We felt so lucky to be outside all morning enjoying the gently falling snow!  We have continued to spend a lot of time focusing on our nature name animals.  This morning we learned a bit about what foods each animal eats and each child had an opportunity to make food for his or her animals using model magic.  This afternoon we spent time working on a class book using our nature names and a pattern, much like the books many of us are currently reading.  Each child will create two pages in the book.  Ask your child to tell you about the pages we made today.

I am at a workshop all day today, so I will not be in school.  Hopefully ECO tags will be put on backpacks, but if not we do have ECO tomorrow!   Please make sure your child has warm clothing- snow pants and winter boots are good options, and please send hat and mittens!

I'm sure you know that Halloween is on Thursday!  My intent is to keep the day as routine as possible as children will have lots of opportunities to participate in Halloween activities later on.  Hopefully maintaining some normalcy at school might help kids last until trick-or-treat time later!

During our reading time I have started meeting with small groups.  Most children are working with emergent texts, which have one or two sentences on a page and follow a pattern (I see the car, I see the truck...)  with pictures that closely match the text.  We have been working on pointing to the words as we read, trying to make sure what we say matches the print (is it the truck, or a truck).  We have had a discussion about the importance of working at a level that is just right for us and not comparing ourselves to peers.  I often think of the acquisition of reading as very similar to the acquisition of walking:  certain components need to be in place for children to acquire these skills, but as long as those components are in place children will learn to walk and learn to read.  However, they do these at very individual paces.  Many children learn to walk by 9 months, while some don't take first steps until they are over a year old.  Some children rely on the support of furniture, large toys etc. for months before they walk independently, while others seem to stand up and take their first independent steps almost instantly.  Similarly, some children will spend a lot of time practicing reading before actually reading many words, while others will seem to start reading overnight.  The best thing adults can do is offer encouragement whatever stage a child is at.  I have told the class that despite the different ages they most likely learned to walk, they are all quite good at it now and when we walk down the hall I can't distinguish the early walkers from those who may have learned a bit later.  The same would most likely hold true if I read with them several years from now.

After four weeks of ECO everyone has become familiar and comfortable with our routine and we are feeling quite settled in the forest!   If you would ever like to join us on a Wednesday morning please let me know.  We usually leave school at 8:15 and arrive back by 11:00 and welcome any adult support.

Last week we read the book Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert, about the adventures of Leaf Man and all of the leaf creatures he meets along his way.  After gathering our own leaves on the playground everyone made their own leaf creations.  It appears we were just in time- most of the trees on the playground are bare now, the temperature has dropped, and it seems winter is really on the way!  We do have ECO tomorrow.   The current forecast looks like it will be dry but cold.  Please send your child with warmest clothing, especially a hat and mittens!  

Yesterday, as a continuation of our study of living and non-living things we planted corn and pea seeds.  We will watch these grow over the next several weeks and document the changes in our science notebooks, noting some of the key differences between plants and animals along the way.

In our classroom we are very fortunate to have  an interactive white board.   Over the past several days we have been getting acquainted with our Smartboard and the many ways it can be used.  Thus far we have listened to/ watched an animated book, learned how to write on the Smarboard by practicing writing numbers using both the special Smartboard pens and our fingers, and used manipulated objects on the board to work on recognizing compliments to 5 (2+3 etc.) and matching beginning sounds to objects.

Just a reminder that we do have ECO tomorrow.  It looks like rain will hold off until the afternoon, but the forest is always wet in the morning and tends to be chilly as well.  Please send appropriate clothing, snacks, and water bottles!

We had a fantastic second day of ECO!  Last week during our first session we established routines that will stay the same all year- we always stop in the field when we get off the bus to play a game and have a whole group meeting.  Then we quietly make our way into the forest where we settle in for snack and hear a story.  Last week after snack we broke into small groups for a forest scavenger hunt and today everyone chose a spot next to a special tree to build a mouse house.   These will also be children's journaling spots throughout our time in the forest.  After our forest activity we gather back together to sing a song and pack up before our walk back to school.  Earlier in the week everyone had the opportunity to choose a nature name (or let the name choose them- we drew randomly).  These will become an integral part of our ECO lessons both in the forest and back in the classroom.

In math we have spent lots of time counting, matching numerals to quantities, and practicing numeral formation.  We will continue this throughout the year with increasingly larger numbers, and we are also now beginning to compare quantities and sequence numbers.

During read aloud we have been reading multiple versions of the same book, noticing similarities and differences.  Last week we read the Little Red Hen and this week we have focused on The Gingerbread Man.  We have also been reading Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems.  These books which quickly become favorites, are simple stories told through talking bubble conversations between Elephant and Piggie, a writing style that many have been trying out during writer's workshop. We have also been closely examining the illustrations and the way Willems uses lines or squiggles to show the emotions of his characters.

Playing a game in the field.

Mouse house construction.

A cozy mouse house!

Journal writing in the forest.

ECO TOMORROW!  There is a reminder note in your child's backpack and a reminder tag on his or her backpack.  I will always place the tags on your child's backpack the day before ECO and you can just leave them there- I will remove them in the morning.  I will probably not always send a reminder note!  Please make sure your child is prepared with appropriate clothing (we are out from 8:15- 10:30) and a snack and water bottle.

This morning kindergarteners had a wonderful opportunity to participate in a real vote.  Jen Peterson, Waitsfield's town clerk, graciously arranged for kindergarteners to vote on the dog tags that will be used  in the coming year.  She set up a voting booth and an official check list in the gym, and after explaining the process a bit to kindergarteners, including the importance of privacy, each child had the opportunity to vote on shape and color for the tags.  Following the vote, she took the children through the process of counting the votes and making sure the numbers match the number of people who voted.  The dog tags for the coming year will be orange dog bones!  Look for the new tags on any Waitsfield dogs you know.