Fortunately the rain held off and we were able to go to the forest for our first ECO.  Much of our morning was spent learning ECO routines and getting to know our space.   When the bus let us off at the edge of a driveway, bordering on a large field, one student asked me if I thought it was okay to walk right through someone's driveway.  Fortunately not only do we have permission to do so, but the owner often steps out to welcome us and wish us a good morning!

We make our first stop at the far end of the field where we do a greeting and share something we are thankful for (lots of kids were thankful for their families this morning!).  Then we play an active game in the field to burn off a little energy before heading into the woods.  Today our game was centered around Carrie's drum.  Ask your child what they should do when they hear her beating the drum.

After our game we walk to our space in the woods.  We begin by sitting around our fire circle.  While we eat snack Carrie tells a story before we move into our exploration for the day.  Typically, after a guided exploration students will have forest choice time.  Today we simply gave students time to explore our space while practicing some safety expectations.  Today we learned about the three cares, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and take care of the earth.  All of our expectations can fall under one of those umbrellas.  Some things we focused on today included staying within our boundaries (marked by flags that students made last week), walking, using sticks for building or as tools, and respecting living things by looking at them, but not touching them.   We wrap up each ECO morning by gathering in a circle and saying a silent thank you and goodbye to the forest before we walk back to school.   Ask your child what their favorite part of ECO was!