Wow! What a fun last few weeks we have had at Forest Preschool! With all the rain on the 11th and 12th we had HUGE puddles to play in and some flooded paths to observe at school. We kept a safe distance from the water! We were able to observe the changes in the water- it was dirtier, higher, and faster than normal. We saw logs floating on the creek and even tossed leaves and sticks over the walking bridge to see how quickly they floated away.  Then, after the weekend, the water had receded to its normal riverbank and we had the opportunity to walk our forest paths to see what had changed. Students noticed that we had logs in different places in the forest. They also noticed that the leaves were caked in dust left behind from the water. We were able to walk up a hill and observe where the dusty leaves stopped and clean leaves started. Students deduced that the water hadn’t reached the leaves that were still clean.  A little while later, hiking a different path, we found a stinky, rottin

Students at Under the Trees Forest Preschool have been having a blast with the changing weather! At forest school more rain means bigger puddles, softer dirt/mud for digging and lots and LOTS of worms! We have also noticed slugs of all sizes out and about on our trails, in our leaves, and even climbing on our equipment.  We spend time every day on recognizing letters and shapes. We have also begun a unit on our 5 senses beginning with sight. Our preschoolers have been enjoying bringing show and tell so that they can share what they like to look at.  Digging has been a big hit lately. It’s been great to see the kids using the shovels, getting dirty, and then responsibly filling in the holes before the end of the day so that no one trips.  Our theme this week has been deciduous trees and evergreen trees. Children use leaves and small pine branches gathered from the forest floor to decorate paper hedgehogs. The difference between the two is easy to see on our craft project, but both make