For the last several weeks we have been working on opinion writing.  We began by talking about what an opinion is (what someone thinks, there is no right or wrong answer) and compared opinions to facts.  We have spent lots of time at the start of our day playing "Would You Rather..", expressing our opinions by moving to one side of the room or the other, and then sharing reasons for our choices.  We play this game with a wide range of questions from "Would you rather play in the snow or the mud?"  to "Would you rather have Piggy or Elephant come to your house?"  This is a fast-paced game that kids love to play and it has provided lots of practice not only thinking about opinions, but also backing them up with evidence.  

Once we mastered this quick way of sharing opinions and reasons orally we moved on to writing our opinions.  Kindergarteners have strong opinions which they love to share! This has made for some very focused writing.  Some of the topics we have written about have included favorite seasons, recess versus choice time, and the best pet.  We have also written opinions in response to several books, including "Henry and Mudge" by Cynthia Rylant and "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems.

 Wow, did we ever have a fabulous first day in the forest!  I think it was particularly significant for Carrie and me, as we have both spent many years visiting the site but hadn't been their since last December.  The warm weather was an added plus!

Our focus for the day was spring.  We began in the lower field talking about birds that have already migrated back to Vermont, including red-winged blackbirds, which were visible and vocal all around us.  We talked about the message they were giving with their call of "conk-la-ree" and who it was intended for.  Right now it is the male blackbirds that have come back and they are trying to assert their territory in anticipation of nesting.  There message is telling other males to kindly go to a different space! We played a red-winged blackbird tag game before heading into the woods.

While we ate our snack in the forest Carrie told a story called "Spring Defeats Winter."  Children were invited to create their own spring wands, followed by time to explore our forest space. We ended by choosing sit spots, a place that we will visit each week where we can sit quietly, listen and watch the forest, sip tea, and write in journals.  We are looking forward to many more fantastic weeks of ECO in the woods.

Since our return from vacation we have been engaged in a new science unit focused on weather.  We began the unit by talking about what weather is and the different aspects of weather including temperature, precipitation, wind, and cloud cover.  We also talked about why people pay attention to the weather and why it might be important to know what the weather will be.  We began documenting the weather most days, using a detailed picture and a sentence to describe the weather for the given day as part of a March weather journal.  March is a fantastic month for doing this as it usually encompasses all kinds of weather!

During our Number Corner time for math we have also been graphing "lion" days versus "lamb" days, using math words like more, less, most, and equal to compare the two.

On Thursday for ECO, children were presented with a challenge to "stop the melt".  We talked about conditions that lead to melting and brainstormed ways we could limit those conditions. We decided that blocking sun and water were most important. After hearing a story about 3 snowballs children were invited to create their own snowball and use materials in our surrounding area to try to keep the snow from melting.  Most children covered theirs with leaves or woodchips and some even used mud.  Several children surrounded theirs with extra snow after covering them in hopes of adding a cooling effect.  Alas, the following 60 degree sunny days were too much for all but two of the snowballs.  We had many small piles of leaves and wood, with no remaining snow!  Two snowballs did survive, a bit smaller than when they started, but still definitely intact.  We noticed that each of these had been placed in a spot that remained shady throughout the day, while others may have started off in the shade, but were exposed to direct sunlight later on.

We will continue to talk about weather for the rest of the year, particularly in relation to ECO, as being dressed appropriately can make a huge difference in the level of fun we have.