Snow, in springtime, classic Vermont! In the morning today we did some group thinking and sorting using OuiSi cards. “OuiSi makes award-winning sets of Visually Connecting Photo Cards – "this looks like that" – with a Guidebook full of games that ignite fun, creativity and conversation, regardless of age. OuiSi Original Photo Cards capture small marvels from the "everyday," while OuiSi Nature celebrates nature's incredible shapes, patterns and colors. Kids' imaginations soar with OuiSi, and adults find the concepts intriguing, making OuiSi a delightful, multigenerational hit.” we have the nature set and I started with giving everyone a handful of cards and each student worked independently to put their cards into categories. Then after we shared we were paired up and did the same thing with more cards. Then, our pairs were combined to have 2 groups of 4, and we ended the with combining all our cards and sorting them into new groups. It was awesome to see what detailed people saw and connected together with these cards.
For the rest of the morning we wanted to do 2 things, check out Beaver Pond again and see how it may have changed, and do the Birds of the Sugarbush Scavenger Hunt. Like last week before we got to the pond we make predictions of the condition and had to explain why. When we got there, all the small streams were frozen, the pond was more melted that the week before, and it was snowing. For a while we threw rocks on the ice and listened to the cool sound it made, then many of us started ice harvesting and working together to get the largest piece of ice from the pond.
The birds of the Sugarbush scavenger hunt was a lot of fun too! We worked together to understand the map and navigate where all the birds were located and remember the letter connected to the bird, which in the end we would unscramble to get a magic word. The 5 birds were connected to 5 different parts of the sugarbush, such as on a snag, in evergreen trees, in young trees, up in the canopy, and down on the ground in the leaf litter and fallen down trees. We found all the birds, and collected all the letters! Can you unscramble the word? The 5 letters are: PSYRU
In the afternoon we had some art reflection time to draw something memorable about the day we have had so far. Some friends drew the scavenger hunt map, others ice from the pond, or playing with friends.
Of course we had to check on our snow board, which unlike last week had some on it. It was a light dusting which I will record as a “trace” of snow.
We then checked on our leprechaun traps from last week, sadly no one caught one, but we then transitioned to making fairy traps! We worked in groups to designed our trap and build it up. First thing next week we will check on our traps and see how they held up!
