October 28, 2016

Thank you Ludlow Fire Department!

We were so excited for Forest Friday this week! The day started a bit crazy because we had SNOW and a two hour delay. Some of us were very worried that the fire fighters might not come. We did not need to worry! Five firefighters from Ludlow came to our classroom to teach us about fire safety! They came dressed in different types of fire fighter gear. Some wore suits that are worn for house fires and others wore clothes that they wear for a wild/forest fire. They talked to us in the classroom and then we headed outdoors to show them our site and learn how to build a campfire! 

The firemen were teaching about fire safety.- Possum, Bat, and Vermont Frog

UP the hill we went! We loved the snow and our awesome rain suits!

The firemen are starting the fire for us- Chipmunk and Cotton-tail Bunny

The firemen were making a fire to keep us warm.- Bobcat, Milksnake, and Robin

We are watching the firemen making a fire.- Newt, Grey Fox, and Bald Eagle

We had to move our fort because it was too close to the fire. 

We were roasting marshmallows around the fire.- Mouse and Woodpecker

Hot chocolate tastes so good when it is cold and snowy!

Snowman!

Raccoon and Coyote are laying in a pile of sticks and snow.

Red Tailed Hawk and Moose are carrying a tree trunk.

Ms. Koski was bing completely safe. She sprayed water on the fire.- Skunk

THANK YOU OKEMO COMMUNITY CHALLENGE GRANT!

We want to give a big shout out to the people at the Okemo Community Challenge Grant for funding our Forest Friday program.  Thanks to your generosity all the kindergarten and first graders at LES were kept dry in their rain suits/rain jackets and pants in the snowy, wet weather. The pictures show these suits in action. The kindergartners are in one-piece blue suits and the first graders are in green jackets and black pants. This amazing grant allows our students to be outside in all kinds of weather. Thanks to this grant we were also able to purchase extra socks and mittens for students to use as well as a few pairs of loaner boots! Thanks for believing in the value of outdoor play for young children. We will keep you posted on our adventures!

Thank you Ludlow Fire Department and Ron Bixby!

Thank you to all the firefighters that took time out of their busy day to help teach our kids about fire safety and how to build a fire. We wish that you could have stayed for the S'mores and hot chocolate. We hope that you will come back and visit again. Thanks also for the gift on the Indian Pump to keep at our site to put out fires! We appreciate it. Ms. Koski tried it out after you left and it was a success. 

We must share the quote of the day by Moose:  "It's a baaaad day to be a roasted marshmallow."

Ms. Ecket and Mrs. Koski

October 14, 2015

It was an amazing fall day in the forest today! We were so lucky to have special visitors to our forest place today. Eliza Minnucci and Meg Teachout, the forest teachers at the Ottaquechee School, came to visit our forest and teach us about math learning in the woods! 

We began our day in our classrooms creating our forest plans and get ready for the day! When we were ready, we hiked the hill to our spot and had morning meeting. Ms. Black Bear talked to us about using our Deer Ears to listen to the forest during Sit Spots today. We love our sit spots! Today we heard sticks banging, leaves crunching, and birds singing.

During forest choice time, the students enjoyed climbing trees, building forts, walking the tight rope, and swinging on the rope swing. It was chilly up in the forest today. Mr. Connor came up to make tea for us in our Kelly Kettles. We had apple tea today. Yum!

Bat lifted a heavy stick all by himself to put on the fort.

Robin and Red Tailed Hawk found a new fort near the fire circle.

Playing Camouflage in the Forest.

We found a female Wood Frog out in the forest today! Too cool!

Mink made a triangle with sticks.

Raccoon used acorns to solve word problems on her triangle work space.

Mrs. Minnucci taught us how to play What's My Rule with different kinds of leaves we found in the forest.

A sugar maple leaf has a U shape and a red maple leaf has a V shape.

Mrs. Panasci came to teach us in the woods today! We ran around and then had to form power groups with our friends.

We played a fun game. One of us was the squirrel and the other two  pretended to be a tree. We followed directions like walk around the tree, go under the tree, step over the tree, and, our favorite, go through the tree!

We listened to the story of how jimmy the skunk got his white stripe at lunch! We were glad that there was not a real skunk around camp! Ewwww!

Our forest friends spent time building a leaf fort today using the rakes that we had at our site.

We found a new spot to explore! We were sad that we did not find it until the very end of forest choice time. We can't wait for next Friday!

We love the forest and our friends!!!

We had an amazing day in the forest!

At the end of the day, we did some writing together. Here is some of our writing:

FOREST FRIDAY IS......

"fun. We get free time."

"really, really, really, really fun. The most fun is climbing trees."

"running around. We work hard. It is fun."

"fun because we get to play and we get to swing on the rope swing."

"fun for climbing trees, and putting sticks in the tree. Forest Friday is fun."

"for going in the woods and playing!"

"about running and it is fun."

"building our leaf fort."

"fun because I climbed a tree."

"building forts."

"really fun and really exciting. Forest Friday is very nice!"

The kids had a wonderful day working together, playing together and writing together! See you next time!

Ms. Eckert and Mrs. Koski

October 7, 2016

Grey fox was hitting sticks on my tree in my sit spot.

What a perfect fall day in the forest! It was a bit chilly to start but it warmed write up. Mrs. Swallow talked to us at morning meeting about using our Owl Eyes during our sit spot time to see what had changed in our sit spot since the last time we had been there. We noticed that our trees made different sounds when we hit them with sticks. We also noticed rocks in our sit spots that we did not see last week. Most of us noticed the leaves!

Woodpecker  was making a circle around my sitspot. She tried writing her name with a stick in the dirt.

Raccoon found a slug in her sit spot. She pulled a piece of bark off and found a whole bunch of ants.

During Forest Choice time, many of us continued to build our fort. We have been working so hard the past four weeks. We finally finished today and then used it to play. Others drew pictures of the forest, climbed trees, or played in the meadow.

Red Tailed Hawk, Milksnake, and Grey Squirrel are helping to build the fort.  They have a weapon box in their fort.

We made tea in the Kelly Kettles. Raccoon liked it but Red Tailed Hawk did not.  Bald Eagle said it tasted okay!!!

Cotton Tail Bunny and Grey Fox found a snake hole.

We were excited to have berry tea today. It helped warm us up.

We were drinking tea!

We are doing arm hook and pull with Mrs. Panasci.

We love when Miss P and Mrs. Panasci come into the woods with us! We get to move, stretch, play games, sing songs, and dance.

Chocolate song

Woodpecker and Raccoon were being an artist and clay. Raccoon turned Woodpecker into an upside down bird with her feathers going up and down!

We were eating lunch in the forest today. It was fun.

We were hiking down the hill with our walking sticks. We are going to decorate them next week. 

We had another successful day in the forest. We were having so much fun that Ms. Eckert and Mrs. Koski forgot to take pictures of our forest rotations. Ms. Eckert took the students on a nature walk along our winter path and we looked for different types of leaves to use in our leaf rubbings later that day. During her rotation Mrs. Koski talked to the kids about predators and prey and the importance of camouflage for animals. Then, they played a fun game where they needed to use the meadow habitat as camouflage while Mrs. Koski tried to find them. The kids loved the game!



At the end of the day we each searched the forest for the perfect walking stick to take back to school. Miss Karner is going to help us decorate them during Art! We can't wait!

We ended the day writing and doing leaf rubbings! We were amazed at how many kids had never done a simple leaf rubbing. We heard many exclaim, "Magic!"

Ms. Eckert and Mrs. Koski

September 30, 2016

We are walking up the hill. Bald Eagle is carrying a stick.- Milk snake and Mouse

 We had another amazing day in the forest!  This was our longest day yet.  We were able to spend THREE hours in the forest today! We began our day with our Forest Meeting and greeted each other with our forest names. Some of us were cold because we did not dress for the weather. We won't forget next week! We then discovered our sit spots. Our sit spot is our own special place in the forest where we will go every week to observe all the changes of the forest. After sit pots we had snack. We were SO hungry.

Kindergarten and first grade stretched with Mrs. Panasci in the forest.

We are eating snack. We were playing.- Red Fox and Mink

 After snack, we split into two groups to do stations. Ms. Eckert and Mr. Connor taught us about fire safety and Kelly Kettles. We searched for tinder, mouse tails, and chickadee sticks to help start the fire. We couldn't wait for the water to boil so we could drink our hot chocolate! Mrs. Koski and Mrs. Woodpecker had the students go on a nature hunt and played games in the
forest together. We played a fun game named, Pop! It was the best!

When stations ended, we had time for forest choice time. We climbed trees, played on the ropes course, made forts, and many other things! This is our most favorite time in the forest. We are so lucky to be able to do this every week!

Mrs. Panasci and Miss P joined us up in the woods too! We had music and movement together. It was a blast. We stretched, sang songs, and danced! I think the teachers were having just as much fun as the kids!

At the end of the day we gathered again in Mrs. Koski's room to write this blog. We worked together to describe what was happening in the pictures on this blog. It was amazing to see the kindergartners and first graders working together to come up with sentences about their time in the forest. Each photo this week has a caption that was written by the students. They signed their writing with their forest names! Too cool!

We hope that you have enjoyed our blog! We can't wait to get out in the forest next week and share our adventures with you! Don't forget to check out the video links at the bottom of our post!

Ms. Eckert and Mrs. Koski and the Woodland Warriors of LES

We are hugging Ms. Karner. We are waiting to switch stations.- Possum and Wild Turkey

This is our Kelly Kettle! We are so excited to make hot chocolate.

We had hot chocolate. Mr. Connor made a fire. Then he poured it in the cups.- Chipmunk and Vermont Frog

We are watching the fire. We were making hot chocolate.- Painted Turtle and Cotton-tailed Rabbit

We are working on our fort. It was fun.- Bald Eagle, Red Tailed Hawk, and Robin

We are building a fort.- Coyote, Cotton-tailed Deer, and Morning Dove

Newt followed his forest plan and climbed a tree.

Bat and Red squirrel picked up a big stick.

Newt likes music. We are singing. Ms. Palakowski is singing too. - Grey Squirrel and Newt

"We had PE up in the woods. WE were dancing and singing with Ms. P,"- Raccoon, Red Back Salamander, and  Grey Fox

Ms. Palowkowski read us an amazing story about a Blue Cockatoo!

Please check out the following links to our Music and Movement videos in the Forest! It was so much fun!

Here the Happy River
 
 Dance and Stop

 Music and Movement