Wednesday, February 15, 2012

February Late Start Lounge

Today we talked about tracking. The students were able to test their observations skills in the classroom with two game that you can play at home. First, they had a minute to look around the room and then closed their eyes. I asked them questions about the room and they answered by raising their arms to vote on list of answers. We also played an observation/memorization game with plastic farm animals. You can play this at dinner by having one person close their eyes while everyone else remove one object from the table. The object is to list what is missing.


Outside we practiced different tracking techniques. Ask your child to demonstrate the fox walk, weasel walk, scatter vision (good for looking for motion), and the benefits of using both peripheral vision and looking side to side (the playground/fabric game). We also worked on telling stories through tracks. The students had a great time drawing animals tracks on the playground with chalk. Here is a pdf of the animals tracks that we used if you would like to try this at home:


Animals Tracks


Late Start Lounge Photos


Sunday, February 12, 2012

Update on Rieke's Green Team

Check out what the Green Team has been busy with this year!


or view the individial slides here

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Styrofoam Recycling Drive

The Maplewood and Rieke Green Teams collected 40 cubic yards of styrofoam in 3 hours on Sunday! Big thanks to our volunteers - the students loved smashing the styrofoam to fit it into the bin.