We have heard a steadily increasing chorus of bird song each week at ECO so this past week we decided to focus on birds.  Most students now know the familiar call of the red winged blackbird and we have been lucky to see and hear an abundance of them in the ECO field.  The ovenbird has also been quite vocal in the woods with its "teacher, teacher" call.  Last week we also learned the song of the chestnut-sided warbler - "pleased pleased pleased to meetcha" - and were lucky to see and hear one right next to the trail as we walked in and out of the forest.  In the woods, Carrie set up a bird scavenger hunt with pictures of common species hung throughout our site.  Children had a great time finding the pictures and using bird guides to indentify the different species.

We always follow our ECO lesson with forest choice time.  For the past several weeks we have had a mud kitchen available. This has been a big hit, with lots of lovely cakes and muddy drinks created and served!

 Our latest science unit "Pushes and Pulls" is focused on forces and motion.  We began this unit by reading a book about pushes and pulls and brainstorming examples of pushes and pulls we use each day.  It turns out examples abound once we start thinking about it, esepecially on the playground and in gym class.  On Friday we rotated through three stations experimenting with motion.  In the first station, children were challenged to use blocks to make a marble run to test marbles of various sizes and weights.  In the second station they used blocks to put a marble in motion and change its direction.  For the third station they experimented with chain reactions, using dominoes and kiva blocks.  While our main focus was learning about motion, this also provided a great opportunity for working in teams.