The Mystery of the Frozen Frogs

We had a wide variety of activities going on this week, but we noticed that what captured the kids' attention the most on any given day was one thing in particular: Ice. We noticed that some parts of the creek were flowing, while other parts were frozen. We found ice that was so thin and fragile, it broke as soon as we touched it. We also found ice that was nearly an inch thick and then we carried chunks of it around without it breaking at all. We found icicles forming within waterfalls and frozen "mud noodles" forming on the creek banks. We even found a couple frogs frozen in ice along the creek! This was very mysterious. We know frogs hibernate and burrow in the winter, and so we all wondered what had happened to these frogs? After consulting a biologist and reading more on the subject, we think that something (an animal?) may have disturbed their hibernation, but that they might still be alive, as hibernating frogs actually stop breathing and have all the appearances of being dead.

Charcoal pencil drawings

leaf collecting as part of a monster game we were playing. we're working on identifying white oak, red oak, beech, and sycamore.

collecting birch bark to use as a fire starter. we always ask the tree if it's ok to take some.