Rainy Rainy Rainy Days

It was a mild and muddy week at Fiddleheads, as I'm sure everyone noticed from the laundry. We made good use of the rainy days to begin our unit on winter weather and the water cycle. We read All the Water in the World, and acted out the water cycle, learning about evaporation, clouds and condensation, and rain running back into the ocean. We read Scuffy the Tugboat and His Adventures Down the River, and talked about water flow through watersheds and floods. Then with much excitement we sailed origami boats down the swiftly flowing rain gutters at Mt Tabor. We read Eric Carle's charming Little Cloud, and learned about clouds, having a lucky day of relative sun and clarity to be able to observe them. Today we had a visit from Karen Cook, Avery's grandmother and a retired 1-2 teacher with a masters in art education. She led the children in some wintery paintings, and Arielle and Ginger made tortilla snowflakes with the kids!

We've been playing with ice in the sensory bucket, and we've had some fun opportunities to explore water and mud at the park. Our favorite mudslide was in its full glory this week. And there is a little stream that drains through the middle of our play area at Mt Tabor. It only appears during extended periods of heavy rain. It's always exciting to see and to get in. There are some good puddles and rocks to jump off from, and the drainage grate at the bottom is interesting to investigate. Then after the water drains there are pockets of different textured mud to explore. Water is flowing, and it's endlessly fascinating to young children! We will continue to explore and talk about winter weather and the water cycle next week.