E.C.O.: Fox Pouncing

On Friday, March 10th, we participated in another exciting E.C.O. lesson!  We started out our morning by making plaster casts of animal tracks using rubber forms.  Next, we went outside for three outdoor stations.  At one station, students warmed up by the fire and had their snack.  Another activity was fort-building, which is a group favorite.  The third station was a "fox pouncing" activity where students had to imagine that they were foxes and use their senses to find their prey.  In this case, the prey were four well-hidden energy balls that have a furry tail attached and move around when activated. When the "foxes" found their prey, they got to safely pounce on it.  A big thank you to Tracy, Jill, Ruth, Eve, and Angie for helping out at E.C.O. stations!

Our next E.C.O. lesson is coming up on Tuesday, March 21st.

In the classroom, we have been reading and writing about the animals that we focus on during our E.C.O. lessons.  I project photographs of the animal on the white board and everyone draws a detailed illustration of the animal.  Students write a few sentences and/or questions in their E.C.O. journals about what they notice, wonder, and already know about the animal.

After the fox lesson, I read aloud a book about red foxes to help us learn even more about these interesting animals.  Then, we participated in a movement lesson, in which students had a chance to dig, hunt, and pounce like red foxes.  Finally, we wrote about what we have learned in our journals.