This month we wrapped up another great FUSION session at Vergennes Union Elementary School. Our topic was ‘Winter Stories’. Each day the group gathered to read a story, book or poem and discuss the content. Then, we ventured out into the chilly temperatures to do an activity based on what we read.
We tracked footprints in the snow after reading a legend from Devon. England. We read The Night Tree by Eve Bunting and made bird seed pine cones to decorate a tree for the birds and animals. We read the Vermont favorite Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and took a closer look at snowflakes. We also got the chance to read about ice-fishing and make some fishing holes in the pond.
For the Monday session, the highlight was a visit from Ed Blechner and three of his sled dogs. He showed us the equipment he and his dogs use and gave us a quick demonstration of his dogs in action. The students even got to try out pulling the sled themselves!
The Wednesday session wrapped up their last class by reading a version of Jack London’s famous To Build a Fire. Thankfully, our group had better fire building luck than the protagonist of the story! They gathered materials and got to explore a variety of fire starting techniques. The class wrapped up as any good winter activity should, with a nice cup of hot cocoa!
Special thanks to Vergennes Union Elementary and to our special guest Ed Blencher for making this another great session!