Debbie and I were so excited when we got into the office this past Friday because Forest Preschool was starting up again!  Fridays at Forest Preschool happen to be our favorite time of the week. We began our day as always, giving the students the option to play outside in the snow or color/draw inside.  Once all of our friends had arrived we got down to business. We sat in our morning meeting circle and introduced ourselves to all of our new friends.  Debbie introduced some new things that will be happening: we will have an all day line leader and will have a morning meeting helper.  These jobs will cycle through everyone to make sure we all get a chance. During morning meeting we learned everything that would be happening during our first day, and we were all excited and ready to begin so we could go outside and have our first adventure. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"10581","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone size-full wp-image-1873","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"3456","height":"4608","alt":"dscn1409"}}]] After we had our snack, we got geared up and went outside to explore, but first we had to do our Audubon job: fill the bird feeders.  We each got a chance to get a scoop of seed and pour it in one of Audubon's many feeders.  Some of us even got to put them back up!  This has to be the best job ever. After we filled all the feeders, we traveled to Forest Camp! For some of us this was our very first time, and for others it wasn't, but Debbie and Emily made sure everyone had the same amount of information by the end of the day.  We walked the perimeter of Forest Camp to know what our boundaries are, where the fire circle is, and other cool things. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"10611","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone size-full wp-image-1879","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"4608","height":"3456","alt":"dscn1429"}}]] As we were walking around Forest Camp getting acclimated, we stumbled upon something.... SCAT!  We all learned what Scat was, and how it's a great scientific term to use.  Debbie took out her animal ID book and we examined the scat.  Upon examination and comparing it to photos in the book, we determined it was deer scat! Some of us even SMELLED IT!! After we explored and got to know the area of Forest Camp we wanted to further explore Audubon and see if we could find more signs of wildlife! In the garden we found more Deer scat and tracks that were in the snow that remained.  We found other tracks too like squirrel and a set of tracks that stumped us.  Debbie took out her animal tracking book again and we found the page that had similar looking tracks. After a while, we believe that they were some kind of cat tracks, possibly a house cat or...bobcat! To warm up we played a fun game, What Time is it Mr. Fox.  Everyone had a chance to be the fox.  We sure worked up our appetite for lunch. After lunch Debbie and Emily set up a fun art activity.  Since we were looking for other animal tracks earlier, Emily and Debbie got out large pieces of paper. We stepped in paint and were able to make our own animal tracks.  It was a blast!  Be sure to look for them up on the wall in the Barn the next time you walk in. We can't wait to see what other cool and exciting things we get into during the weeks that follow.