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