.... hair flying up,
eyes wide,
knuckles drained of blood:
the last week of school!
In ecology it looks like this:
For 1st Grade Trees:
Monday, June 12,
11:30, Room 208
12:10, Room 210
12:50, Room 211
1st Grade greets the opportunity to display their knowledge about the trees of Waters School.
Any parent that wants to witness this event is my guest.
It is an amazing thing.
I passed one of our students in the alley this weekend, on my bike.
He said, "Mr. Leki, look what I found," and held up a seed.
Correcting for deafness, I finally turned and asked,
"What is it?"
"Silver maple," he said. !!!!
Lessons learned early.
Recognition of family ties!
I have no doubt that all the classes will do well.
I have struggled over the years with the idea of "competition":
between kids,
teams,
or rooms.
We came to a solution that brought students in each room together as "teams"
that would confer and collaborate to decide on the best choice for an answer to the 50 questions posed.
They have every reason to cheer their classmates on,
since they are one big team.
That in itself is wonderful to witness:
the intense discussion,
the dissent,
the arrival at a decision.
The rooms "compete" with each other,
but only to the extent that there is an inevitable (minor) variable between results.
Any room that answers 90% correct,
in total, which includes every classroom in the last five years,
has achieved excellence (in my view).
Each room receives a "cookie" trophy,
a slice of tree trunk that states their achievement.
These "trophies" go back 6-7 years now and stay on display for the next school year.
This feels so good to me,
to establish a "tradition"
an excitement about our trees.
As the song says :
"Oh the trees
Oh the trees of our neighbor hood
I will love them just like my own friends."
I don't know how the school year ended so quickly.
But we have yet another chunk of work to do with 1st Grade.
On Tuesday, all three 1st grades will visit the garden to complete three tasks:
*a crayon rendering on 11X17 paper of one of the ancient trees on Waters School,
the bur oaks
(this is the back cover of their book)
((if you don't know why these trees are sacred, please contact me soon)),
*also, a leaf rubbing, on 8.5 X 11 of a selection of our trees for the cover of the kids books,
and....
* the medallions!
Each year,
I slice sections of local tree branches to create circular medallions.
The kids select,
sand,
oil,
and create wonderful necklaces,
often the same age as themselves,
to remember that they are kin to trees.
Schedule:
Tuesday, June 13,
Room 211 10:00 am
Room 208 11:30
Room 210 12:15
Please , please join us,
especially if you like to do art stuff.
Later in the week we will work to add these last two pieces to the kids:
Field Guides to the Trees of Waters School.
Work on these is on-going and we hope to be finished by Friday ( or Monday... or Tuesday...not Wednesday next week)
Pheewwww,
Then,
Tuesday, June 13,
2 minutes after we finish with 1st grade,
8th grade is coming out for our traditional feast of homemade pizza,
and ice cold,
home-made fruit drinks
from 1:15 until going home time.
Kids will be juicing lemons,
blending gooseberries and currants,
rolling pizza dough, spreading garden pizza sauce,
loading it in to the oven of friend / gardener / neighbor Sarah,
and having one of their last, big garden activities together.
No need to say,
we will need help setting up ,
making it happen,
and cleaning up.
And it will be HOT!
Wednesday is Awards day,
where we will be thanking our 8th grade compost and recycling captains for their exceptional,
day in
day out,
fall, winter and spring work for mother Earth.
This amounts to printing out beautiful certificates and saying a few words.
Anyone like to do certs?
Also, I will be rehearsing with the Kinder kids for their graduation,
accompanying them on
"We are the World"
and
"Tomorrow"
beautiful songs that should be in every child's repertoire.
On Thursday!
Recycling Luncheon for ALL recycling captains.
Help needed from 10:30 till 1:00
setting up the food and drink,
fetching pizza,
serving these wonderful workers
for their fine efforts over the past year.
On Friday I will attend 8th grade graduation
and attempt to keep myself together by working in the garden afterwards.
Another moment,
of stars,
planets,
people,
beloved ones.
More to come,
Mr Leki
eyes wide,
knuckles drained of blood:
the last week of school!
In ecology it looks like this:
For 1st Grade Trees:
Monday, June 12,
11:30, Room 208
12:10, Room 210
12:50, Room 211
1st Grade greets the opportunity to display their knowledge about the trees of Waters School.
Any parent that wants to witness this event is my guest.
It is an amazing thing.
I passed one of our students in the alley this weekend, on my bike.
He said, "Mr. Leki, look what I found," and held up a seed.
Correcting for deafness, I finally turned and asked,
"What is it?"
"Silver maple," he said. !!!!
Lessons learned early.
Recognition of family ties!
I have no doubt that all the classes will do well.
I have struggled over the years with the idea of "competition":
between kids,
teams,
or rooms.
We came to a solution that brought students in each room together as "teams"
that would confer and collaborate to decide on the best choice for an answer to the 50 questions posed.
They have every reason to cheer their classmates on,
since they are one big team.
That in itself is wonderful to witness:
the intense discussion,
the dissent,
the arrival at a decision.
The rooms "compete" with each other,
but only to the extent that there is an inevitable (minor) variable between results.
Any room that answers 90% correct,
in total, which includes every classroom in the last five years,
has achieved excellence (in my view).
Each room receives a "cookie" trophy,
a slice of tree trunk that states their achievement.
These "trophies" go back 6-7 years now and stay on display for the next school year.
This feels so good to me,
to establish a "tradition"
an excitement about our trees.
As the song says :
"Oh the trees
Oh the trees of our neighbor hood
I will love them just like my own friends."
I don't know how the school year ended so quickly.
But we have yet another chunk of work to do with 1st Grade.
On Tuesday, all three 1st grades will visit the garden to complete three tasks:
*a crayon rendering on 11X17 paper of one of the ancient trees on Waters School,
the bur oaks
(this is the back cover of their book)
((if you don't know why these trees are sacred, please contact me soon)),
*also, a leaf rubbing, on 8.5 X 11 of a selection of our trees for the cover of the kids books,
and....
* the medallions!
Each year,
I slice sections of local tree branches to create circular medallions.
The kids select,
sand,
oil,
and create wonderful necklaces,
often the same age as themselves,
to remember that they are kin to trees.
Schedule:
Tuesday, June 13,
Room 211 10:00 am
Room 208 11:30
Room 210 12:15
Please , please join us,
especially if you like to do art stuff.
Later in the week we will work to add these last two pieces to the kids:
Field Guides to the Trees of Waters School.
Work on these is on-going and we hope to be finished by Friday ( or Monday... or Tuesday...not Wednesday next week)
Pheewwww,
Then,
Tuesday, June 13,
2 minutes after we finish with 1st grade,
8th grade is coming out for our traditional feast of homemade pizza,
and ice cold,
home-made fruit drinks
from 1:15 until going home time.
Kids will be juicing lemons,
blending gooseberries and currants,
rolling pizza dough, spreading garden pizza sauce,
loading it in to the oven of friend / gardener / neighbor Sarah,
and having one of their last, big garden activities together.
No need to say,
we will need help setting up ,
making it happen,
and cleaning up.
And it will be HOT!
Wednesday is Awards day,
where we will be thanking our 8th grade compost and recycling captains for their exceptional,
day in
day out,
fall, winter and spring work for mother Earth.
This amounts to printing out beautiful certificates and saying a few words.
Anyone like to do certs?
Also, I will be rehearsing with the Kinder kids for their graduation,
accompanying them on
"We are the World"
and
"Tomorrow"
beautiful songs that should be in every child's repertoire.
On Thursday!
Recycling Luncheon for ALL recycling captains.
Help needed from 10:30 till 1:00
setting up the food and drink,
fetching pizza,
serving these wonderful workers
for their fine efforts over the past year.
On Friday I will attend 8th grade graduation
and attempt to keep myself together by working in the garden afterwards.
Another moment,
of stars,
planets,
people,
beloved ones.
More to come,
Mr Leki
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