I am working on making a disc of our ECO slide show for everyone to have and I will send these home when I am done.  Our last ECO session is next Wednesday, May 29th.  We would like to extend the day and stay out until 1:00 as long as the weather looks reasonable.  This means we would eat lunch in the forest.  Students can get a bag lunch through the hot lunch program, but I would need to know who plans to do this by next Monday so the lunches can be prepared.

Last week we began our last science unit exploring states of matter.  We began by sorting several jars into solids and liquids and then noticing things that were true of all the liquids and all of the solids.  We noticed that liquids take the shape of the container they are in and have a flat surface in the container, while solids will hold onto their shape.  From there we have been exploring liquids and water.  We began by experimenting with drops of water on plastic plates and today children had a chance to explore drops of water on different surfaces:  paper towel, construction paper, waxed paper, and tin foil.   Some things we noticed were the drops stay really round on the wax paper, they spread out on the tinfoil, and they soak into the paper towel and construction paper.  It is easy to move drops on the wax paper because they are so round and don't soak in at all.

We had a whirlwind week with our Food Residency.  Hopefully you had an opportunity to hear a bit about our trip to the Ward Farm, our time cooking either muffins or cheese, and our visit from the baby chicks!  Everyone did a fantastic job managing the changes in routine.

Next Friday, May 17th, our class is responsible for the all school assembly at 7:40.  We will be sharing a slideshow of our ECO days and another slideshow showing part of each child's nature name project that we did in the computer lab.  Both are narrated by students.  If for some reason you can't make it I am hoping to give each child a disc with both slideshows.  There is also an all school music concert on Thursday, May 23rd at 6:00.  Have a wonderful weekend and a lovely Mother's Day!

Baby chicks!

Learning about raising chickens.

Making banana flax muffins.

Measuring and stirring dry ingredients.

Chicken and egg problem solving!

Using bears to represent chickens and eggs.

Next week the entire school will be participating in a Food Artists Residency.  This will take place on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 10:00 to 11:30 at a variety of locations throughout the valley.  Today in your child's backpack is specific information about what he or she will be doing on each of the days.  The kindergarteners will all be visiting Stan and Helen Ward's farm on Monday, and we will all go to Soaring Ridge Farm on Thursday.  On Tuesday some of us will participate in cheese making and some of us will be cooking.  It looks like an exciting week!

What a fantastic day for ECO!  It was so nice to not bring hats and mittens.  We were busy all morning with a variety of activities from writing with home made pencils to releasing the little rafts we made at school on Monday and Tuesday.  We saw signs of coyotes and heard lots of ruffed grouse activity.  Perhaps your child can tell you what this sounds like.

I hope everyone had a fantastic break!  The pre-vacation sickness seems to be gone and finally we can go outside without a lot of extra clothing.  We do have ECO tomorrow.  It looks like it will be a beautiful, warm day.  I asked the children to please wear mud/puddle boots if they have them as we may spend a little time exploring the small stream in the forest.  Otherwise, please send them with layers as it is apt to start of cool, but grow much warmer, along with a snack and water bottle.

In math we have been working on composing and decomposing numbers up to ten.  We have done a variety of math stations that have helped students see different ways a given number can be made, for example 10 can be 9 and 1 and also 8 and 2.  We have also been spending a lot of time on story problems, working on figuring out what a problem is asking, deciding if we need to add some more or take some away, and then finding strategies for getting a correct answer.

*We do have ECO next Wednesday.  As of right now it looks like it will be a much warmer day!  Please let me know if you would like to join us.

Sorting dominoes by their total, 4-10, and writing equations to represent each one.

More domino sorting.

Using different colored legos to build one number several ways.

It certainly did not feel like April yesterday, but everyone was so engaged during ECO they didn't seem to notice the cold!  Children were able to pick between three workshops:  tools and building, making a fire and heating sap, or creating an adventure with buckets, rope, and clips.  My time was spent with the last group where much effort was put into creating a mouse elevator and a mouse chairlift.  Hopefully your child shared a bit about his or her morning!

I will be out again tomorrow, attending the annual kindergarten conference, which is one of the few professional development opportunities specifically focused on kindergarten.

Working on the mouse elevator.

A forest treasure.

Getting ready to sample warm sap.