Four Winds

About Four Winds

Why do leaves change color in the fall? What rock floats in water? Do all bugs fly? Children are naturally curious about the world around them. The Four Winds program helps them fuel their curiosity and answer questions about nature, and encourages learners of all ages to look at the familiar with new eyes -- the shape of a leaf, the texture of a caterpillar, the design of a flower. Sitting quietly in a field listening to insects singing, exploring life in a pond by wading in and turning over rocks, examining the forest floor by digging under the leaf litter and smelling the rich earth, we learn about the world around us through active exploration. We had our first Four Winds last week. Remy's mom, Katie's dad and Riley's mom taught us all about evergreen trees. We were treated to a puppet show,  and then participated in many activities such as cone sort, mystery cone, and tree identification on our own playground.                                                     

More Measuring

We measured different lengths of tape with "kid steps". Students compared their results. We answered a variety of questions focusing on their measurements of different distances and which distances are greater than others. 

Fish Lengths and Animal Jumps

        

For the next few weeks our math focus is on linear measurement. We will be measuring with a variety of units, such as cubes, inch tiles, paper clips, and paper cut-outs of different sizes. We will investigate the idea that different sized units result in different measurements. We will also work on several story problems. Throughout this Investigation, students are learning house consistent units to measure accurately and to understand the underlying mathematics of measuring. This kind of experience will improve their sense of what measuring is all about. -"Investigations, Unit 5"

Happy Thanksgiving!

We pushed our tables together and ate lunch in our classroom together on Tuesday. We also were treated to delicious pumpkin muffins- Thanks Calleigh!

"Roll a Turkey"

Writing About Snowboarding

 Our field trip to ECHO was amazing. Burton snowboards collaborated with the ECHO Center to offer our students the opportunity to study and learn about force and motion. Students participated in many different stations, including investigations into how the angle of a ramp affects speed and distance. Students practiced balancing skills and different snowboard "grabs". We also explored the ECHO science museum. A great day in Burlington!

learning about angles, distance and speed

balancing skills

snowboard "grabs"

enjoying the view of Lake Champlain

teacher/student selfie!

What is a Glyph?

The word glyph is related to the word “hieroglyphics.” The two have some other similarities as well. Hieroglyphic refers to ancient forms of writing involving pictures, and a glyph for kids uses pictures as a way to gather and depict data. Students also interpret data using glyphs.We had a lot of fun answering questions and creating owl pictures to represent our individual answers. We  also loved reading an all time favorite "Owl Babies".

Geometry

We continue our study of geometry, comparing and naming 2-D shapes. We are also identifying common attributes and developing common language for describing 2-D shapes. After reading "The Shape of Things" we created our own shape pictures! We also made 2-D shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks (yum)!

Grenier's Farm and Pumpkin Math

 Pumpkins, potatoes, cookies, apples and cider! What a great afternoon at Grenier's Farm! After picking potatoes and making our way through the cornfield, we were treated to delicious snacks and picked out our own pumpkins. We used our pumpkins for Pumpkin Math; estimating weight, circumference and height ...and then finding the actual measurements. We also had a class pumpkin. We estimated the number of seeds then scooped and counted. There were 580 seeds! We then roasted our seeds and had a delicious snack!

Pumpkin Math!

Weighing

Scooping

Counting seeds: We counted 580 seeds!

Roasted pumpkin seeds- yum!

Scientific Art

We had a special visitor this past week! Jeannie Sargent, a scientific artist, shared some of her work with us and tips on how to draw what we see in nature. She talked about looking carefully and slowly drawing what we observe. Her drawings were incredible of plants, birds, leaves and trees. This fit perfectly with our Outdoor Learning. We took what we learned outside and tried our own scientific drawings! 

Building Structures in the Woods

Outdoor Learning Field Trip

A pond, the woods, and a field were ours to explore and learn about at Mrs. Magida's property in Middlesex. All four classes had an amazing time and participated in a variety of activities including leaf crowns, seed explore, bugs, structure building, pond life and bark/leaf art. A big thank you to our parent helpers and Mrs. Magida...we had a truly fantastic day of learning together in the outdoors!

  

Lunch Time!

Morning hike

Leaf Crowns

Written Reflection

Outdoor Learning in the Field

Our O.L. this week brought us to the Thatcher Brook Field. It was a beautiful afternoon and the kids loved looking for insects, spiders, seed pods, flowers, seeds and grasses. We love looking through our hand lenses to observe and notice things we never saw before. Next week is our field trip to Mrs. Magida's property where we will explore more habitats, including the woods, fields, brook and pond.

Outdoor Learning in the Woods

 We continue our Outdoor Learning on Thursday afternoons, this past week we went into the woods behind Thatcher Brook School. We brought magnifying glasses to get up close to trees, plants, leaves, pine cones- so many interesting things to see, and we noticed many patterns in nature! We loved the coolness of the woods, the tall trees and the crickets! We hiked over the hill and followed different paths- we had a great afternoon exploring the woods!

Outdoor Learning at Thatcher Brook

Passing our Talking Stick

We had our first Outdoor Learning (O.L.) afternoon last Thursday. We follow a structure to our afternoon which consists of a Gathering Circle, Share with our Talking Stick, Choice, Activity, Sit Spots and Closing Circle. We are exploring different habitats and our first outing was to Thatcher Brook. The children were so excited and curious about the brook environment- We went on a scavenger hunt and we found crayfish, fish, built structures with stones, listened to birds, observed the moving water, observed insects and flowers, and shared our learning with each other. Next Thursday, we will explore the woods.

Sit Spots

Choice Time

Walking to Thatcher Brook