On Wednesday we had a guest story teller for ECO.  Anna Church, the children's librarian at the Joslin Library, shared her fabulous skills, engaging us with a story about black flies.  During our forest choice time she also  helped children create their own stories using natural materials and props.  Anna said many of the students from our class are regular visitors to the library, but if you have not visited her she would love to help your child pick out some books this summer!

We took advantage of the nice weather to read to Fred outside this week.  He is a very good listener!

Last week we finished our nature name animal books by creating collage covers.  Children were encouraged to look for shapes in their animal and cut out the shapes they saw, putting them together to create their animals.  Once the animals were constructed, many children chose to add elements of the forest using the same technique.  We ended the week by sharing the books with our reading buddies.

We have been paying attention to signs of spring during recess and our time in the forest for ECO.  While it has sometimes felt like winter, the changes we have noticed are confirmation that spring is well underway.  With this in mind we spent some time this week creating a class poem.  We began each line with the repeated phrase "Spring is..." Each verse was written on a sentence strip and we played around a little bit with the order of the lines.  We made the poem a little more interesting by adding some sound words.  Finally we made watercolor paintings to illustrate our poem.  Children have been encouraged to use this format to create their own poems during writing, especially if they are having a hard time thinking of something to write about.

SPRING

Spring is swimming

Spring is jumping in puddles

splish splash splish splash

Spring is birds flying to flowers

cheep, tweet, conk la ree

Spring is playing soccer

kick, thump, GOAL

Spring is fishing at Blueberry Lake

blub, blub, SPLASH

Spring is beautiful flowers

Spring is colorful

yellow, green, orange, pink, red

A few shots from Inspiration Hour the last couple of weeks as well as some pictures from ECO.  Our Wednesdays have been filled with adventure!

We have been spending time talking about weather and how to dress appropriately for the given conditions.  Thank you for sending your child prepared for the varied weather conditions we have been experiencing!