January Learning in the School Forest

We had a discovery lesson about animal camouflage.  I set the parameters and told them that I was the predator.  If I spotted them, they were devoured.  I told them to run, then freeze, then hide while I had my eyes closed.  A few I spotted right away.   

Some were not so obvious!  In the end they came to these conclusions:

• The "animals" with the brightest snowsuits were spotted first.
• The ones who moved were spotted next.
• The ones who stayed still, low, and had neutral colors stayed safe.

They loved this activity and asked to do it again and again.  Their favorite comment today was, "We're going off trail.  She said we could go off trail!"

We stopped at the beaver pond to see if there were any tracks or if we could hear them again.  Well, there were only deer tracks, and no sounds or vibrations from the beavers. (Which will lead to a great discussion next week speculating why we heard the beavers earlier in the winter and not now.) The kids were so disappointed.  I turned around to hike out, only to discover half the class had lain down and put their ears to the ice to listen.  Fabulous!