A New Beginning

Thanks to Bob McGinness and the folks at Exterior Site Services we have a newly surfaced path out to our wooded trail and wetlands.  It is crushed concrete.  It will be a no maintenance and wheelchair accessible surface.  Thank you Bob and crew! 

 

And there is more excitement to come!

Work Crew underway

Oak tree on the border of the clearing

Entry to the woods

The paths through the wooded areas have been cleared and are ready for wood chips.  The DeGrandchamps are donating chips and we will be looking for help to spread them on Saturday, September 8th, at 10:00 a.m.  Thank you in advance DeGrandchamps! 

Tyler, one of the eagle scouts, developed an additional trail and will be puting up bird houses and labeling some of the trees.  Jim Ingraham built a picnic table in the clearing and is helping the eagle scouts with their various projects.  Cameron, another eagle scout, will be adding benches in the clearning for an outdoor classroom.  Our third eagle scout, Andrew, is making a viewing deck for the wetland area. 
I went out this evening to check on the progress and I was blown away.  The progress was amazing and the beauty of those woods was stunning.  I am so excited!  I hope that you can join us on Saturday, September 8th, to share in the joy and spread a few wood chips! 

Future site of the outdoor classroom

 

 

Rock Race

Nature-Study Prime Time

Horizontal Fringe in Sunlight

"Nature-study, as a process, is seeing the things that one looks at, and the drawing of proper conclusions from what one sees.  Its purpose is to educate the child in terms of his environment, to the end that his life may be fuller and richer. . . It takes the things at hand and endeavors to understand them, without reference primarily to the systematic order or relationships of the objects.  It is informal, as are the objects which one sees . . . It is therefore supremely natural.  It trains the eye and the mind to see and to comprehend the common things of life; and the result is not directly the acquiring of science but the establishing of a living sympathy with everything that is." 

--Liberty Hyde Bailey (Leaflet 1.  What is Nature-Study? 1897)

The beauty of Liberty Hyde Bailey is not simply his scientific gifts, but his gifts as a person of wonder.  He was supremely knowledgeable in his field, having written and published over 30 horticulture books and dozens upon dozens of scientific and practical articles.  The amazing thing about Bailey is that he was so much more than that.  He was a student of life and a gifted teacher.  Bailey knew that the first step in learning is observing and appreciating the world around us.  It is the development of a sense of wonder that is at the root of a good student.  This is the gift that he shared so generously with the world.  His sense of wonder is reflected in his photography, poetry and ongoing thirst for knowledge.  Bailey never lost his sense of wonder and he shared it with all those around him.  He taught us who he was (not just what he knew) and he was a man of great wonder. 

Summertime is nature-study prime time.  Its a time of natural and easy wonder.  You don't need a guide or an expert to find yourself face-to-face with a dragonfly at the water's edge or perhaps a frog hanging out in your window well or a snake sunning himself on the bike trail.  And one does not need to know the name of the snake to appreciate its form and structure.  (A snake is an amazing animal and one that gets all my attention whenever I cross one's path.)  All those encounters stir up, however momentarily, a sense of wonder.

I've been riding my bike on the Kal-Haven trail.  I used to wear headphones and rock-out as I rolled down the road.  Learning a bit more about birds this year I've stopped listening to my music and have tuned into listening for birds and frogs and other creatures along the way.  I don't usually know what I'm listening to, but I am listening and wondering about the sounds.  I can pick out a few frogs and a couple of birds.  That's nature-study.  Lately, I have been admiring grasses.  When given time to go to seed, grasses are amazingly diverse and interesting.  The grasses above were alongside the bike trail.  They were so beatuiful in the sunlight.  I named them "Horizontal Fringe."  I know they have a scientific name and probably a common name, but to me, they are Horizontal Fringe.  And when I see them, I think of them as a grass that I know. . . I see them, admire them and recongize them.  They are part of my memory bank and forever known by me.  That's nature-study. 

I will never be the gifted scientist that Liberty Hyde Bailey was, but his gift was not simply scientific knowledge, it was reminding us of something even more valuable . . . that the world is amazing and everyone is invited into the wonder of it all.           

Summer School

Rock and Sand Beach Art, Covert, MI

School is out for the summer.  Most teacher-types and a great number of student-types are breathing a sigh of relief.  Text books are put away and alarm clocks are reset.  The tests are over and the grades are in.  What has been done, has been done.  What has not been done has not been done.  And in the wisdom of the Beatles, we can "let it be." Summer goals include spending time on the beach, riding bikes and family cook-outs.  It is time for a new perspective.  It is time to take time and form hearts in the sand.

Education in the formal sense may have stopped, but summer is a time for questions, the real root of education.  Why are we here?  Who do we serve?  Where did we come from and where are we going?  What brings us joy?  Who do we love?  Summer gives us time to ponder the big questions that form us and ground us.  It is also a time that affords us to think of the little questions that grow us.  What was that bird?  Who made the sand art?  What are those seagulls thinking?  Why are some of my flowers thriving and others barely living?  Some of the questions may have answers found in books, but many of them are found in the living and observing of everyday life.  Some questions may have no answers, but stay with us nonetheless in that ongoing quest for understanding.  I would like to believe that knowledge comes from taking the time to form questions.  And wisdom comes from letting the questions stand, when there are no answers. 

I wish for all of you, good questions and a few answers along the way this summer of 2012.

About Learning a Lesson I Already Knew . . .

We have monarch caterpillars in our classroom right now.  They are eating us out of milkweed on a very regular basis.  Earlier this year, a friend brought us Monarch chrysalises and we had the good pleasure of having them hatch in our classroom.  Now we are coming mostly full circle. . . we haven't had eggs, but that will be for another year.  So we are enjoying watching these little caterpillars eat and grow and poop at a seemingly tremendous rate.  If we are lucky, they will actually become butterflies the last week of school.  If not, I get the pleasure of taking them home.  Either way, it's super cool!  Thank you to Ilse, our butterfly connection!

On a simialar note, we have a terrarium with three local frogs and a mud turtle.  They need constant feeding and live insects are the menu.  (I did find that if you dangle a dead insect the frogs will go for it anyway so it's mostly a movement thing, not an issue of fresh meat.)  At any rate, my students often spend their recess time hunting for live bugs.  One student actually caught a monarch butterfly.  We decided it would be a good big meal and, in the spirit of food webs, we tossed it into the terrarium.  We watched one of the frogs jump at it, take a bite and spit it out.  I thought, "oh that's too bad, it was too big" and then I thought, wait a minute. . . monarchs are poisonous.  I have read that a hundred times.  They eat milkweed and somehow that makes them poisonous to other animals.  In fact, I remember that some butterflies fashion themselves after monarchs just to fool others into thinking they are poisonous.

What an amazing moment!  I have been teaching for years.  I believe in hands-on education.  I believe it makes kids smarter, but I had proof of it that day.  I knew monarchs were poisonous in the recesses of my mind . . . I'd read it many times.  But it really wasn't until I watched a frog spit out a monarch that I really knew it and I'm pretty sure I won't forget it.  We let the butterfly out of the terrarium and it flew to the window and we let it go free.  I think it is a wonder that an insect could teach me so much after all these years.   And I learned a lesson, again, that I already knew . . . kids need to experience learning and I need to keep teaching with that in mind.  Sometimes learning a lesson that you already know is an amazing gift!          

Spring Observations

Checking out the cool frogs in the pond

A captive Reporter



The Fern Garden Grows!

Last week we went out looking for producers, consumers and decomposers.  We found lots of examples of them all happily growing and surviving together in our various backyard explorations!  Our science theme this quarter is Organisms.  We are learning about habitats and ecosystems.  We constructed a small habitat in our classroom for a local green frog.  We have been capturing moths and other insects to feed him during our recess time.  He seems very well fed, however, he may be a bit lonely.  We will release him in the days ahead.  

Spring Meeting!



Wetlands at North Shore


 We had a wonderful gathering of people in support of our project last Tuesday!  It was great to fill that museum with so much enthusiasm and brilliance!  Thank you to everyone who took the time to join us.  And for everyone who supports us and was unable to attend, thank you for your good wishes.  The ball is rolling!

Andrew presented his plan for developing a walkway onto the wetlands.  He is working with Brian DeBest and we are looking forward to peering into those wetlands on dry boards next year!  Thank you to Andrew and all those who are supporting this Eagle Scout project!

Jessica presented her plan for developing a Butterfly Way Station.  She has great ideas for developing three gardens and a walkway.  Ilse, a butterfly expert from Kalamazoo, was at the meeting to lend ideas and support.  Having a butterfly garden will be not only be educational, but a great source of wonder and delight.  We can't wait!

Cameron is also working on an Eagle Scout project.  He is planning to create a seating area for students that will overlook the pond and the grassy area.  Students and teachers will be able to sit outside and write, draw and work.  I'm going to love that, especially when the weather gets nice!

Other dreams (to name just a few) include making the trail handicap accessible, developing a food garden, working on signage, supporting indigenous plants and continuing to lift up Liberty Hyde Bailey and his work.  I feel humbled that so many amazing and talented people came out to the meeting on Tuesday.  It reminds me that we are on the right track.  Thank you!