Who's been here?

This week, we went looking for signs that animals have been here.

Not this type of sign. :)

We found feathers on the ground, rabbit scat near bushes, horse hair on the fence, bark chewed off of branches, squirrel nests in trees and lots of animal tracks!

Here are a few tracks we found at school this week.

Can you guess who's been here?

Forecast: cloudy with a chance of ice

Last week, we discussed clouds and other ways to forecast the weather.  One of my favorite experiments to do with children is to make clouds right inside the classroom. 

(Especially when it is too cold to go outside!) 

 Clouds are relatively easy to create.  

To make a cloud, you need:

-warm air rising to meet cold air

-cloud seeds

 Cloud seeds can be dust, smoke or other particles in the air that the condensation can stick to.

Check out the pictures below of our scientists at work!

Chickadee-dee-dee

Chickadees are one of my favorite winter birds.  Tough and hardy little things, they survive the coldest of winter days with a cheery song, that makes us all a little more tenacious.  

Chickadees need large amounts of food each day in order to survive the winter.  Our bird feeders at school are often visited by these tiny birds looking for a winter snack.

You may have seen this bench around school and wondered what it was...

This is our brand new Chickadee Feeding Station!

Chickadees are friendly, little birds, who will sometimes eat seed right out of a person's hand.  Our feeding station will allow the birds to become use to feeding out of the "hands" on the bench.  Then, once they feel safe, we can sneak in real people to feed them!

As long as the children hold very still and stay quiet, the birds will eventually fly down to eat seeds right out of their hands!  

Feel free to try it out next time you walk by!

Space Week!

It was space week in the Nature room!

We started the week in astronaut training.  We discussed what would be different in space than on Earth.  

"In space, you float!"

Talking to preschoolers about gravity can be extremely entertaining!  I asked if they could describe what gravity is.  Here are a few of their answers:

"Earth sucks your feet down."

"So you don't fall up into the sky."

"Gravity keeps you from going way up in the air."

"When I jump, gravity makes me go down again."

"Without gravity, things can not fall."

"You can't see it, but it's still there, all the time."

"I've been trying to explain gravity all week at my house!"

 As future astronauts, we began by training our bodies to be physically fit and healthy. We worked on balance...

strength...

and endurance.

We also worked on teamwork and cooperation while completing a mission (puzzle).

We researched space, including stars, planets, the moon and the sun.

We also built balloon rockets!

Our astronauts-in-training had so much fun!