Notes from Mr. Leki

Bark rubbings tomorrow with 1st Grade

3/31/2019

Dear Friends,
Tomorrow at 11:30 1st Grade Room 208, and
at 2:30, 1st Grade Room 210
will venture around the school to do bark rubbings of three of our trees.
Sounds simple,
but I ask you to imagine how many times a small, 1st grade student, can drop their clip board,
or release their rubbing sheets to the wind,
or spin out of control like a dustdevil because someone else got to go first.
Welcome to 1st grade.
If you can lend a hand, it would be greatly appreciated.
It is all good fun,
and one more way to know the trees.
Thanks,
Mr. Leki

Can a Spider love a palm tree? Garden night and Pinar Aral's art show...

3/20/2019

Dear Friends,
We worked with the kinder kids these past two days on the story of the Spiderplant.
How did a spider ever become a plant?
Look and listen below.
So wonderful to see K-kids blushing and laughing
at this unlikely romance,
and blowing CO2 on their baby spiderplants,
and breathing in their O2.
Thanks to Ms. Ramos for the fotos and Jeff Burris and Nicole for the recording.

Full STEAM ahead!
If you can believe it Ecology is busy planting grass!
Kentucky Bluegrass to be exact,
to help create 75 environmentally friendly roofs
for the eco-village being built by the 5th grade
for the STEAM project.
Does anyone have a tiny lawn mower?
How do you deal with tiny grubs?
Tiny dandelions?

Garden Night
Friends, please feel welcomed to drop in at any garden night,
every Wednesday evening starting last week,
from 5:00 until dark,
or any time within that,
to help with,
learn about,
and protect these sacred gardens for future children, families and neighbors.
There will be plenty of work,
and a fire, and food,
and maybe....
rain.
Let's see what happens!

Trauma,
beauty, and power...
One of our school parents,
and gardeners,
Pinar Aral,
is participating in a gallery event called Trauma.
I went last weekend,
and it was a powerful,
important,
relevant,
and a beautiful gathering of artwork and story.
Please check out the link below to learn about this show,
which ends at the end of March.
http://www.olivagallery.com/

See it.

Equinox
Finally,
here we are again at the Vernal (Spring) Equinox.
Day and night in balance!
Sun rises due east
and sets due west
everywhere on the planet.
One planet!
One people.
One with all creation!
We will be celebrating the Equinox at Garden Night,
and also on
Saturday, March 23, 2019
with
Riverbank Neighbors,
from Noon until 3:00,
at 2549 West Hutchinson,
the "Farm".
It is potluck,
bring food and drink (no nuts)
stories,
news, song,
woes,
joys,
hopes,
fears,
to share with your neighbors and new friends.

Se you there,

Mr. Leki

Attempted duck rescue and first garden night (or not)

3/13/2019

Dear ecology friends,
The earth is turning back 'round to Spring
and daylight savings time has given us an extra hour of light in the evening.
We officially open the Wednesday garden nights this week!
Wednesday, March 13th.
There is work that can be done, but there are strong predictions for rain,
but here is our plan:

We meet at 5:00. Greet each other. (hugs, laughter)
Look around.
Look at the list of tasks.
Maybe we'll do some work.

If it's raining hard, we could go home.
But some of us plan to go to a 7pm meeting at Sulzer Library about ....
Preventing flooded basements! (and rain and protecting the river)

Sounds mundane, but it isn't.
It is about rain, the river, the sewer system, the river, pollution,
and what we can do to help keep the river cleaner, and our basement dry.
See the flyers below.

Maybe stop somewhere between the two
for a bite to eat and drink?
Looking forward to getting together with our garden community soon!
Julie Peterson and Pete Leki
An Evening with
Your Leaky Basement

Wednesday, March 13

7:00-8:30pm

Sulzer Regional Library
4455 N. Lincoln Ave.

Tired of worrying about your house every time it rains?
Not sure how to keep the water out? Join Center for Neighborhood
Technology’s RainReady experts, a Chicago Dept. of Water
Management representative, and a flood expert from Power Plumbing

for an engaging discussion of pipes, sewers, seepage,
back up, and flooding and discover improvements in and around

your home that can keep your basement dry and

your rainy days worry-free.
FREE raffle of a

RainReady Home Assessment

Duck Drama
The dramatic rescue attempt of neighbors to free a male mallard duck with its head stuck in a plastic 6-pack ring is documented by Mary Schmich in the tribune today.
Here's the link, with a great photo by Tribune photographer Armando Sanchez:

Mr. Leki

Last Sauganash winter trip a "GO"

3/5/2019

Dear Friends,
Button up your overcoat, bundle up the kids,
we are going on an adventure tomorrow with
Room 207, 5th Grade Mighty Acorns,
to Sauganash Prairie Grove.
It will be cold, but sunny.
Our bus, and "warming center" will be parked on Bryn Mawr within view of our work site.
We will be doing hard work.
And we will be experiencing the bracing reality of winter
that other animals face daily,
and that plants monitor and measure,
and judge and wait for... the change.
Within a few weeks (or days) the Sun we re-assert itself.
The polar vortex will withdraw,
and spring will spread across the wild lands.
But, we will have witnessed winter,
it's stark and beautiful reality.
And we will know more than we did before.
Please join us for this last winter trip.
Meet at the fish tank at 9:00 for briefing, coffee, and to outfit our students with extra winter-ware as needed.
Bus leaves at 9:30.
Back to school at 12:30 or so.

Mr. Leki

One walk to the river, two fizzles..

3/3/2019

Dear Friends,
We had a lovely walk to the Horner park River trail with room 203 last Wednesday.
If you have not been on this walk, MAKE PLANS. It goes all the way from Montrose to Irving. When you are on the paths at the top of the bank, you are park of the park, tho the contrast between "natural" areas, and programmed parkland is striking. But when you follow the lower paths, below grade, you enter another realm, from which, for moments, you wonder where you are. On Wednesday, the lower paths took you out of the wind, and when the Sun shone, the promise of Spring seemed close enough to grasp.
The Army Corps and the Park District are getting very good at restoring some semblance of natural ecosystems to our river and parkland. If you haven't gone for a look, make another excursion to River Parks, east and west. They have removed the old dam and replaced it with a frothing, bubbling, rapids, aerating the water, and inviting fish to spawn up stream into the old North Branch. And the banks (to the distress of some) have been cleared of trees and regraded in preparation for replanting of native plant communities, including oaks and shrubs. This is a work in progress, but like the bike path, it is, bit by bit, piecing together stretches of vital habitat for birds and other animals including people.
I would say wonderful and positive and surprising. I hope that some of our hazelnut branches will be transplanted on these sites. (anyone have a truck?!)

Fizzles
We had two fizzled Mighty Acorns trips this past week. Buses never showed up. The blame? Blame me. I can take it! But in truth, the season has seen so many re-schedules, and the process for checking new dates: teacher, the school, CPS, myself, the Forest preserve District, the bus company. Any error along the way can fizzle the trip.
Anyway, we did better with the first fizzle, because we put the kids to work on the school grounds, with saws and loppers, severely pruning back the hazelnut bushes in Snake and Turtle garden, to prepare them for transplanting. The kids did a great job, reminding me of what a powerful, constructive force they can be, and how they view their work as Fun!
When the second trip fizzled, I got started on the same work at Waters, but then received word that a bus was on its way: 15 minutes! So we packed up tools, gathered the kids and waited, and waited, and called (no answer) and waited, and sang, and waited and by 11:30 we called it off. I promised the kids a special garden outing, with fire, and work, and song. My apologies to all the parents that took out time to attend, only to wait and freeze.

Fragrant twig bundles
One idea that came my way was to have the kids help me make many bundles of fresh twigs, from the many fruiting trees and bushes that will be taken down or transplanted to make way for the new Annex. I understand that very fine grill chefs like to put bundles of fruit branches on the coals, just before grilling the steaks, or chicken or squirrel or whatever. It imbues the dish with an exotic, intangible edge of the wild. Further, that we could offer to sell these bundles to our school community to raise money for the ecology program, or the 8th grade trip. I have produced sample bundles of red currant, American Plum, Peach, Black Cherry, Concord grape, Hazelnut, blackberry, raspberry, already. And will add Aronia, gooseberry, oak and black walnut. What do you think? Is this a worthwhile effort? Part of the idea is to honor these beautiful plants that have given us their sweet fruit for the past 18 years, and to conscientiously use the stored carbon for the greatest good. Below is a pic of several bundles.

Also, please note that
The Fight Between Quiet and Noise
is available for purchase
everyday at school, in my office.
It is a fundraising effort for Waters School Ecology.
watersecology.org

Mr. Leki

Brush pile burn postponed

3/2/2019

Last minute call!
I am not going to try to burn the brush piles today.
It's too sleety and wet.
So please sleep in or do some other worthy task.
I'll let you know about a re-schedule,
Thanks,
Pete

Sauganash Brush Pile burns this Saturday

2/28/2019

Dear friends,
We are going to take this opportunity (scheduled workday, good weather, piles piled up) to burn the brush piles created by the Mighty Acorns this season. The process goes like this,
we set the fires at about 9:30
while it burns we cut any additional buckthorn in the area and toss it on the pile.
When the pile burns down, it needs to be watched. This is a good time to roast marshmellows or sausages.
There are three piles to be burned.
One is by the RR tracks and the bluff trail.
The other two are by Bryn Mawr.
Please let me know if you will join us.
Mr. Leki

Three trips Go, one Xed out and our Choir Singing for thousands

2/19/2019

Dear Friends,
All three 6th Grades will go on a bus tour of the River system this week,
to learn, and physically witness how the parts fit together:
the sewage treatment plant,
the effluent flow,
the Wilmette locks,
and the Evanston Water Treatment Plant.
It is a wonderful and very valuable trip
and I invite any in our adult community to accompany us,
both to help supervise,
and to learn along with the rest of us,
the secrets of the water system.
Tomorrow, Room 304 leaves at 9:00 and returns at around 2:00 - 2;30
Wednesday, Feb, 20, Room 305, and
Friday, Feb, 22, 310.

Thursday's Mighty Acorns trip, room 207 has been postponed until March 6.

This Saturday Waters School Choir will open a large Conference of Environmentalist, scientists and restorationists,
The Wild Things Conference in Rosemont is a wonderful opportunity for our students and our school.
Please wish them well. We will sing three songs to open the conference,
and run a slide show about our Ecology Program, the Garden and our recent mobilization to save our oak trees. Wish us well!

With Gratitude,
Mr. Leki

Slush and water, cold and snow

2/15/2019

February 14, 2019,
Valentine’s day

We had boots on ALL the kids!
Yes!
2nd grade, new walk,
along the Horner river path.
We had our tiny little journals,
Small enough to fit into their pockets.
We had a great crew of parents to help.
It was 40 degrees out!
No problem with cold.
We sang.
In the classroom.
We waited and waited through infinite delays,
Until the kids sweated through their clothes and were
SO ready to get out into the Wild.

So we went.
And within the first minutes,
The kids found the first slush-puddles
And blasted into them like bulldozers,
Or ice breakers,
They were wearing boots,
But,
Snow boots,
Not fireman’s boots.
The slush
And icy water soaked their pants and snow pants,
Their coats and gloves, their cute little books,
infiltrated into their boots,
Their socks, and feet.
They didn’t care.
They were pumped up and ready to go.
I shrieked,
And cajoled,
and pleaded,
And explained, …
All to no avail.
By the time we got to Horner
The kids were drenched.
But, it was 40 degrees, hey!
By our readings.
But soon it was 38, then 36,
And the wind picked up, and it was very, very cold.
Most kids didn’t notice.
They wandered the trails,
Some journaling,
Some trailing tattered journals.
They climbed trees,
Higher and higher,
Oblivious,
Of wind and cold, icy branches,
Rotten branches.
On the way home we were truly pirates singing our pirate song
“River”.
But when kids kept scooping soggy snow into balls
and dunking them into slimy water,
They clutched the icy dripping blobs to their chests,
Or heaved them into puddles,
They paid no heed to their “Captain”
They would do what they willed!
We got back to school soaked and frozen.
I,
Grateful that no one perished,
Grateful that the teacher herded the last of the sheep into the shelter of school.
Quickly,
It registered with the kids,
That their toes were “frozen”
Socks soaked,
Boots full of water.
I gave out a couple dozen emergency pairs of socks,
Dry and warm.
Teacher said that socks littered the room in the morning,
Soggy, fetid, kind of gross.
These kids taught me a lesson.
They are bold.
They are unafraid.
They want to GO.
My job is to teach them…
That they are human,
Live in a real world,
And need to traverse it with care.

It was 40 degrees,
And treacherous.
I realized that I had failed to warn them,
To prepare them,
For this particular, weird, condition.
Dangerous.
38 degrees and dangerous.
I saw the danger in the faces of the parent volunteers,
Awed, and cold,
And freaked at the capacity of the little ones to endanger themselves,
without heed.
Like running into a street,
Or into an unfamliar lake.

By the next day the temperature had dropped to the low teens with wind chill below zero.
I woke cursing.
Having to struggle through the decision about our trip to Sauganash.
It was 5:30.
By 10:00 the temp was supposed to rise into the 20’s
(okay, with a sub-zero wind chill)
I held my voice,
On email.
At school I met the teacher and I said “GO” and she deflated like a helium balloon in the polar vortex.
I made my case,
One point of which was that,
On this particular day,
It would be good to stick to schedule,
And get out into Wild Nature,
With fresh snow,
Sun,
And Cold.

It was a hard call.
With promises of warm bus shelter,
Close to our activity center.

We went out into a wild place freshly coated with the brightest of snow,
The freshest of tracks,
The most bracing air,
The most brilliant Sun.

This was Medicine.
The temperature was 20 degrees.
The snow was dry and feathery.
The ground was firm and frozen.
The kids were bruins,
Small polar bears,
Comfortable with the snow,
The ground,
The tools, the work.
Their faces beaded with sweat,
With effort,
With the great and abiding joy of important work.

We received the gift of a place newly set,
New clothes of the most perfect white snow.
An invitation to be part of a newly laid table,
A gift,
And invitation,
A new day,
Hope and hopefulness. We did that!

Off to the Lake, but...

1/29/2019

Dear Friends,
Tomorrow's trip to the lake is "On"! I like to think about it as an opportunity to visit the Moon: to good to turn down. But, have your spacesuit on.
Our 7th graders will hustle from warm school to warm bus,
from warm bus to warm Yacht Club where we will have a lesson.
Then, bolstered and swaddled we will make for the Point, the Lake, the Moon.
We will judge the extent of the cold,
take in the scene,
the bracing shocking air,
and run back to the Club.

Wednesday's and Thursday's trips have been canceled and will be re-scheduled.

Mr. Leki

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