Dear Friends, 
Last week we had some great experiences in the Garden:
a return to school after an exciting, rewarding,  and anxiety producing strike;
8th grade pitching in to prepare the garden for winter and potatoes for our Harvest Day;
Harvest Day itself, with such a celebration of nature, children and parents taking note of our relationships and our blessings.
And here we are, Nov. 11, 2019 in the midst of an Arctic Vortex!
Let us gather up our forces, 
gather up our courage and our Joy, 
and face the Vortex, 
and its root causes, 
and dedicate ourselves to doing better, 
to Climate Justice, 
and a future for our children. 

The future starts tomorrow, Tuesday, November 12, 
I invite volunteers to help with pasting up 90+ 1st grade leaf collections for a June release of "The Trees of Waters School". This year we lost our Cottonwood and Black Cherry trees to the construction project. 
But we gained Musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana) and River Birch (Betula nigra).
Come help paste up, get dazed by rubber cement, and test your addled memory in ID-ing trees.  I will be working in the Conference room from 8:30 until 10:30 on this project. 

Wednesday is Report card pick -up day. I have found myself recalling that in the 90's (last century) we were on a trajectory to eliminating report cards in favor of conferencing with parents, student and teacher to look over portfolios of student work. We were doing that! Not ranking, and punishing, but, real, in-depth, discussions between all these people.  After the election of 2000, high-stakes testing, No Child Left Behind became the national and local mandate, and we struggled to stay true to our philosophy and mission under the new regime. 
We struggle still! We are trying.
Our children, each and every one are unique,
precious, unpredictable and our treasure. 
Our ecology program persists as a remnant of that time. 
I don't (and don't have to) give grades. 
I provide experiences, context, feedback to our students. 
I am blessed with the best job. 
I meet them 20 years later on the picket line, and grocery store, 
where they tell me that they have become counselors, 
biology teachers, 
nurses,
moms and dads. 
On Report Card pick up day, Mighty Acorns Journals will be put out for you to check out, 3rd thru 5th Grade. Write a note in the journal to your child, to encourage them. 
In spring, Lake and River journals will also be available. 

On Thursday and Friday 7th grade ventures to the Lake for the "Fall " trip to study lake ecology. The Lake is a moderator of temperature extremes, 
but also can be counted on to provide a dip in temperature, 
a brisk wind, 
and an inspirational blast of energy. 
You are invited to join us on this CTA bus ride and journey. 
Room 305, Thursday, 9:00 until 2:30
Room 302, Friday, same time. 
Bundle up!!!!

Mr. Leki

​Dear Friends, 
We are glad to be back at school, with hard won gains for our students , teachers and community. There were many shining moments during the strike: encountering a dozen former students who are now education professionals, spontaneously creating music to give courage and hope, being part of massive organized efforts to give voice to the desperate needs of Chicago Public Schools, witnessing the unity of teachers with custodial workers, security guards, and bus monitors. But as the days ground on the pressures and anxiety mounted. Coming back to school Friday was a joyous celebration. It didn't hurt that the teachers had conspired to come back dressed up as winged bugs! See the attached picture of how one fictional striker would look had the strike gone on for another month!

Monday, November 4, Kindergarden visits the garden top harvest potatoes: yellow, pink, purple and white. They will also poke around a wheel barrow full of compost, looking for the community of creatures that transform food and yard waste into new soils. They might collect the beautiful leaves that festoon the grounds right now. Please join us to guide these young explorers.
8:30 Room 105
9:30 Room 107
11:30 Room 108
Please join us on this chilly adventure. In the next few days the potatoes will be brushed, washed and wrapped in foil to prepare for Harvest day potato roasting on Thursday.

Mr. Leki

Dear Friends, 
I'm off to the Teacher Rally, really a rally for us all!
With good luck, courage, steadfastness, and new city leadership 
a deal may be struck that will benefit all our children and neighborhoods.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 15, 2019, 2nd Grade Room 204 will visit the river to study the trees, flowers and animals and the weather. Join us right after drop off and we will organize ourselves. We leave at 8:30 and return at 10:30.

On Wednesday, October 16, 3rd grade Room 202, makes its first sojourn to  Sauganash prairie grove as Mighty Acorns.  They will seek out the 5 different ecosystems there, and practice the arts of "woodcraft", moving safely and respectfully in wild places. they will also do their part by gathering rare wild seeds. 
Join us at 9:00 for a briefing. Bus leaves at 9:30, back by 1:15, picnic lunch!

Wednesday night is our regular Garden Night at 5:00 until dark.

On Thursday, October 17, contract settlement willing, Kindergarden will be harvesting potatoes. 
Room 105 at 8:45
Room 107 at 9:35
Room 108 at 11:30
All hands on deck.  We will be harvesting, 
exploring the compost pile for bugs, and.... another activity, TBA.

On Friday, October 18, 7th Grade Room 302 will visit the Lake at Montrose Point.
We will take the CTA. leaving at 9:00, back by 2:00. Join us for this glorious trip. 

Jam packed week with glorious fall weather.
With gratitude, 
Pete

Dear Friends, 
Waters Ecology Program is Unique! It grew out of an educational philosophy adopted over 25 years ago. It sprouted in a land with no soil, but a remarkable natural history (giant oaks, the river bed below us). It was created bit by bit, by a community that had little means but very much heart. It grew year by year by creating and nurturing partnerships with science and advocacy groups around the city.  It is premised on the essential role parents play as guides and explorers. So that today, Waters students receive 9 years of field experience in ecology: the study of how this world, how Life, works. 
And, we receive no support from CPS! Well, a little from conducting composting workshops. But all the rest of the  funding for the Ecology and Garden programs is self generated, through grant writing, and through donations from our school community. We are in the middle of a fundraising effort and I hope, if you are able, you will contribute. Donations of all size are deeply appreciated, as is your on-going participation in the field and in the garden.
The Gardens are an essential part of the ecology program as well: an immense laboratory and storehouse of biology and beauty. It is used daily by classrooms from K-8 that receive access to a carousel of form and beauty, sounds, smells and tastes. 24-7 it serves as a meeting place for families and neighbors, a place for meditation and conversation. 
You can learn more and make a donation at waterstoday.org/pledgedrive

Dear Friends, 
I predict great Fall weather,
a hot pizza oven, 
woodsy smell of a grill burning,
wonderful pot luck surprises (no nuts!)
for the special BAC Garden Day Saturday 10-2..
We are still looking for musicians to share a song or two during and after lunch.
Face painters,
work group leaders, 
food crew, 
and clean up crew. 
Can't wait to see you, 
Mr. Leki

​Dear Friends, 
Does anyone know how to make pizza dough?
Would anyone like to host a pizza dough making party at their house before Saturday?
Does anyone have room in the fridge for 30-40 pizza dough blobs?
The pizza fire needs to be started 2-3 hours before noon to reach the needed heat levels.
If we can't get it together for pizza, we will get the grills going.
Mr. Leki

Dear Friends, 
Tomorrow morning (Thursday) I will be hosting volunteers to help prepare field journals for the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th grades from drop off until 10:30 in the Conference Room. Join us when and if you can and I will provide some delicious coffee and/or tea. 

Tonite, at garden night  besides doing garden tasks, we will be creating signs for the Climate Strike on Friday.
I have posters and markers and paints. Can you craft a powerful message to support our students and their concerns about the future of our planet??
I will also be making, with help, a very fine pico de gallo to go along with quesadillas later in the evening. Come and learn the secret recipe.

Friday's Climate strike events are still in flux, but it looks like a neighborhood gathering at Welles Park at 9:30, leaving for Grant Park at 10:30.  Some school families are organizing to march to Lincoln Square after school. I support it all. We all need to help each other to do better and more, and take the difficult political actions needed to make a CHANGE!

On Sunday, September 22, Riverbank Neighbors, an intrinsic and local climate change action advocate will celebrate the Autumn Equinox at Hutchinson and the River, from noon until 3:00. It is a pot luck (no nuts, please), open stage and community sharing. Come for ten minutes or the whole time to help us celebrate our work and community.

Please check the school calendar for upcoming events as I have tried to keep it up-to-date.
Thanks, 
Mr. Leki

Dear Friends, 
I am re-doing the Mighty Acorns workshop for parents (especially 3rd grade parents) because I didn't give sufficient notice last week (only 2 people came). This time, tho, we can work on journals while we talk about parents' critical role in Mighty Acorns. After drop off until 10:00 am in the conference room.

Hornworm
Last Friday I brought a Hornworm to school to show to the little ones, Kindergarden and 1st Grade, as they gathered before school. It was so wonderful to watch the wonder (sometimes fear) in every face, child and adult,  as they took in this miraculous living thing. The hornworm is the larval stage of the Hawk Moth, an important pollinator of native orchids. It is a large, strong flyer, hovering in front of flowers and extending the world's longest moth tongue inside for nectar. They feed on Solanum species, including tomatoes and potatoes. If you see tomato branches stripped of its leaves, search for this well disguised visitor, forgive the trespass, and wish it well. More than 20 years ago I wrote of my experience with this caterpillar in the Chicago Reader. Here is the link if you are interested in the incredible transformations that take place, hour after hour, day, week and years on end.

https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/field--street/Content?oid=885078  

Mr. Leki

Dear Ecology Volunteers, 

I had the fine opportunity Friday 
to meet with the 8th grade, 
in the garden. 
I realized, over the summer, 
with the help of the CAPE Summer  Ecology team (Hooper / Collins)
that I had not, 
programatically, 
told the story of our school, 
the grounds, 
our local natural history, 
the river, 
the oaks, 
the people....

So, I have tried,
as many times as possible, 
in these first days of school, 
to tell the story 
and to let the kids take it in, 
by way of tomatoes and cucumbers and pickles, etc. 

The story itself, 
if you haven't heard it, 
is a good one. 
Maybe I will try to tell it at the Autumn Garden Day,
Saturday, September 28, 10 -2:00.

But, as I write this, 
we are less than one week from the Climate Strike Day
called by Greta Thurnberg, 
the savant,
child - spirit that has entered our world and consciousness, 
asking us Why?
Why are we not taking any meaningful actions to stop the death spiral of climate change? 
On this one week away moment, 
I invite you to watch and listen to this young woman
explain herself. 
I earlier in the year sent a link of her narrative in musical form. 
But this link is from Democracy Now!,
a 45 minute exclusive interview with this exceptional person. 
I watched it with my grandchild, Nicole, 
about the same age, 
and with many of the same expressive facial mannerisms, 
and self-effacing style. 
There is something special about young people communicating with each other w/o adult intervention, 
but with adult interest. 
This child is asking us, 
in no uncertain terms, 
to take action to secure their future. 
But they are not waiting for us. 
they are taking action on their own, 
like Greta, 
leaving school, 
to sit at the Swedish Parliament every Friday, 
declaring that she was on Strike!
What was the point of studying and learning in a world bent on self-destruction? she asked.
Watch the interview with your child,
or by yourself. 
And consider where we are going and what we should do.

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/11/greta_thunberg_swedish_activist_climate_crisis  

Mr. Leki 

Below is the Summer email fyi


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPC6oC_5rU  

That is Greta Thunberg, one brave, young person demanding her right to a future on this beautiful planet.  Our school, and garden and riverbank represent our attempts, over the past decades, to create a different and more healthy and ecologically sound way of living. Yet we must strive to do more: to decrease our use of fossil fuels by reducing our driving and flying. To grow more food, to eat and buy locally. To lower our consumption level and spend more time caring for each other, our community and planet.
But, we need to engage politically as well, demanding strong action by our government to institute urgent changes in policy. It is a bit dismaying that though our new addition will have some sort of LEED certification, it will not have a single Solar panel on its extensive roof. Why isn't this a requirement? We need policies that make carbon neutral buildings a requirement, the norm. 
Let's listen to Greta and take action

Dear Friends, 
So often Garden Night brings the unexpected. Yesterday was so hot and muggy, I decided we would all do one thing: clear the weeds from the Kindergarden potato patch in preparation for harvesting. It was shady at least. And we got it done. We were all sticky and greasy with sweat. We had visitors from Rodgers Park, and our former Alderman Ameya Pawar visiting. There were lots of people and some gardeners wanted to make a fire for cooking even tho we were cooking with  out fire.
But at about 7:00, as the sky was beginning to dim,
we were looking up northward, at a swarm of dragon flies doing aerial ballet,
when we noticed simultaneously something strange going on in the sky. a huge, swirling disc shaped clod formation, like a starship taking up half the sky.
It was turbulent, and approaching. It was so astonishingly beautiful that we stopped and set up benches just to watch. It kept shifting and changing and then it would be pierced, illuminated, back lit and shockingly shot through with brilliant lightning, and the deep belly rumbles of lightning. The winds picked up, and the temperature dropped. But, it was hypnotic and difficult to leave. By this time the night had fallen and the cloud / lightning display became more dramatic, with endless forked, and even circular strikes of lightning. One family left, out the gate at Sunnyside, then came running back, like town cryers: "The Moon! The Moon!" And sure enough, in the clear southeast sky and almost full moon was coming up like a giant orange pumpkin. Tiny droplets of rain like some gift, a mist-er to cool us. What a night.

It reminded me of that beautiful song by Bob Dylan. Almost all the lyrics came back to me and I have reprinted them here for you. You don't have to read them all at once. But they are as fresh relevant today as when they were written in 1964. It is a song that sides with the underdogs "the abandoned and pursued and refugees on the unarmed road of flight". It reminded be that in 1998 or so, Waters School accepted hundreds of students and families who were refugees from the wars in the former Yugoslavia and from Central America. In a year long project there stories were collected, turned into artwork, the mosaic tile, and installed on the stepping stones and bench in a newly created garden at the front entrance of the school: The Journeys and Refuge garden. I was very happy this week to be able to share this story with our sixth graders, at a time when refugees are being treated like criminals.

Well, I hope our school still stands as a safe harbor for all those in need. And this Earth continues to inspire us with displays of brilliance and transcendence.

Here's the song:

Chimes of Freedom
Bob Dylan
Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Through the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden as the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsake'd
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Source: LyricFind

Mr. Leki