Round and Round all Through the Town!

Now that Summer vacation season is here, every once in a while we have a day where we have very few children enrolled for the day. When this happens, we like to take full advantage of the great teacher child ratios by heading out and about. Last Friday, we had four children and three adults on hand. We decided to have an adventure....

We rode the bus...

...indulged in some doughnuts...

...window shopped...

...and took in the sights downtown!

After that, it was off to the library....

...to check out some books...

...and to visit Paco, the library's giant fish!

Then we walked over to the college to watch the construction...

...and visit the minerals...

...and the invertebrates in the science building.

We visited the fountain...

...where we watched a vertebrate who was taking a drink.

Then on to the garden...

...to smell the sweetpeas...

...admire the flowers...

...search for fish...

...and hide under the big tree!

On the way back, we took a run through the neon tunnel!

What a great day!

Sugar Shack Field Trip Redux!

We interrupt our poultry mania to bring you some almost forgotten photos from our recent field trip to a local Maple Sugar Shack!

The North Hadley Sugar Shack is owned an operated by the Boisvert family. In addition to harvesting sap from all over the Pioneer Valley, they also operate a breakfast restaurant/country store that features products produced on local farms.

We started our field trip out with a guided tour of the farm given by Joe Boisvert, one of the brothers who owns the farm. Joe showed us several different types of maple taps and buckets in action. He also showed us the giant storage tanks where the sap waits to be boiled down into Maple Syrup.

We learned that once the trees start to produce buds, the sugaring season is over. The trees need the sap to produce leaves, and the sap takes on a bitter flavor once the buds appear. Since our field trip coincided with a batch of unseasonably warm weather, we just missed seeing the sap being boiled down in the Sugar Shack's wood fired evaporator. Of course, the advantage of this was that we could get a good close look at the evaporator without having to contend with fire, steam, and boiling syrup!

After we toured the evaporator room, Joe asked if anyone would like a little cup of maple syrup to taste. Now take a moment to imagine the response one might get if they asked a group of three year olds if they wanted to drink maple syrup...

...Lets just say, they were into the idea!

After our tour, we said goodbye to Joe and headed over to the restaurant for a pancake snack. We have no photos from this portion of the trip, as the grown ups were busy cutting up pancakes and fulfilling the many requests for "more syrup!"

Now that the kids were all jacked up on Maple Syrup, we headed out to the "Animal Village" portion of the farm. The Boisverts keep a small flock of extremely friendly goats and sheep on hand to entertain small guests. The Frogs were more than happy to feed them large handfuls of hay and to groom them with brushes. We did, however, draw the line at kissing the goats. (yes, someone tried....)

Overall, the consensus was that this was a great field trip. We are so fortunate to live in a part of the country that produces so many agricultural products. Curriculum that shows children in a direct, hands on kind of way where their food comes from is a powerful way to plant the seeds of environmental stewardship. Next, we hope to plan a field trip to Mapeline Farms to see where the milk we drink at snack time comes from. Stay tuned for details!

Last of the Sap

The gap between daytime and overnight temperatures has been steadily closing, which means that the Sap is no longer "running hard". We did, however, find an excellent surprise the last time we checked our bucket...

Sugar Ants!!!

(There were a bunch of Ladybugs too, but they flew away before we could take their picture!)

We haven't seen this many bugs outside since the fall, so the Frogs were thrilled!

We will probably pull the tap out tomorrow. Then on Friday, we'll wrap up our sugaring season with a trip to a local sugar shack for a look at a large scale sugaring operation...and some pancakes, of course!

Spring!!!!

We have been waiting so patiently for signs of spring here in the Frog Room! thank goodness they are starting to show up all over!

Now that the sidewalks are clear of snow and ice, we have been going on frequent walks around the neighborhood. After months of quiet, gray winter days, the outside is waking up again. Our walks are accompanied by lots of new, springtime sounds; birdsong, rushing water from the creek across the street, the sounds of the local high school's marching band practicing outside. It is a welcome change!

The children have become expert bird spotters. Can you spot the bird in this picture?

The Frogs did from about half a block away!

How about this one? thr Frogs heard this bird before they saw it. It was so loud!

How about now?

Woodpecker!

In addition to our walks around the neighborhood, we took a recent stroller trip to visit the annual bulb show at the greenhouse at a local college. It was so crowded with flowers and people that we didn't take a single photo indoors! We did manage to snap a few pictures of the gardens in front of the greenhouse though;

Crocuses...a sure sign of spring!

To celebrate the actual Vernal Equinox, we brought some color back into our classroom with a floral inspired art project;



We suspended our flowers from the ceiling above our dining tables, then we put together a special snack in honor of the ground thawing;

Chocolate pudding "soil" with gummy "worms"...

Topped with Grahm cracker "topsoil"!
Mmmmm...wormtastic!

Happy Spring!!!