Once the sap is collected, it has to be cooked down into the good stuff: maple syrup! Mrs. Ladopolous's class collected several bucketfuls of sap, and now they have some syrup for a pancake party!
Just on the heels of the Crestwood fox hunt, warmer weather rolled in and suddenly it was time to tap the maple trees. How do you know it's tapping time? The daytime temperatures must be above freezing - ideally in the 40s - with freezing temperatures at night. The freeze/thaw pattern gets that sap flowing! Once it warms up to above freezing permanently, the sap flows up to the budding leaves and tapping time is over. It seems that the window of time for tapping maple trees is creeping earlier and earlier every year. Ordinarily, maple tapping starts in March in southern Wisconsin. But with the reality of global climate change and a strong El Niño this winter, it's really no surprise that second grade classes had to be ready for tapping already in February. How do you tap a maple tree anyway? Well, first you have to be sure you've found the right kind of tree. Sugar maples are the best for collecting sap, and they can be identified by their darkly streaked bark. They also often have small holes pecked in them by a particular kind of woodpecker called a yellow-bellied sap sucker. Next, you have to make sure your tree is big enough to handle having a hole drilled in it. The trunk's diameter must be at least 12-20". Now, where do you drill that hole? It can't be just anywhere! The hole should be on the part of the tree facing southwest so it gets afternoon sun, and should be about 6" away from any holes drilled in previous years. Drilling with a hand cranked drill is a LOT of work. Several adults plus a whole second grade class made it about an inch deep before the grownups finished up with a battery powered drill! Before you hammer the spile into the tree, of course, you have to taste the sap. How many people can say they've had a drink straight from the tree? As you drill into the tree trunk, the sap and sawdust create a mash that drip down the tree. I think it looks a little like applesauce... Each second grade class at Crestwood has a sugar maple tree to tap near school property. We are grateful to the gardeners at the Brittingham Estate and residents of the Highlands neighborhood for allowing us to access trees on their property. Once the sap is collected, it has to be cooked down into the good stuff: maple syrup! Mrs. Ladopolous's class collected several bucketfuls of sap, and now they have some syrup for a pancake party! As always, we are grateful for all the volunteers that help make outdoor activities go as smoothly as possible. Icy trails, squirrelly 8-year-olds, and power tools can make for challenging conditions. Somehow, they get some nice pictures while they're at it so we can share them with the rest of you! Thanks again to Peter Plane, Barb Handa, Margie Pearce, Eldon Ulrich and the parent volunteers who helped with maple tapping in the last few weeks.
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One particularly rewarding outcome of outdoor activities like the fox-themed scavenger hunt is the student writing that comes out of it. Several Crestwood teachers gave their students different writing prompts and assignments related to foxes, and it's great fun to see what creative twists and turns those young minds take! There are so many delightful writing samples that I'll be sharing them in batches here over the next few weeks amongst posts about other current activities. For today, here are some examples from Mrs. Kennedy's 3rd grade class. I have typed them up but did not otherwise edit for grammar or spelling, in order to maintain authenticity. Enjoy! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The first story is by Arad: One day I was a fox. So me and my firends went hunting in the woods. We where looking and looking till we found a rabbite. then we killed it. then we cepet on looking then we found a mouse! then we founed a wood Pecker but Joe ated it "thanks a lot Joe". then we found a halk then we head home and drank hot chocolite with rabbite cookes. then poff we thirned in to a human but Everyone became a buttler then a somo resaler then we went home and bely bumbt. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The second story is by Zion: Once upon a time There was a very ugly fox. One day the fox came upon a tree. he tried to climb it. He figured out he had a super jump. So he got up in the bushy leaves. He saw Very butifel foxes. Then he jumped in the water and saw himself and noticed. He was so handsome. Chapter 2 love The fox chosse one of the lovely foxes to be his wife. Then they got married. The end. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here is a poem by Annie: The Fox The fox walks through the snow luking for food and he makes shure to stay in the kwiet mood the fox lisins then he hears a krak! now he knows very near is a snack. The fox pouncis very hie up he really needs food to feed his pup Boom!! That rabit reached his doom The fox walks to the den and aproches his dirt made pen the fox feeds the famoly with food and remembers that he stade in the kwiet mood The fox setles down on to the ground up up up ready to katch and remember the fox is like a game of fetch ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ And finally, a story by Talis: The Fox Disease I'm Tupelos, Talis Tupelos, yes, The Blue Salmon. I sat down to play Minecraft. I'm a command I circut whiz kid, so I obviasly went to circut. I started coding to make a bacon and experience machine but when I reached for the S key, I got..bitten! I was also, shrinking! What is a wild fox doing here?! Wait, he's normal in my small and very odd perspective. Wait a minute...I'm a FOX! Is this disease contagious? I have an idea! I trot to Willmete, bite my cousins and aunt and uncle, then go to another house in Chicago, bite Stef, Aldis and Larisa and Suer and Alexa. And we have a fox party! The End? |
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August 2017
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