Last week on Wednesday morning Carrie and Zac joined us for a session of ECO at school.  Our focus was animal tracks and gaits.  We began the morning inside looking at different tracks and thinking about the story they might tell, especially as they intersected each other.  We also learned about various animal gaits (hopping, bounding, waddling, and walking), animal body types that lend themselves to each of these, and the different track patterns left by different gaits.  Children then had a chance to try out each one by following foot print patterns on a yoga mat.  Most found hopping to be the trickiest as your feet are supposed to land in front of your hands.

Then we went outside to look for tracks around the school, considering the stories they might tell.  We found many, many tracks, including hoppers, walkers, and waddlers.  We found that squirrels are having lots of fun in the side yard outside Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Young's rooms, going inside the beehive and even climbing on it.  They seem to be drawn to the oak tree right next to the parking lot, where we found many acorn tops.  We followed a mouse track along the bank by the playground, down around the apple tree and then back to the edge of the building where we saw a little hole.  An interesting story to imagine!  We also walked along the edge of the lower field where we saw fox tracks and some kind of waddler, perhaps a porcupine.

Finally, we wrapped up our morning by creating our own track story backgrounds and nature name puppets.  Each student dictated a short story about their animal and I read these while they performed shadow puppet shows.  We will continue to explore animals in winter in the coming weeks.