"Sensing" Fall!

We are learning all about our 5 senses ... and having lots of fun using our senses to learn all about fall!  We tried to read braille, and had a smelling party.  We'll continue to learn about autumn by tasting, hearing, and touching next week!

We celebrated Nolan's birthday this week! 

  

We ended the week with a great field trip to Moon Lake with AK Dept. of Fish and Game biologist Brandy Baker, who traveled down from Delta to teach us about aquatic ecosystems!  We had a yummy picnic lunch, and everyone had tons of fun getting wet and muddy.  Tone asked everyone for their extra mustard packets, and Emma asked everyone for their mayo.  Then they put ALL of them on their sandwiches!  

The kids had such a great time having salmon races....

... and collecting water samples to see what kind of insects live in Moon Lake.  The kids were SO excited to see their water bugs in the magnifying viewers!  I heard things like, "This is AWESOME!!!"(Tiana) and, "Ms. Deb, Look!  I caught one all by myself!" (Ronan). Mrs. Baker helped the kids identify and sort their insects into ice cube trays.  We found scuds, damselfly larvae, and water boatmen, among other things, and we found out that Moon Lake is a healthy ecosystem.  We'll talk more about what that means as the year progresses. The class really came alive and everyone was engaged in hands on learning...which is what I LOVE about outdoor education.  The kids worked together and helped each other.  It was GREAT!  Thank you to Mrs. Alsup and Mrs. Roslansky for coming with us!