News From the Outdoors:

The first full week of school kicked off as the Nature Detectives were greeted with rainy weather. With the rain pouring down the class donned their rain gear headed out towards the stumps and the wobbly logs and then down the trail towards the bridge for some log rolling.

Both classes made lots of great discoveries under the logs. We spotted potato bugs, millipedes, centipedes, ants, worms, leopard slugs and more. The AM class rolled logs and got to see both a frog and a toad! They were able to observe the differences and similarities between the two oft confused creatures and also noticed how both critters use camouflage to blend in with their environment. The PM class also found a few toads of various sizes and even spotted (and trapped for further observation) a mouse on the playground!

For the remaining hikes this week we continued to extend our exploration of Woodend by heading out to a favorite area we like to call the lookout. The lookout is a large wooded clearing with an observation deck. Its proximity to the creek, a large stick nest, and lots of kid-friendly climbing and exploring spots make it a favorite. While there the kids were able to not only roll some more logs, but climb some trees, build with sticks, and play some hide and seek.

News from the Classroom:

Throughout this entire week we’ve been talking a lot about some rules that are helpful, not only at school, but also everywhere we go.  During our meeting times at the campfire rug, the kids met two helpful turtles who talked about our rules. The kids have lots of great ideas about how to be safe, kind, responsible, and respectful and it was great to hear their ideas and see them put their ideas into practice!

The Nature Detectives had lots of fun exploring the many learning centers in the classroom this week. At the raccoon table the kids got to paint with finger paints, early in the week and later, they used natural items from nature in place of paint brushes to make some paintings.

For constructive play, the kids built with duplos, built ramps, roadways, garages, and more with the blocks and car toys, and also constructed massive rail systems with the trains!  They also worked on some puzzles, and continued to play in the dramatic play area with the detective kits, puppets and stuffed animals.

Midway through the week we swapped out the water in the lab table for moon sand (a shape-able sticky sand), treasure, and scoops! The kids enjoyed searching for little gems in the moon sand, as well as using the adhesive nature of the sand to build mountains, castles and other inventive structures!

In the AM Class we also celebrated our first Birthday! The kids worked hard to make their birthday pages to add to Mayim’s birthday book!

Books We Read:

Wet World by Norma Simon

Talk and Work it Out by Cheri J. Meiners

Sand Castle by Brenda Shannon Yee

Play With Me by Marie Hallets

Weekly Top Hits:

Here we are Together

 

Clean Up Song

 

Goodbye Song

 

Class Rules (tune: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)

Here are rules for you and me

See how useful they can be

Show respect, be safe and kind

Be responsible all the time

These are rules that we all know

and we follow these rules wherever we go

Spoiler Alert:

Next week we’ll start talking about farms and harvests in preparation for our first field trip!