Animal Tracks (in the snow)

Snow fall is great for learning about the animals that live in our school habitat and the stories their tracks tell.   We don't often see live animals because we are noisy and constantly on the move but the tracks left behind tell us a lot about who lives in our school habitat.

We start by learning about the different shapes of tracks and how to read the direction they lead and show what the animals were up to. 

We received these fabric track bandanas from the Jeffers Institute.  They have a field guide around the edge and a story in tracks in the middle. We use these before we go outside to learn how to read the scene.

We we do go outside to find tracks we talk a lot about where to step and how to preserve tracks.  It is amazing how many different tracks the kids find and how many exotic animals the kids believe have passed through out school forest.  We keep field guides on hand and journal about our finding.