Our ice rink rapidly melted away throughout the week, leaving glorious mud and grass. The children created a drainage system at the back end of the playground so that all of the rain water and snow and ice melt could flow down the back hill into the field below. They loved watching the stream they created run through the playground and out under the fence. They shoveled mud into sleds and hauled it across the playground, creating another giant mud spot. We played a lot of freeze tag and word tag again. It was great to be able to run and move, though the mud was almost as slippery as the ice! 
For Monday art the children began creating flowers for centerpieces on the tables at the Welcome Spring Breakfast fundraiser being held on Saturday, March 19th. The rest of the week they used rainbow color paints to create bright colorful works of art. 
Magnatiles filled the sensory table, resulting in many animal houses, star wars ships, and crazy towers. 
Dinosaurs were placed in the block area, and the children had a lot of fun playing with them and learning their names.
We intermittently continued construction on our log cabin. The children very carefully gripped the paper towel and toilet paper rolls between their fingers while hot glue was applied and very carefully attached them to the house, making sure to keep all skin away from the glue.
This week was dedicated to the Iditarod, which started on Saturday, March 5th, and will last for about 1½ to 2 weeks. We learned that the Iditarod is held annually in Alaska, and runs from Anchorage to Nome. There are about 60 dog teams and mushers, and we learned a little bit about some of the lead mushers. We learned that the Iditarod began in honor of an emergency serum run to bring aid to the people of Nome who were suffering from a Diphtheria outbreak in 1925 and about Togo, the dog who ran the longest leg of the serum run with little rest in harsh conditions.
For Friday science we read the story, How Big is a Foot? We discussed the difference in foot size and measured each student’s feet. They were excited to see that some of them had the same length feet. They were introduced to a ruler, which is a standard length, but we used our own feet to measure different things around the classroom, recognizing that the “measurements” would not be the same due to the differences in the lengths of our feet. They practiced walking heel to toe to get an accurate measurement, then wrote down their findings on their record sheets. 
Books we read:
Home by, Carson Ellis
Kiana’s Iditarod by, Shelley Gill and Shannon Cartwright
How Big is a Foot? by, Rolf Myller
Yertle the Turtle by, Dr. Seuss
Giggle, Giggle, Quack by, Doreen Cronin
New Songs introduced:
She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain