Field Trip to Audubon Center in Bristol RI

Bird tracks

Listening to Stranger in the Woods

Great Egret

Monarch butterfly and caterpillar

Milksnake

Viewing the tidal pool.

The infamous blue Lobster

We all gather for a photo in front of the Right Whale

The trip to the Audubon was filled with new discoveries both indoors and outdoors. Nature galore! We started the trip with a scavenger hunt in the museum. The children found all kinds of wonderful birds, amphibians, sea life in the tidal pool and different mammals native to Rhode Island. Then we headed outdoors to find tracks in the snow. This was met with some success after finding rabbit, mice, fox and bird tracks. After that, we listened and paricipated in the wonderful story, Stranger in the Woods (a favorite of mine). This book has a fabulous storyline and gorgeous photographs. A must, if you do not already own it. Then we took a break for lunch, went back into the museum and then headed back outdoors for a short hike. It was a beautiful day and extremely educational. It supported and extended a lot of the science we have been discussing in the classroom.

December Was a Busy Month

We hosted the Native American culminating event by inviting all kindergarteners from K-2 and K-3 to sing, chant, play our drums and do the 'feather dance' . This dance was taught to us by a Narragansett tribal member, Loren Spears and her students, from the school Neweetooun School. Miss Jeana demonstrated the dance and many of the children succesfully captured the feather. Excellent job everyone!

In December, the monthly language is Swedish. K-1 learns to greet each other in Swedish (God morgan!), learns to count to ten, and sings and dances to a Swedish favorite called Sma Grodorna ( a song about a little frog). As part of our monthly study, we were treated to a visit by Santa Lucia ; ). On December 13th, in Sweden, the youngest girl dresses in a tradtional outfit, which includes a long white dress with a red sash and a green wreath with glowing white candles. The girl wakes early that morning and delivers coffee, Lussekatter, and Pepperkakor to all the members of her family. This celebration is to observe the longest night of the year (under the Gregorian calendar this was actually Winter Solstice) Well, every St. Lucia day, I, Ms. Mitchell, dress in my traditional outfit and deliver a small white candle to all the children to help celebrate St. Lucia. During rest time, when the lights are out, I visit each classroom and teach the children how to say thank you (tack sa mycket) in Swedish. They were delighted to see me arrive with a full set of candles on top of my HEAD (battery operated). Such Magic! = )