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!