Back in the Swing

 
It can be an awfully big transition coming back from a long break, but this awesome group of kiddos got back into the swing of things right away. 

This week we started a study of building and buildings. In the coming weeks we'll explore buildings in our local neighborhood and learn about buildings near and far. We'll have some construction challenges, and we'll see what interesting questions arise for us to investigate. Already we've had wonderings like "how does water get into a house?" and "what shapes are in a house?" 

We also read two hilarious and fun books this week. Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee helped ease us back into our story time routine, and had us all laughing out loud. Ask your child to describe what happened with the moose. And we learned interesting words like genius and determined in Those Darn Squirrels. You can reinforce their understanding of this fun vocabulary by using those words at home, and ask your child why Old Man Fookwire was always shaking his fist at the squirrels. 

Outside, the snow was SO fun for building, so you get mostly snow pictures this week...

Jumping right back into our art supplies and sculpture materials.

Fresh easel paper is oh-so inviting. 

Our wood shop was covered in ice so we had to get out the hammers to chip it away. 

New snowbanks, new adventure!

For the first time this winter the snow is perfect for building. These kiddos are figuring out how to use our snow-brick makers.  

Snowballs get big, quickly!

Teamwork!

This snowball turned into a hollowed-out castle

These three figured out how to roll this giant snowball all the way from Wildwood Forest into the field. It then became the perfect chair. 

With rain in the forecast we thought we'd build a snowman under the protection of our rain house.

A little fort

This crew spent some fun time admiring the trees and their branches.

What happens when you put ice onto the fire? 

We wrapped up the week with a delicious pear crisp. Two thumbs up!