Blog Posts

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

Full Frosty Week in Ecology! What about Cold?

1/28/2019

This last week of January 2019 was jam packed with outdoor adventures, many re-scheduled for these dates because of previous cancellations for Cold. And now, a quick look at the weather prediction suggests we may lose all three trips this week. Truly bitter cold can be a dangerous, if awesome thing, to witness, to experience.
So what are our parameters for calling off a trip because of cold??
Firstly, our school has long cherished and valued the exposure of our students to the rigors, and beauty, that winter can bring. It cannot be experienced in book, or video, or in told stories. It has to be experienced, in person, face to the wind.
We cannot do our winter trips in spring. It would be like teaching Spanish in English.

That said, we still have the problem that small mass humans, poorly dressed for the cold, can find themselves in a dangerous place. Part of our educational goal for winter excursions is to instruct, head on, how to be prepared for frigid temperatures. How does the junko and cardinal handle it? Talk about small mass! These animals and all cold hardy animals wear the finest furs and insulated garments ever invented. They have evolved coping systems to keep their "naked" feet from freezing, the "rete mirabile" which reduces the temperature of blood to the feet so that heat is not lost!
We can learn from these brave and fearless animals by imitating their basic strategies. Cover up with fur and down! Prevent heat exchange from happening especially from out parts of us that stick out: the feet and fingers, the ears and nose.
And we teach the kids to "play the piano" with their toes and fingers inside boots and mittens. We tell them to run, 100 yards, to get warm blood circulating through the system. Jumping jacks. We tell them to be cognizant of their own condition, and that of their class mates. A child with purple lips that is shivering and crying, has lost the fight with Cold. Time for a re-set in a warming center.
On all Mighty Acorn Winter trips our bus is on stand by to serve this role. They must be accompanied by an adult volunteer, thus re-emphasizing the importance of this venerable role. After warm up, students are often happy to face the challenge once again.
Similarly on Lake trips, we have use of the Yacht club as warming shelter. The spectacular beauty, the raw icy power of the Lake is not to be missed. Exposure might need to be limited, but the experience will never be forgotten.
We have been doing these trips for many, 25+, years, and are very much aware of the challenges that we face. The most bothersome to me, is when we are forced by circumstances to cancel a trip, and try to re-schedule before we run out of Winter.
Predictions can change. Ten degree weather with Sun and no wind, can be very comfortable. Thirty-five degrees with a cold, persistant wind and rain, can make for alot of misery. So I think we need to be calm, and patient and prepared.
The predictions for this Tuesday are for temperatures to go above 32 degrees! Perfect for a Mighty Acorns trip. Will that "warm" air shift into Wednesday??? We don't know.
I have an impressive selection of winter boots, extra socks, snow pants, coats, scarves, hats and gloves available for student use. Our job is to make sure our kids are outfitted with winter gear, and cold weather strategies, so that they can safely venture out.
I remember once stand by the breakers at Montrose point during a giant storm, Waves were crashing and blasting up into the sky, then back to earth with great power and music. For the first time ever I was dressed in full, heavy duty rain gear, and was able to stand right in the path of this drama, dry, and warm. It was spectacular.

So standby!
Enjoy the fierce, fine cold.

Mr. Leki

Stellar trip today, but tomorrow...

1/23/2019

... and Friday have been called off for the cold.
So sorry for those of you who took time off work.
More info soon.

Stay warm,
Mr. Leki

Good to go this morning...

1/23/2019

Room 204, 5th Grade, will venture out in the wintry weather to explore, experience and do stewardship. Dress up warm. Bus leaves at 9:30, back by 12:45.
Volunteers will meet in the Conference room at 9:00 for a briefing. Extra boots, snow pants, gloves, jackets and scarves are available from me,

Mr. Leki

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