I hope you had a terrific weekend together and a thankful Memorial Day. I was able to spend a little time hiking in the Mount Hood forest near Zig Zag and it was overcast but beautiful! I feel very lucky to live in Oregon:) This week and last we have been learning about what it would be like to be farmers/ranchers that need to make smart decisions on where to build their homes, barns, silos and where to place their roads, pastures and crops. Each child has a large piece of paper with the outline of 8×8 (3 inch by 3 inch squares) on which to place the above items. They need to choose wisely in order to have room enough for all the animals they want and land it takes to house and feed them. As they purchase what they need, they pay for these things from their envelopes of (pretend) money. In counting out payments the students are solidifying their abilities to count to large numbers by 10s and 5s. It is a busy and creative time in math and fun and engaging for all! Last week we also began our Gardening With Julia class. The students learn about planting and tending gardens and are very proud to be part of creating and maintaining our amazing Lewis gardens. Please stop by and see our Eric Carle inspired caterpillars made from warm and cool colored class painted paper! So cute and informative too! You may also want to peak into the classroom and observe our new chrysalis’ and our ever eating and growing silk worm larvae. "If you listen closely, you can hear them eating" one of the students remarked the other day:)