do we really need ants?

I'm off to another Reggio conference this weekend, this one through Lesley University. It will be a weekend focused on documentation. Right now, I feel overwhelmed with a collective pile of photographs, drawings, and even memory cards filled with candid conversations. We have been immersed in nature for the last week, spending more time outside each day digging and discovering one amazing bug after another. And now...it's time to reflect, make sense of, and use that documentation to inform what comes next.

For now, I'll just share a few photos with you. As we consider our natural world and discover the natural interconnectedness of all living things, I'm hoping that connection becomes visible and conscious in the minds of the children.

Thanks to a colleague's yard sale (Thanks Ms. Freeman) plants are now a part of our classroom environment








Found natural materials and recycled materials have become an inspiration in creating artwork in the classroom.




We have visited the Botanical Garden nearby twice in the last two week and have found much inspiration in our small garden in the back of the school. Watching children dig in the dirt, hearing shrieks of excitement for finding yet ANOTHER roly poly has been such an inspiration.