If April Showers Bring May Flowers...

...And Mayflowers bring pilgrims, then what do June Showers bring?

Slugs!

Pretty big ones, at least by East coast standards...

The Frogs have been delighted by the recent influx of slugs on our playground. They have literally left no stone unturned in their ongoing quest for more of the slimy little guys. Recent teacher/child discussions have included the ethics and practical concerns of slug handling. We have tried to impress upon the Frogs that slugs are not for holding!

That said, you might want to check your child's pockets before you do the laundry...

Chick Watch '09'- WWTID*

(*What Would The Internet Do?)

Still nothing. The kids are being very patient. The grown ups, however are antsy!
We checked the calendar and double checked our counting to confirm that yesterday was indeed our chick's estimated delivery date. While it is not uncommon for it to take a bit longer than 21 days for chicks to hatch, we figured it wouldn't hurt to do ask the Internet for bright ideas on how to coax little chickens out of their eggs...
After a little research, we raised the humidity level in the incubator by adding more water to the water channels in the bottom and by putting a couple of damp sponges in the corners. We removed the eggs that were clearly chick-less to prevent them from going bad and possibly exploding (ewwwww!) And, we let the kids help us out with one suggestion. Several blogs and extension service web sites recommended 'peeping' at the eggs to tell the chickens that it's time to come out already. Seriously. Well, as you can imagine, the children were more than happy to follow this advice, 'peeping' collectively throughout the day in hopes of inspiring the chicks to hatch.
We grown ups also checked how long we should leave the eggs in before accepting that they weren't viable. According to most sources, 26-28 days is the maximum, but realistically, the chances of a successful hatch starting after day 23 are slim. Day 23 would be tomorrow, so let's keep our fingers crossed!
As we've been telling the kids all along, the only ones who get to decide if and when the chicks are going to come out are the chicks. We're still hoping strongly for a successful hatch, but however things turn out, we will still learn an important lesson.

(Of course, there's nothing preventing us from trying again...)

Chick Watch '09'- Still Nothing....

Patience....

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!

Eggs!!!

After much anticipation, the eggs are finally here!!! Now we get to practice patience while we wait the 21 days it takes for them to hatch. We are soooooooo excited!!!

10 Seconds From Today's River Walk...

Hope you all get to go outside and enjoy some of this soon!

ROYGBIV!

Last Friday's sugar Shack field trip did not disappoint! Thank you to everyone who made it possible, especially to Michele M. and all of the drivers. We have tons of photos and a write up for the next post. For now...

Can you guess what we're working on?

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!

Syrup...sort of!

This morning, we set out to boil our 2+ gallons of Maple sap in hopes of turning it into syrup!

First we strained it through a coffee filter...


Then we poured it into our high tech evaporator... ( a Presto electric frying pan, circa 1974!)

We kept a close eye on it, adding sap throughout the day...

During nap time, we added the last bit of sap. It finally came to what we thought was the right temperature. Hooray!!!!

We poured it into a jar...

...and realized that it was a bit too thick to be considered "syrup". It's more of a cross between Honey and Maple cream. It's still delicious, though!

We'll try again on Monday!

Look!!!

It worked!!!

Another Sure Sign of Spring...

Can you guess what we're making?

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!!!

Chicken Preview

We've been talking with the Frogs about some of our upcoming curriculum plans. The one that seems to have generated the most excitement is incubating and hatching fertile chicken eggs. We've tried to explain that baby chickens like warmer weather, so we'll have to wait for spring to come before we can get started. Of course, It's hard to wait for something that is so cool!

Thank goodness for YouTube! This is what we watched during circle time today;

The kids were astounded! The best part was when the entire group went "Awwwww!!!!" once the baby chick finally made it out.

Our eggs should be ready to incubate in about three weeks. We can't wait!

Worms!!!!!

They're here!!!!
Can you see them now????


How about now???

We are sooooo excited that our worms have arrived. So far, they really like Oranges and Carrots. Blueberries? not so much....
Apparently, worms are picky eaters, just like three-year olds!