Roots students spend much of their day sorting and comparing. They sort blocks in the building site, found objects in the forest, and parts of their trail mix at snack. They are comparing when they choose a metal shovel over a plastic shovel and when they count how many students are playing on the slackline versus in the mud kitchen. This month, we have introduced some more tools for sorting and comparing and the students are off and running with these concepts!

The Venn Diagram

The Tamaracks and Ponderosa Pines learned about Venn Diagrams during our bear unit as we discussed what foods are appropriate for bears, humans, and both. Before we got to bear foods, though, we practiced using this tool with our personal preferences. Here is a video of the Pines practicing using the diagram for the first time.

The Tamaracks loved coming up with their own categories for the Venn Diagram and each student got a turn to see how their peers sorted themselves based on preferences. Some categories students came up with were Foxes/Polar bears, Moana/PJ Masks, and Playing on the Slackline/Playing in the Snow.

While we were seated for snack in the Pines’ class we practiced using signals to sort ourselves. So, a teacher might say, “Touch your nose if you like green, touch your ear if you like yellow, and stick out your tongue if you like both.” Belle then had the idea of upgrading our snack signaling system! Students usually give a thumbs up or the sign for “please” to signal that they would like more snack while they listen to the snacktime story. On this day, when students had multiple different foods for snack, Belle suggested we give a thumbs up for cheese, raise our hands for grapes, and stick out our tongues for crackers. A very helpful idea!

The Snow Stick

Observant students noticed something new and colorful in our classroom in early December. It was our snow measuring stick! It sticks out of the ground in a clearing in the classroom and each foot-long segment is painted a different color. Before we installed the snow stick, we showed students how high the snow got in the classroom last year (42″!) and they compared the depth of the snow to their own heights. They enjoyed standing next to the snow stick and discovering that many of them were shorter than last year’s classroom snowpack. Throughout the winter, we will be able to compare the depth of the snow in different months using the colors on our snow stick.

Miss Tara and the Aspens predicting what color the snow will reach on our snow stick this year.

The Balance

We also added a simple, homemade balance to our outdoor classroom. It is made from a coat hanger, two yogurt containers, and string and it hangs from our snow measuring stick. Students have been enjoying comparing the weights of different amounts of snow and the effects of a pinecone or two being added to the mix. With this tool, students can make a hypothesis, run an experiment, and see the results in just a few minutes!

Tamaracks using the balance