On Tuesday afternoon we began a science unit on weather.  We began with a discussion of weather and its impacts on our daily lives.  It was especially easy to connect this to ECO since weather is always a consideration and being prepared for the weather each week ensures that we still have fun.

I then asked students to imagine going to ECO but staying out in the forest for two weeks.  What would we need to have a positive experience?  Food and water, of course, and a shelter to keep us warm and dry.  Each child was then given a cardboard kid (a little person cut out of cardboard) and asked to "dress" them in a way that would help them stay warm during their time in the woods.

We  also looked at the book Making Shelter, by Neil Champion, which is about building different shelters, focusing particularly on forest huts.  Students were invited to think about what materials they might find in our forest space that could be used for building a shelter, as well as designs that would help keep our cardboard kids warm and dry.  On Wednesday morning they set to work building their shelters with their cardboard kids in them.

We will check in on the kids when we return to the forest in three weeks to see how they fared!  We finished our morning enjoying the sunshine, milder temperatures, and tea in the forest.