Getting Outdoors

Is there such thing as "rain fever"? Be it real or not, there have been quite a few days this month where I just couldn't stand the overcast skies and rain any more. For that reason, the moment there was a little bit of sunshine, I took my students out, any excuse seemed reasonable. Last week we got to our field and collected several branches to put on our measurement books, it was a lot of fun working on the outdoor classroom, measuring the branches and taking pictures of them. We were working in there when the first grade students were coming out for recess, one of them commenting to me "one of your students is standing on the bench!", "That is right - I said- He is supposed to stand on the bench to take a good picture!" After a few minutes of bliss and sun on our faces, a couple of curious bees decided to show up, so we called it a day and got back in. We went out back yesterday to fill up our front bird feeders. They were almost empty. We are happy to report that they are really enjoying our birdie town.
Included in this slide show are also pictures of the International Night, it was so much fun to see everybody having a great day of community and celebration of other cultures! I had a blast!
Finally, in our camp we have been working on writing our second letter to our pen pals, and a lesson on producers and consumers for social studies.
Enjoy the pictures!

And here are a couple of proofs that the birdies are building a nest in one of the bird houses. When I showed the pictures to my students one of them said with such a sweet enthusiasm "We are going to have a birdie!". Yes, let's hope for a full nest, we will even give names to the chicks :) Our outdoor classroom pets!