Four Winds Leaves

Today our class was fortunate enough to have our very first Four Winds lesson.  Four Winds is a nature program that is taught by volunteers.  This year's theme is ecosystems and nearly once a month our class will have a visit from our volunteer, Jen.  The lesson she taught today was called Signs of Leaf Eaters.  Each lesson usually begins with a short puppet show in which the students learn much of the content.  In this case, they learned how various insects use leaves and how to look for signs of use on the leaves.  After the puppet show, students sorted cards with photos of actual leaves with signs of leaf eaters.

Then we created a giant food web.  Each child held a card with a plant or animal on it.  We sorted ourselves into chains with a plant closest to the sun, then an herbivore followed by one or more carnivores.

Then the class went outside to find leaves with signs of leaf eaters.

Finally, we came inside so the class could write about what they learned and saw outside.  They had collected leaves with signs of leaf eaters and you probably saw them come home along with the Four Winds sheet.  Next time you're outside, ask your child to look for leaves with signs of leaf eaters!

 

The Salamander Room

Today we had a very special visitor!  Eli's grandmother, "Mini", spent the afternoon with us today.  She shared one of her favorite books, The Salamander Room.

Mini read the book about a boy who wants to turn his room into a habitat for a salamander.  Then she gave each child a fact sheet about salamanders and their very own salamanders and cardboard tubs!

 (They are actually rubbery fishing lures but they looked an awful lot like real salamanders!)  After reading all about the cool things the boy wanted to put into his salamander habitat, they were ready to go outside and finds things to put into their salamander habitats.

They collected leaves and rocks and moss and all sorts of nature goodies!

Then the group gathered with their salamanders and habitats and each child had a chance to introduce us to their salamander.  Each was asked to name their new pet and tell the group about their favorite part of the habitat.

After everyone shared, we headed inside to do some writing about our new friends!  Each child had a booklet to fill about their salamander.  They got to name their new friend and then tell about what salamanders eat and where they like to live.  

Thanks, Mini, for a fun afternoon!  There were some very happy first graders taking new friends home that night!

Firefighters Visit for Fire Safety

Today three of our local volunteer firefighters visited to teach us about fire safety.  Our first visit was with Firefighter Spivak who showed us all of the special firefighter clothing firefighters wear.  Special boots, pants, gloves and jacket...fire hood and helmet.  He also shared with children the importance of staying low in the event of a fire (crawl below the smoke) and that if you ever catch fire to STOP, DROP AND ROLL!

Then we went outside and Firefighter Jon showed us the fire truck...

and all of the tools on it.  The most popular tool was the large flashlight!  Everyone wanted a turn holding the flashlight!

Firefighter Jon let everyone have a seat in the fire truck!  Big smiles all around!

Finally, we checked out the heavy rescue truck that holds the medical gear.  There was a lot to see and hear!

At the end of the day, I passed out fire hats and activity booklets that the fire department sent over for us!  Many thanks to our Hineburg Fire Department!