make snowflakes! We had so much fun. We were hoping to go outside at 10, but unfortunately it was still TOO cold.

We stayed inside for PE and Music as well as Lunch AND Recess. The temperature was finally warm enough after lunch to go outside in the woods. Hooray. We went up to pack the trail so we could still climb up to our site after Winter Break. We cleaned our area with shovels and then had time to play! Thanks Mrs. T for coming out and helping us out! Thanks as well to Mr. Raccoon and Mrs. Red Tail Hawk for you help and flexibility!

Happy Holidays! Enjoy your time off with you families and we will see you in the New Year for more Forest Kid adventures!

Ms. Black Bear and Mrs. Sparrow

Forest Plan!

Forest Meeting

Forest Day Schedule- we hoped! All did not goes as planned but the day was still a success!

Fire Starters with Mr. Raccoon and Ms. Black Bear

Neck Warmers with Mrs. Sparrow

Ice Art that we had made last week! It was still there, so we brought it down and hung it on the tree outside of school.

Cleaning our space!

I didn't know Santa was here?

Time for a break! That was HARD work!

Yellow Icicles in Dirt City

Happy Holidays!!! 

December 9, 2016

Winter Has Arrived!

The students were thrilled to arrive at school to find snow and not just any snow, but that magical snowman, snow angel making snow. Our temperatures were in the 20s for the first time on a Friday. The kids came prepared in fleece pajamas, long underwear, and wool socks. We packed extra gloves and well as hand warmers to ward off any complaints of cold. Miraculously, we had NONE!

Due to the high wind gusts, Mrs. Sparrow and Ms. Black Bear decided not to take the Forest Kids into the forest due to the potential hazards of wind gusts downing trees. Instead, we headed up to the ball field and proceeded to have a wonderfully, wintery day outside.

While waiting for the kindergartners, Raccoon worked very hard to make an enormous snowball by pushing it around the playground. As it got bigger and more dense, she needed help pushing!

Snow Angels- Beautiful!

We held morning meeting gathered around home plate. We talked about the weather, greeted each other, and went over the modified schedule for the day. Due to Christmas Concert Practice, we could only stay outside for a couple of hours. 

On the way up to the "Ice Art" station at the foot of the forest, the students discovered several different animal tracks. Here is a picture of a deer track. "You can see the hoof perfectly!"  "Is this a bunny track or a squirrel track? We better check the book!"  It was a squirrel!

Before we began stations we played a game that Mr. Connor played when he was a kid. We created a large wagon wheel in the snow. Then we played Fox and Geese! We had to stay on the paths that we had created and try to stay away from the foxes. If you made it to the center, you were safe. It warmed us right up! Some of us broke into a sweat!

Fox and Geese

Mrs. Sparrow's station today was sled pulling. She taught the kids about force and motion while keeping them warm and moving! The kids loved this but said it was "HARD"!

They discovered the kids that weighed less were easier to pull. Some teams had someone pulling from the front and pushing from the back. Other teams discovered that if they stayed in a previous teams' track the sled moved quicker!

Breaking trail and moving slow!

Mrs. Woodpecker read us a story in the dug out about snow. We also had tea. "Tea warms us up!"

Clara's mom came to help out today. She helped make a fire under the Kelly Kettle for tea.

At the edge of the forest, Ms. Black Bear and Ms. Karner talked to the kids about states of matter. We talked about solid, liquid, and gases. We talked about the difference between snow and ice. The kids then went on a hunt to discover treasures such as ferns, acorns, rocks, and sticks to use in their ice art. We talked about what might sink and what might float.

We used pretty colors to color the ice as well as a string to help us pull out the ice when it is frozen. Some of the kids are worried that the animals will eat it. I guess we will have to wait and see!

Until next time! Enjoy the snow! Winter is here!

Ms. Eckert and Mrs. Koski

December 2, 2016

 We had a wonderful time in the forest today! It was hard to believe that it was December! The temperature was in the 40s and we took advantage of the rain that we had earlier in the week! The kids were so excited because that meant one thing... MUD!!!!

"Dirty Kids are Happy Kids!"

We started our day with Sit Spots. Today in our sit spots, Mrs. Sparrow, Ms. Black Bear, and Mrs. Woodpecker gave us a piece of yarn and asked us to make a circle on the ground at our sit spot.  Then, they asked us to carefully observe that small piece of dirt! We noticed rocks, leaves, bark, fungi, and some bugs! We also noticed that the ground was very wet!

Painted Turtle is observing something she found at her sit spot!

We love it when our moms can come hang out with us in the forest! Today we had yummy pumpkin, chocolate chip muffins baked by Mrs. Sparrow.

We were all hungry today!

Today during Forest Choice Time, we went over to Dirt City and looked for hazards. We also climbed as far back on the big tree as we could to see where it went.

Next loves MUD! He stayed in the small brook the entire time!

Woodpecker and Wild Turkey were walking on the balance beam.

Today during stations we worked on adding to our scientific drawings that we had started the week before. We talked about how to add detail and create a picture that looks just like our plant. We also talked about the parts of a plant and what a plant needs to survive.

During Mrs. Sparrow's station, we worked on math. We wrote our numbers in the dirt, gathered items to represent that number and created number sentences that went with our numbers.

Mr. Connor and Mrs. Raccoon took us on a hike up to the top of the trail. We could see Okemo from the top. It was cool, but we were tired!

During Music/Movement today Ms. P brought up colorful scarves that we used to dance to the music.

We are so grateful for the fire to keep us warm!

Vermont Frog made a pair of crutches that she used when she was playing  house! Glad they are not real crutches!

We were lucky to have more free time after lunch. We went back to Dirt City and began to build a bridge over the brook so our feet would not get wet.

Mr. Sparrow built us a handrail, so that we could cross over the log that went over the ravine. He always is helping to keep us safe! 

Here we are creating a waterfall by moving the dirt to get the water to flow faster!

Back in class we finish up our scientific drawings with Ms. Karner, the art teacher. We are using magnifying glasses to really see the small details.

Come check out our drawings! They are in the hall near the Kindergarten classroom!

Until next time!

Ms. Eckert and Mrs. Koski