Read Across America and Audubon Field Trip

We returned from vacation to a fun-filled week.

Thursday was Read Across America Day, which honors Dr. Seuss on his birthday. To recognize this special day, many classes decorated their classroom doors based on a favorite book. We have been reading and listening to many books by the funny author, Robert Munsch. After a secret ballot vote, the class chose The Paper Bag Princess as our theme. The children had fun creating adorable Paper Bag Princesses and Princes, and some even created speech bubbles for their character.

Be sure to check out our fun door when you come in for your child's conference!

We also had a guest reader come into the classroom on Thursday to read to the class. Mary Dinsmore, who works in Central Office, read one of her favorite books, The Circus Ship. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of the kids as they were mesmerized by this fun story.

Today, we had our wonderful field trip to Maine Audubon. A big thank you to our chaperones, Sarah McGibbon, Amy Haskins, Grace Phillips and Holly Karolkowski for joining us. Although it was chillier than it has been lately, the kids were prepared for the cold and really enjoyed their time outside.

We explored how snowflakes are all different, but that they all have 6 sides and are symmetrical. Did you know that the temperature determines the type of snowflake that is made?

We practiced walking like different Maine animals and learned that if we know how an animal walks, it can help us identify their tracks in the snow. It was fun to try to figure out what animals made the tracks on winter snow picture.

 The winter scene to the right helped us learn what Maine animals do in the winter. We knew about hibernation and migration. Some new words for many of us were brumation, dormant and active!

When we were outside, we explored a lot. We saw animal scat and learned that examining it (yes, we thought that was funny!) helps us learn what animals eat. We also got to see lots of places for animals to sleep and stay warm in the winter. There were animals pelts to examine and pet. The honking geese flying overhead were fun to listen to too.