Wow! What a beautiful, but soggy day out in the woods today. It was 40 degrees outside our classroom when we got dressed at 10am, but by the end of our time at 2pm it was 32 outside. It was icy in places, slushy in others. And water was on the move, in the little streams and in the big wetland / “river.” We went through ALL the mittens we brought out (~ 2 pairs per Kindergartener) and were sure glad to have those Grundens on. We had lots of sloshy boots and wet wool socks that did their job of keeping toes warm enough to keep playing.
Mr. Frank tended our fire and Aisley and Emma joined us as First Grade Leaders.
A highlight of our day was that the birdfeeder had many visitors. Chickadees and titmice at least. Isaiah spent a long time watching them and talking to them in their own language: “Chickadee, chickadee-dee-dee!”

Henry’s plan: “I see a deer.” He labeled his picture and used color to make it look realisitc.

Isla’s plan: “I am going to play bear cave.” We learned this morning that black bears are giving birth to their cubs in early February.

Ainsley is reading her writing: “We will find the wooly bear together and we are going to play in the snow.” She has clear spaces between her words.

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Willow’s picture shows all the things she is going to do in the woods. You can see deer tracks on the left side with labels, the fire area, and a squirrel. She labeled her picture and included a lot of detail.

Gregory’s plan: “I am going to find a real deer.” He labeled “water,” “deer,” and “me.” He is working on spelling snap words right like “to” and “a.”

Aisley and Paisley found some deer scat.

Here is the deer scat. It is shaped like ovals, little beans or eggs.

This is Ian with the river (wetland) in the background. The ice has melted. The water was flowing pretty fast. And at Avery’s Sit Spot she heard the water rushing.

The First Grade Leaders were helping work on the tent (fort) some more. The sticks were falling off.

Ian, Gregory, Henry, and Willow were discovering what the water was doing.

Henry was helping a friend here. She had wet mittens so he gave her a pair of his extra ones.

Willow found a mushroom. She found it down on the hill where a tree was knocked down. She picked it off. It was dry.

Paisley was climbing on the tree that was knocked down. She was hanging from it.

Avery was kneeling on the high part of the tree. A little while later, Henry was behind her and he was standing on a stick that broke. Then Avery fell down a little ways. It was scary and she got a little bit hurt. She cried a little.

Here is everyone climbing on the big pine.

Today Ainsley fell on the ice in the woods and hit her eyebrow. It was a drag and it hurt a lot. But here she was climbing and feeling good!