Scientists

I spent most of the day with Eleanor on her field trip to Fields Pond Audubon Center.  This was the first of many visits that will take place throughout the year with the Field Pond educators, Matt & Cyndi.  Some visits will be at the center and the other visits will bring Matt & Cyndi to the school to study nature there.  At the center today, the kids were divided into groups of 2 or 3.  Eleanor and her friend, Desiree are partners.  The first assignment for the groups was to come up with a name to call themselves.  Eleanor & Desiree are Nature Girls.  Each group was given a 10' x 10' plot of land to observe throughout the year.  The kids counted trees & plants, looked for living & non-living things, learned how to read a thermometer (it was 49°), learned how to check soil to see if it is wet or dry (squeeze a handful of soil, if water comes out then it is wet), stood on their plots to see if it was flat or steep, walked around to see if it was bumpy or smooth & they looked closely at the dirt to see what was in it.  It sounds like Eleanor is going to have a lot of awesome hands on science experience this year.  :-)
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Noah spent the day with Colby. :-) I picked him up after the field trip and then we went back to the school to help out in Zach's classroom for the last half hour of school.  Noah & I took Zach & a group of his classmates into the library to play Around the World.  We made a circle and the 1st two students that I picked competed to see who could answer the addition problem that I showed them on a flashcard.  The winner then moves to the next student in the circle and competes against him/her.  A student would earn a prize if they made it all the way around the circle (or world:-) by winning each addition problem.
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We have big Halloween party preparations going on here!  We are hosting a party for some of our school friends on Friday after school!  We are excited!