We had a wonderful first day of ECO.  Much of our focus was on establishing ECO routines and boundaries and getting to know our space in the forest.  It was a bit warm for a walk back but everyone did a terrific job!  Thank you for your help with sending children well prepared.  (And thanks to Katie Babic and Kasara Gage for sharing the photos.)

We begin our ECO mornings in the field, singing a song together, sharing something that we are thankful for, and playing a game.  Then we head into the forest.

When we arrive at our space in the woods we gather around the safety circle.  We often share interesting things we noticed on our walk, and as the seasons progress, changes we see in our surroundings.  Today some of the things we noticed were crickets chirping, a chickadee singing, some places where the tall grass was trampled, a spider in its web, and a toad.  Next it is time for snack and a story.

When everyone has finished snack we move into our guided exploration for the morning.  This is the part of our routine that typically changes each week.  Today children worked with a partner exploring our space and collecting three 3-4 interesting things that could fit in a paper bag.

We decided that when it comes to living things we will try to to treat them the way they would want to be treated and we will observe them with our eyes, but not pick them up.

After each group collected their objects we gathered back in the circle.  Rather than looking at what each group collected, we took a few moments to pass the bags and notice the objects with our hands. Tomorrow we will empty each bag to see what was found.

Finally we ended our morning by sitting quietly in a space by ourselves for a couple of minutes, noticing how different the forest is when we are all quiet.  In the coming weeks each child will choose a sit spot for this purpose, to be revisited during each ECO session throughout the year.

 We end by saying goodbye to the forest and then walking back to school.