Walking Wednesday

 Walking Wednesday

Wonderful Walking Wednesday

Wonderful Weather Walking Wednesday

I Wonder What We Will Notice?

"It's a flower tree."

It IS a flower tree.  Look closely.  What do you notice?

"The flowers are pink!"

"The flowers are white."

"Hey!  The flowers are white AND pink!"

"I see my shadow!" PS

"My shadow does whatever I do.  It's like another me!" CF

"My shadow is on top of yours!!"

"I see a twisty tree!" GC

I knew exactly what tree you were noticing!  It's trunk does look twisty!

"Or wavy." RM

"Or wrinkly." MT

Ahhh..we have found some juicy words of Spring!

"Is smooth a juicy word?" GC

"I think so!" Ms L

"But that tree isn't smooth." GC

Nope, it sure isn't.  And you noticeed!

On one of last Walking Wednesdays we noticed the tree on the left.  We wondered if those tiny pink/red "things" were going to become flowers or leaves.

JI you asked about this tree as soon as our walk began and we knew we had to investigate.

We came upon the tree and....

WOW!  

The tree on the left had changed into the tree on the right!

It was such an unbelievable transformation that we required some proof that it was indeed the same tree!

Wow!  What a giant transformation!

We have noticed many things with our EYES, but as we passed this spot I noticed something with my NOSE!

"It smells like lavender!" EM

"It smells like perfume!" JI

"It smells like flowers." ESE

We have seen nature.

We have smelled nature.

And now we HEARD nature!

Though they are difficult to see, trust us when we say this tree was COVERED in hard working bees!

With all of the beauty around us it is only natural that our friends would want to pick something.  It is the purest gift to be presented with a tiny fist full off flowers.  And though they are indeed beautiful, they are growing, living pieces of nature.

So, before our walk we spent some time talking about "giving nature a chance".  What does that mean?

We can enjoy the beauty of Spring with our eyes.

We can enjoy the beauty of Spring with our noses.

We can even gently touch and feel the beauty of Spring with our hands.

AND, we can leave it where it is to grow and live.

Others will be able to enjoy it.

We can enjoy it.

We can "give it a chance"

And...when the beauty is so big we want to take it with us, we can

In a picture!

It was a wonderful walking Wednesday.

We encourage you to unplug and go out and notice nature around you.

And remember...

Give it a chance!

Insects galore!

 

Spring brings out the smiles, the sunshine, the skinned knees and...

the insects!

Children at Ambrose have long held all aspects of nature close to heart, and this year's Birch friends are no different.  

Today we headed out early and this group was on the hunt!

Beetles, ants, bumblebees, spiders, and roly polys were our discoveries today.

Armed with this noticing your teachers pushed your learning with a few new invitations.

We haven't had our tinkering tub out for a while.  It was an immediate attraction.  I heard friends building robots, machines, and trying to make all sorts of video-game inspired creations.

I "paused" their work.

Most of the time we are free to create whatever we like.  But SOMETIMES your teachers want to push your brains to think in new and different ways, stretch your thinking and cause you to move away from the things you always do.  And today was one of those days.  Today we want to know...

How can you BUILD an insect?

And, our friends rose to the occasion!

Some friends created insects from nature and others created insects from their imaginations.

Playdough and loose parts offered the very same invitation with a small twist.

What insect can you create?

This time our friends were ALL in!

We saw ladybugs

snails

slugs

spiders

and...

hedgehog slugs???

We love to see your brains in action!

We also shared our beautiful art cube with other classes at Ambrose.  We continue to watch it's beauty attract friends from every room and are thrilled at seeing the collaborations!

Outdoor invitations...

What a gorgeous day!  Your teachers put our heads together and created a morning of outdoor invitations for our Birch friends to explore.

The giant sandpit is always a favorite place to explore.  Some days it's a beach, some days it's an archeological dig, and today it was...

an airplane!

These friends set up an entire fuselage complete with snacks for the flight!

I imagine with the sunshine and sand between their toes they were headed someplace tropical!

Our beautiful willow tree is a place of imaginative stories.

Animals

Hot Lava

and today...a family!

These giant blocks were an incredible gift to Ambrose from our amazing PTO one year.  We are excited for the warm temperatures that allow us extended time outside to create with them.  Today we saw

A roller-coaster for trucks

 

A home for a family

And...some amazing problem solving!

ESE you created a TALL slide with these blocks.  You were SO excited and proud.  You climbed on top of two crates to slide down and when you did...

it fell!

After some hugs and deep breaths I asked you,

"What did you learn?"

"Slides are dangerous!" ESE

Hmmm, how can you change your slide to make it not so dangerous?

"I can take away one of those boxes." ESE

I like your idea.  Let's see what happens.

As you worked your friend HW came over to test out your new not-so-dangerous-slide.
I wondered out  loud to you about how your tall slide fell.  I noticed that the slide part slid off of the crate.  I wonder if there is something that might keep that from happening?

We have been working on our art cube for quite some time now.  Today we brought it outside and invited any who wanted to, to collaborate with us.

It was so fun to see the pride some of our friends felt at sharing our work.

EM, you were showing a Spruce friend how to cut our fabric into ribbons to hang onto the cube.

AP you were SO excited to add to our work outside!  You spent a long time working today.  I could tell you were proud of yourself.  I loved spending this time with you.

Forest Friday

 

Have a great weekend!