On Monday morning, three children came in reporting that they had lost a tooth over the weekend. This led to lots of discussion about missing teeth and wiggly teeth.  While there's wide variation in how many teeth children have lost, it seems to be an exciting topic for everyone and I anticipate many more missing teeth in the coming months!

In math, we have recently revisited geometry, reviewing shape names and their defining characteristics. Children have worked on pattern block puzzles, using smaller shapes to create a larger shape. Students have loved using pattern block stickers to fill in larger shape outlines. Once the picture is complete they have filled in a table showing how many of each shape was used and how many shapes were used all together. It has been fun to compare the same picture made in multiple ways, using a different number of shapes. This has helped students make observations about the composition of larger shapes, such as two trapezoids make one hexagon, or a rhombus and a triangle can make a trapezoid.

We have also played a game to help children practice naming shapes and giving specific directions. In this game each partner has a 3 X 3 grid with a star in the middle, as well as a basket with 9 identical shapes.  A book is used to create a barrier so they can't see the other partner's grid. One partner tells the other partner where to put each shape on the grid, while placing their shapes in the same place. The goal is to have matching grids when the shapes are placed. Along with naming the shapes this has provided a great opportunity for using position words such as above, below, next to, right, and left. 

We eased back from vacation by spending Wednesday morning outside with Pete for an ECO session at school. We spent ample time exploring and enjoying the new snow as we reviewed ECO routines in preparation for heading back to the forest once the weather is a bit more springlike. As it was the first day back from a long break, the playground and lower field were covered in a blanket of completely untouched powder, except for one long, meandering track which we followed and examined closely, trying to determine what animal had wandered the school grounds. We could tell by the tunnel nature of the track and the distance of the foot prints that it was a smallish animal that walks with a waddle, close to the ground. Pete encouraged us to think about the intent of an animal that would walk in such a snaking pattern all through the playground - probably not an animal trying to escape a predator, but rather something out curiously exploring. A small animal that feels free to move so casually must have some kind of special defense that gives it a certain amount of natural protection.  Ask your child what we finally decided the animal was! 

 

We continued into the lower field for our greeting circle, followed by a game in which most of us were voles trying to run through our snowy tunnels to escape the taggers, who were foxes. We followed that with a large chunk of time to explore and play in the fresh snow. Some highlights included building snow forts, snow volcanoes, and snow dinosaur nests, as well as pretending to be grouses hiding in the snow and jumping out to startle the hungry bobcat. This was a really nice way to settle back in to school after many days away!