Friday, June 3, 2011

A corn snake and goodbyes till next year!

"Butters" the corn snake

Thank you to Paula, Jennifer and Jana for staying and helping me on the last day.  We had such an exciting time learning all about the Yellow Corn Snake.  I was so proud of our TOP kids!  They all sat and listeded so well to our visitor, Teacher Rhonda, talk about the snake while it slithered around her head and down into her sweatshirt!  Everyone got a chance to touch the snake if they wanted to and were very careful and caring about the animal.  We learned that snakes "smell" by using their tongues and have different scales on the bottom of them than on the top.  We also learned that snakes take off their skin every 2 months or so.  Then, we got to touch a snake skin and found out it was longer than Teacher Ann was tall!  Wow!  Also, we heard about how the snake "Butters", eats a mouse or two every 2 weeks and then has one big, smelly poop!  Thank you Teacher Rhonda for bringing in her snake to show us!

On our hike yesterday we went to some of favorite places one more time.  We walked through the grass that was over our heads, played on the tire swings, looked at the bubbles in the stream from the rain and talked about moss, lichen, nurse logs and the hemlock trees and huckleberry bushes growing on top of them.  We slid down at the "slide" area and played our jumping game at the outdoor classroom.  It was a great last day!

Teachers Jen and I want to thank everyone for the kind words, flowers and lovely cards!  It means so much to us to hear from you and your kids.  We have loved every minute of this past year exploring nature with your children.  Thank you for lending them to us!