We disembarked from the bus, found a user-friendly stretch of sidewalk and were on our way to Greenough Park. We felt the cold air on our cheeks and could see our "air" when we breathed out.  Even though it was only a two block walk, there was much to see.  We put on our sharp "Owl Eyes" to observe our suroundings.  We noticed some yards had high fences within fences (to keep the deer out of their gardens we decided).  High up in the trees we saw different sizes of nests (smaller ones for the birds and larger ones for the squirrels - which we know are actually called drays).  Under our feet were patches of previously melted snow which had been refrozen into ice.  There were milky white spots where air bubbles had formed in the process. We heard them crunch under our feet when we stepped on them; some bubbles were easy to break open and others resisted all our attempts.  Most spectacular of all our sites were the birds.  They flew together in huge numbers and the sky was their playground.  They swooped down and in an instant were flying straight up together at an amazing speed. They circled around to the left and then, in the blink of an eye, turned and flew to the right.  They would spiral both up and down and even to the side in an amazing twist.  As one child described it "they look like they are on a roller coaster".  We closed our eyes and turned on our "Deer Ears".  What we heard was astonishing.  As the flock flew overhead we could hear the sound of their wings flapping and the wind rushing through their feathers.  We listened even closer and could hear their voices as they flew by.  It was an unforgettable moment.

   When we reached Greenough Park we gathered around a large sign board at the beginning of the trail.  On the sign board was a description of the birds which are most commonly seen in the Greenough area.  We will be learning more about these birds as the year goes on (and our saunters) with the hope of being able to identify them by both sight and song.  As we moved further down the trail we spied an old tree which appeared to be dead at the top.  We noticed there were holes in that upper part - two of them roundish and one more like a rectangle (we later learned that this was the shape usually created by woodpeckers).  Small birds were flitting in and out of the holes.  We decided those holes would make a cozy home for a bird, especially on a chilly winter day.  As we walked across the foot bridge over Rattlesnake Creek we spied two mallard ducks, a male and a female, paddeling up the stream towards us.  We thought that the female must have been very hungry since she kept ducking her head under the water, sometimes staying there for what seemed like a long time. We noticed that the male was much more colorful than the female and wondered why this was (a good thing to put on our Things I Would Like to Know About Birds list).  On the other side of the bridge on the rocks near the bank we caught a brief little movements out of our "corner eyes".  It took a while, and we really had to look hard, but we finally saw a small, gray bird on the rocks, its head darting in and out of the water.  We wondered what kind of a bird it was.  A short walk down the trail answered our question.  A sign board near the trail told us this little bird was called a Dipper bird, and after watching its movements we could see why.

   It seems that when close to water it is almost impossible to not throw something into it.  With fresh snow on the side of the trail the most logical thing to do was to throw snowballs into the water.  Before hurling the snowballs, we made a prediction about whether they would sink or float.  The majority of us thought the snowballs would sink; our reasoning was that they would melt when they hit the water.  We were surp

rised to see them go floating down the stream.  We were curious about why that was, then remembered ice cubes floating in a glass of water.    

   After our Greenough saunter we learned more about birds - how their bodies are built, the ways they are like us and other animals and the ways they are different.  We found that some birds are very brightly colored, other birds have colors that blends in with their surroundings (we call this camouflge), and some birds have 

more intricate colorations than others.  We used salt dough as a base and created our own birds, many of them quite colorful and some with very intricate designs.  We also learned that most birds (but not all) make nests, and that nests can be found in many different places - in trees, on rocks, on sand, in marshes and near ponds.  Nests have many different shapes and sizes.  After examining a number of real life nests we found that most of them were made from grasses, some twigs and lots of mud.  Most of them had something soft on the very inside and high walls outside so the baby birds won't fall out.  Our next task was to build a nest for our birds.  Nest building is trickier than we thought, especially when it has to be safe for both eggs and baby birds.  Often nests are built in layers so they are very strong.  A variety materials needs to be available since each bird builds its nest differently.  Our finished nests are very interesting and unique, just like our birds. 

 

     Recently we participated in Kindergarten Is Cool week.  Our kindergarten-bound students were invited join TJ and the Explorers for part of the morning so we could get to know each other better and to tryout being kindergartners for a while.  We were able to visit several learning stations and give the activities a try, we learned to play some new games with the help of our kindergarten friends, we built some awesome new structures, and practiced our fine motor skills doing some table work.  We were able to experience a morning meeting circle and to watch how the Explorers do their calendar and weather reporting (it was a bit the same and a bit different from the way we do ours).  We worked on an alphabetizing activity in groups and each member of the group was needed to accomplish the task, a good way for us to practice cooperation).  We are hoping to have more visits with the Explorers as the year goes on.

 

   

 

 

  Enjoying time with the Explorers.

  

 

 

 

 

 

    Our Bear Den in Bear Country has magically transformed into a Fix-It Shop.  There are numerous appliances in need of repair in the shop and all the tools necessary to do the work.  We have tool boxes filled with screwdrivers, flash lights, pliers of all sorts, measuring tapes and wrenches of various sizes.  There are also clamps for holding down pesky things that keep moving along with a small a workbench.  Our junior repair people are getting lots of experience finding out how things are put together.