Cheers,
Susan
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We had a great turnout for our fall workday today! Thanks to EVERYONE who showed up on this beautiful day to help prepare the gardens and woods for winter. There were many more people digging, cleaning, mulching, taking down fences, you name it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of everything! If you have some photos to share, please post on Facebook and be sure to tag CrestwoodOE so we can see them, too.
Cheers, Susan
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Join us Sunday, October 18 from 10-2 for our fall workday! Families are welcome. We have tasks big and small for willing workers of all ages. Meet other volunteers from our school community and enjoy the fresh air while you help keep our outdoor learning spaces safe, accessible and beautiful. Wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty and bring work gloves if you have them. For the upcoming workday, the most urgent tasks are in the back garden and woods areas, though there is some work to do in front of the school. Keep reading for more details. 1. Our school forest, a popular destination for learning activities, needs some TLC. Joe House will cut down some dead trees, and we'll be spreading mulch on the main trails and pulling garlic mustard. 2. Behind the school, our picnic tables by the back garden are starting to sink into the ground. We'll pull the tables out, give them a thorough scrubbing, and put some fresh mulch underneath. 3. We need to remove the metal fencing from around the back garden plot and put it in or behind the shed for winter storage. 4. While we got rid of a lot of thistles by the back garden and woods entrance at our last workday in August, many have grown back, and we need to pull them to make this area safe and comfortable for students. 5. The apple orchard needs some attention! While you can't see the picnic tables in this picture, they need to be cleaned and moved. The trellis around the orchard needs tightening, and we need to add reflective tape or signs around the fence to avoid damage from snow plows in the winter. 6. By the time October 18 rolls around, second graders will have cleaned old tomato vines and marigold plants out of the circle garden. On the workday, we'll then till and prep the area for fall bulb planting. Additionally, all the mosaic signs from in front of the school will be removed and stored for the winter. And last, but not least, I was sad to see this the other day. It appears someone threw a rock onto this display box and broke the protective cover. The whole reason we work so hard to maintain our Outdoor Education program at Crestwood is to teach kids about the natural world around them. The more they know, the more respect they will have for this space. See you next Sunday!
Cheers, Susan This coming Tuesday, October 6, is back-to-school night at Crestwood! There is a long-standing tradition of making Stone Soup (click on that link to learn more about the original story) to share with families during the evening event. In preparation for Stone Soup, 4th and 5th graders have been harvesting root vegetables from the school gardens over the last two weeks. On Tuesday they'll work with volunteers (what would we do without our volunteers??) during the school day chopping vegetables, both from the garden and those donated by families, and cooking them into soup. If you walk down the hallways with 4/5 classrooms on Tuesday, you might catch a delicious whiff of potatoes, carrots and onions (oh my!) in the air! 9 and 10-year-old kids are champion diggers, as it turns out. It only took a three 20-minute sessions with some of the 4th and 5th grade classes to dig up the entire potato patch, and all the carrots, beets, onions and turnips from the front garden plots. The bigger the potatoes and the weirder the carrots, the better! We certainly hope to see many families at Back-To-School Night this Tuesday! Meet your teachers, browse the book fair, and as you sample some Stone Soup, know that many of its ingredients were planted, nurtured and harvested just steps away by the very students who walk these halls 180 days of the year.
Cheers, Susan |
AuthorCrestwood's OE committee is dedicated to outdoor learning for all students. Archives
August 2017
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