Welcome back to a new and exciting year at Green Woods! I can't wait to get to know each student in kindergarten through fourth grade and to help them develop a love of science and nature! It's sure to be an amazing year.

As the K-4 environmental science teacher, I feel very lucky to be able to teach about science while using the outdoors as our classroom. We are surrounded by amazing outdoor spaces in our community, which we will use to learn about different aspects of our environment. Whether hiking, journaling, or completing outdoor activities, the students will spend time each week in the outdoors. Please make sure that your child is ready to hike, rain or shine.

While each grade focuses on one major unit of study and learns about specific concepts, many of these will overlap between grades. This does not mean that they are learning the same activities each year, instead these skills are being "spiraled" so that student understanding is being built up as the child moves through the grades. The major units of study are:

• Kindergarten: Introduction to the field, ponds, forest and watershed
  
• 1st Grade: The ponds
  
• 2nd Grade: The field
  
• 3rd Grade: The forest
  
• 4th Grade: The watershed