Hello friends,
So nice to see so many of our neighbors and school families at the Woman's Rally on Saturday.
What an uplift!
Favorite sign?
Too many, I know.
But how about:
Here we believe:
Love is love
No human is illegal
Black lives matter
Science is real
Women's rights are human rights
Water is Life
Kindness is everything
Trabajando al comienzo de un historia,
sin saber el fin.
(We are working at the beginning of a story
without knowing the end)
– Victor Jara
So let's make some history!
On Wednesday, January 25, 5th grade, room 304 is off to Sauganash to explore, identify trees, and cut out buckthorn.
Volunteers meet at the fish tank at 9:00. The bus leaves at 9:30 and gets back st 12:30. Lunch is in the classroom.
On Thursday, January 26, 4th grade, Room 307 visits as above, with a focus on ID-ing buckthorn:
Small terminal thorn,
sub-alternate bud arrangement,
cambium ring orange and green,
cambium has distinct (pleasant) smell,
female tree has black, cathartic berries (don't eat, unless constipated)
young bark is smooth and glossy, growing crusty and peeling with age (like me).
Volunteers meet at the fish tank at 9:00. The bus leaves at 9:30 and gets back st 12:30. Lunch is in the classroom.
Friday, January 27, Room 303, 7th grade travels to Montrose Point
to learn 10 Amazing Facts about the Big Water (Lake Michigan)
as part of their study of the origins and geology of the same.
I really wanted the kids to experience "extreme" weather at the Lake front:
the blast of arctic wind over water,
the crash and terrible power of wave against rock,
the sounds, the sounds, the sounds,
and the swirl of ice sculptures,
made of snow, ice and sand,
dotted with air bubbles and bits of feather,
teeth,
bone,
tiparillo tips!
But last Friday the weather was mild,
subdued,
after a week of subdued and warm.
The entire city-scape was in a shroud of fog,
the swelling waves were an indescribable shade of blue, green, grey,
the shore was like a primordial estuary stretching out a thousand yards into the Lake,
with stranded chunks of ice,
sand bars,
open waters,
geysers,
and a ridge of piled ice flows.
The sandy beach at the edge of this had been gratified
by some unsung acolyte of mother Nature herself:
the most intricate,
immense,
swirling motif of curves,
and braids
and millions of round depressions,
like berries,
or the eyes in a peacock's tail feathers,
so skillfully assembled as to be one
giant
ephemeral
master work.
It reminded me of Persian or Indian art from long long ago.
Beautiful and fearless in the face of ruin,
Prepared at the very first opportunity to pick up the tools again
to create new beauty in this world.
I asked some kids to take pictures and hope I can share them with you soon.
But this week the temperatures will drop,
and I am so happy to know that what we will experience will be unpredictable.
On this trip, the students' task is to create 2 or 3 phrases describing the Sky, the Lake, the City and the Shore.
They are supposed to use analogy, simile, metaphor, comparisons,
straight from their own creative core,
to describe this place and moment through the prism of their own 7th grade (12-13 years old) Being.
We work on these and share out after lunch.
Then they are joined together in a collective poem,
a mosaic description of their shared experience,
which we will share with you.
On Tuesday, January 24, during lunch time,
I am going to try to organize an impromptu
mid-winter
clean up,
tidy up,
spruce up,
with any kids that are willing to forego their other important recess activities.
We will sweep the sidewalks,
haul wood chips to places thick with mud,
pick up trash,
while the weather is mild,
and the grounds absent snow.
Any volunteer available between 11:00 and 12:30 would be much appreciated.
Every day there is something new.
Mr. Leki
So nice to see so many of our neighbors and school families at the Woman's Rally on Saturday.
What an uplift!
Favorite sign?
Too many, I know.
But how about:
Here we believe:
Love is love
No human is illegal
Black lives matter
Science is real
Women's rights are human rights
Water is Life
Kindness is everything
Trabajando al comienzo de un historia,
sin saber el fin.
(We are working at the beginning of a story
without knowing the end)
– Victor Jara
So let's make some history!
On Wednesday, January 25, 5th grade, room 304 is off to Sauganash to explore, identify trees, and cut out buckthorn.
Volunteers meet at the fish tank at 9:00. The bus leaves at 9:30 and gets back st 12:30. Lunch is in the classroom.
On Thursday, January 26, 4th grade, Room 307 visits as above, with a focus on ID-ing buckthorn:
Small terminal thorn,
sub-alternate bud arrangement,
cambium ring orange and green,
cambium has distinct (pleasant) smell,
female tree has black, cathartic berries (don't eat, unless constipated)
young bark is smooth and glossy, growing crusty and peeling with age (like me).
Volunteers meet at the fish tank at 9:00. The bus leaves at 9:30 and gets back st 12:30. Lunch is in the classroom.
Friday, January 27, Room 303, 7th grade travels to Montrose Point
to learn 10 Amazing Facts about the Big Water (Lake Michigan)
as part of their study of the origins and geology of the same.
I really wanted the kids to experience "extreme" weather at the Lake front:
the blast of arctic wind over water,
the crash and terrible power of wave against rock,
the sounds, the sounds, the sounds,
and the swirl of ice sculptures,
made of snow, ice and sand,
dotted with air bubbles and bits of feather,
teeth,
bone,
tiparillo tips!
But last Friday the weather was mild,
subdued,
after a week of subdued and warm.
The entire city-scape was in a shroud of fog,
the swelling waves were an indescribable shade of blue, green, grey,
the shore was like a primordial estuary stretching out a thousand yards into the Lake,
with stranded chunks of ice,
sand bars,
open waters,
geysers,
and a ridge of piled ice flows.
The sandy beach at the edge of this had been gratified
by some unsung acolyte of mother Nature herself:
the most intricate,
immense,
swirling motif of curves,
and braids
and millions of round depressions,
like berries,
or the eyes in a peacock's tail feathers,
so skillfully assembled as to be one
giant
ephemeral
master work.
It reminded me of Persian or Indian art from long long ago.
Beautiful and fearless in the face of ruin,
Prepared at the very first opportunity to pick up the tools again
to create new beauty in this world.
I asked some kids to take pictures and hope I can share them with you soon.
But this week the temperatures will drop,
and I am so happy to know that what we will experience will be unpredictable.
On this trip, the students' task is to create 2 or 3 phrases describing the Sky, the Lake, the City and the Shore.
They are supposed to use analogy, simile, metaphor, comparisons,
straight from their own creative core,
to describe this place and moment through the prism of their own 7th grade (12-13 years old) Being.
We work on these and share out after lunch.
Then they are joined together in a collective poem,
a mosaic description of their shared experience,
which we will share with you.
On Tuesday, January 24, during lunch time,
I am going to try to organize an impromptu
mid-winter
clean up,
tidy up,
spruce up,
with any kids that are willing to forego their other important recess activities.
We will sweep the sidewalks,
haul wood chips to places thick with mud,
pick up trash,
while the weather is mild,
and the grounds absent snow.
Any volunteer available between 11:00 and 12:30 would be much appreciated.
Every day there is something new.
Mr. Leki
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