Vermont's Only (?) Rain Forest

On Sunday, I snuck away for awhile in the morning to help Pipsqueak's teacher, Mrs. W secretly transform a corner of the classroom into a Costa Rican rain forest. Mrs. W went to Costa Rica this summer for 12 days on a tour organized by the University of Vermont. She plans to teach the students about it over several weeks, covering culture, food, environment, wildlife and more. She asked Walmart and Home Depot for plant donations and they were very generous.

It took us about an hour to move in the plants, arrange everything and add a few plastic lizards, snakes and insects. Mrs. W had a white noise machine/fountain that play rain forest sounds. We threw a few pillows around, so the children can sit in the rain forest to read. It looked like so much fun that I wanted to be back in school again.

We are so lucky to have this wonderful public school. There are approximately 350 students in K-8, are there is a small-town, folksy feel there, yet they have modern, non-mainstream ideas. For instance, Pipsqueak is in first grade in a multi-age class (K-2). She'll be in the same room with the same teacher for three years. Then they have looping third and fourth grade, and fifth and sixth grades which means the students have the same teacher two years in a row.

Pipsqueak loves school and can't wait to get there every morning. Monday morning was a special one to see the excitement of all her classmates when they came in and saw this.