A belated thank you to everyone for coming to conferences.  I appreciate the extra effort it can take to make an evening meeting!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday- based on children's writing it sounds like you did.

This week we spent some time learning about Hanukkah.  We read lots of Hanukkah stories, compared Hanukkah to Christmas, noting lots of similarities between the two, and played dreidel with our third and fourth grade partners.  Eliana also very graciously helped everyone make a candle.  Next week we will shift our focus to Kwanzaa.

We are also wrapping up our exploration of rocks this week.  Today we used clay to model the rock cycle and the constant changes that rocks undergo.  We also created a rock story with movement to help us remember this cycle.

It felt really good to return to the forest for ECO on Wednesday.   The last several sessions we have been breaking into small groups and working through stations.  I think cooking over the fire is definitely a favorite- this week we roasted apples.  The weather looks good for next Wednesday as well, and although it is an early release day we will have ECO.

Thank you for helping your child come to school with appropriate clothing for going outside.   Hopefully the snow will return soon, and recess is much more enjoyable when we are all warm and dry or as dry as we can be!

Bees wax candles.

A group effort- nearly everyone in the class helped create this!

Walking in the forest.