Earth Day
BY JANE YOLEN

I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Each bit of mud, 
And stick and stone
Is blood and muscle, 
Skin and bone.

And just as I 
Need every bit
Of me to make
My body fit,
So Earth needs
Grass and stone and tree
And things that grow here
Naturally.

That’s why we 
Celebrate this day.
That’s why across
The world we say:
As long as life,
As dear, as free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.

(Source: PoetryFoundation.org)

Last week's stunning spring weather inspired several classes to go outside. A few of us on the Outdoor Ed committee seized the opportunity to put kids to work! A large pile of wood chips  is blocking Highlands Ave at the end of the main woods trail. We gathered buckets and wheelbarrows and harnessed some of that Kid Energy to spread those wood chips on the trail.

It can take a little while to find a work rhythm. You can't have 15 kids at once on the mulch pile without someone getting wood chips in their eyes and hair. And some kids are more adept at filling buckets than others! Eventually, groups spread out into different tasks: loosening mulch at the top of the pile, filling buckets to dump in the wheelbarrow, and spreading chips on the path near the classroom circle.

This week and we hope to start planting cool weather crops! If you want to help out, please let your child's classroom teacher know, or contact us.

Last week's rain seems to have sprung spring into action! The last of the snow piles have melted and gone, the grass is turning green, and now look at the 2nd grade circle garden (pictured above)! All those tulips have poked through the ground and are growing happily amongst some rogue crocus flowers. Last fall, the 2nd grade team unexpectedly ended up with twice as many tulip bulbs as they anticipated, so there were plenty leftover for some experimentation. You can see the clumps of flowers in the center of the circle; for those, the kids planted bulbs upside down, sideways, shallower and deeper than the recommended depths to see if those factors would affect how they grow. As you can see, nature sometimes has amazing ways of self-correcting for those little adjustments!

Soon enough, it will be time to plant cool weather crops like peas, salad greens and radishes. If you want to help out, be sure to keep checking our Volunteer page or contact your child's classroom teacher about volunteering.