Deerfield Parent Participation Class Spring 4/12/10

Ryerson Woods in Riverwoods is where we began our first class of the spring session. When I arrived, there was a note up that many of the animals were on maternity leave and we would be unable to see them or feed them. My first reaction was, "bummer I love to watch the little hands of the children feed these precious goats and lambs". I decided to move on and make it a wonderful learning opportunity. The kids and mom's, dad and babysitters arrived all eager to explore outdoors. We had a great musical circle time, followed by a beautiful hike in the forest looking for sign of spring. We were able to see a few buds on trees and we even saw a few bushes with leaves emerging. We had a very magical few minutes as we sat in a circle on the trail and watched a rolly polly open up and crawl away from us. After a great snack and lots of stories about farms, we hiked over to see the chickens and roosters. We also had a chance to see the HUGE white, very unusual turkey come out of the coop and literally strut her stuff. She was completely showing off for us. We walked by the empty pasture and we so happy when a few of the pregnant goats walked over to the fence. We would literally see the outline of the baby goat inside the mommy goat. It was a very exciting day. We can't wait to end our spring session at Ryerson and see the baby animals.

Winnetka Class April 7th

The not so perfect weather did not stop us from having a wonderful day at Tiny Treks. Both classes were able to get in a small walk during the first part of class. We went searching for worms but were unable to find any. We did, however, find lots of puddles. The kids who wore rain boots had a wonderful time walking through the puddles.
When we returned to the Community House we did a science experiment in which we made raisins dance. Each child got a cup of water. We added some special ingredients, dropped the raisins into the cup, and watched the raisins dance. The kids all thought this was really cool.
I read "I Love Easter!" to both classes. The AM class continued learning about space with me reading "Let's Explore the Moon." The PM class listened to "Doggies" "Belly Button Book" and "Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!"
Carrie

Winnetka Class March 18th, 2010

The weather was wonderful for Tiny Treks this week. We walked to the park to play and enjoy the weather. On the way, we looked for signs of spring. We found flowers beginning to emerge from the ground and a tree with buds on its branches. We saw grass on the lawns because the snow had melted. And the boys observed that it was warmer. All wonderful signs of spring.


While the boys ate lunch, I read Danny and Dinosaur go to Camp. One of the boys had asked me early in the session if we could learn about space; so this week, I read the boys a book about the Sun.

Winnetka has a mini Olympics 2/28/10

This past week in Tiny Treks we had our own mini Olympics while playing outside. The children had a list of "events" to complete including balancing on a log and jumping off a rock. They all seemed to enjoy the "competition." The afternoon class also made Olympic 1st place medals. The books that the kids listened to this week were Incredible Sharks, The Backyardigans Pirate Treasure, and Olivia.

Winnetka Class Feb. 17th, 2010

Another great day at Tiny Treks!


The boys started outside playing in the snow. Some of their activities included building snowmen, destroying snowmen, sledding, making snow angels, and trying to build a snow fort.

I had each boy collect snow in a cup and bring the cup inside with him. We then dropped in tub tint(s) into the cups and observed how long it took for the tub tint(s) to dissolve and change the color of the snow. I filled another cup with tap water and dropped a tub tint in that cup. The boys observed how quickly the tub tint dissolved in the tap water (about room temperature) vs. how long it took the tub tints to dissolve in the snow.

Both classes very much enjoyed building the marble maze, which they built from the top of the table all the way to the ground! They also very much enjoyed placing the marbles in the track and watching the marbles go all the way through the maze.

I read several books to each class including a LEGO book and "The Very Quiet Cricket".

Winnetka Class Feb. 10th, 2010

Thankfully, the prediction of near blizzard conditions didn't materialize and we had another great day at Tiny Treks.


Both classes were able to spend some time outside playing in the snow and sledding in front of the Community House.

Both classes did a craft project. The morning class did a snowman picture and the afternoon class did a Valentines Day craft.

The boys listened to several books: "A Royal Valentine" "Miss Spider's ABC" "Care Bears Caring Contest" "Otto Goes to Bed" and "Giraffes Can't Dance".

Enjoy all of the snow. Have a wonderful President's Day weekend.

Carrie

Winnetka Class Feb. 3rd, 2010

This week, we were able to take a hike since the weather was not too cold. I first asked all of the kids a question. I asked them if they thought Lake Michigan was frozen. Most kids guessed that the

lake was frozen. A few kids said it was part frozen and part not.
We then walked to the Lake to see if we were correct. We were NOT.
The lake was not frozen.
On the way to and from the lake, the boys had a wonderful time playing on the climbing tree.
Also, the boys all remembered the cicada on the tree in the park next to the lake. They wanted to see if the cicada was still there. They were disappointed to see that the cicada was gone. I told the boys that they would see more when summer comes.
The morning class listened to two books while they ate lunch. I read "Buzzes Backpack Adventure". I also read "Stranger in the Woods" in which animals are curious but hesitant to investigate a "stranger" in their woods. The stranger turns out to be a snowman that children made that includes a carrot nose and bird seed in the hat for the animals to eat. This book has beautiful pictures!

The afternoon class made beautiful valentines and very much enjoyed building the marble maze