We have a new crop of students in our school, and a new crop of asters and goldenrods, sunflowers and obedient plant bursting into bloom to greet them. We have a new field ecology schedule ready to go. New recycling captains are being selected for each room (except Kinder). We have a new Garden Coordinator, Ms. Julie Peterson, on board to help us create new opportunities for classrooms to visit the gardens, to enjoy its beauty, learn its secrets, and to help it grow. We have created two new areas in the gardens with groupings of benches to invite parents and students to meet, talk, read, relax. We have a new kiosk near the entrance to Snake and Turtle to post information about the gardens, its ecology and history, its art and poetry. And we have mounted one of the new Little Libraries in the playground to encourage reading and sharing. Thanks to all who created these amenities for our school.
We are doing our best to have our garden at its finest for the first day of school. I would like to invite you to a special Labor Day Garden event where we will haul chips and compost, straighten up the sheds, rake the pathways, trim what needs trimming, weed, and in general tidy things up. Afterwards we'll cook up some food on the grill and celebrate the working people of this world that hew and haul, create and make all possible. We will start at noon and end at 3:00.
As the school field ecology program unfolds, I will be racing to prepare materials for our students:
2nd Grade: Trip journals need to be printed and folded
3-5th: 90+ new Field journals need to be prepared with spine labels, oak leaves, songs and maps
6th Grade: River Studies field journals need to be prepared, folding and stapling materials together
7th Grade: Lake Studies Field journals need to be prepared, folding and stapling materials.
If you would like to assist in any of these mundane but necessary tasks, please let me know.
With gratitude,
Mr. Leki