Trip to the Pit!

This week the 1-2s took a self-guided tour of the DPW maintenance yard on Oak Street (what we lovingly refer to as "the pit"). We looked at the buildings, materials and equipment that we see and hear daily from our outdoor classroom space.

As we walked around we saw lots of heavy equipment and were awed by how big they were. We were also overwhelmed by the sheer volume of mulch, sand, stones and other materials the town uses for its self-repair and maintenance. We encountered the unmistakable aroma of pine and found the source - a heap of mulched Christmas trees from after the holiday season. We even discovered where to find a shiny new red hydrant!

Our trip also had a research element. We have noticed a lot of erosion on the path we walk to get to our Lilja School Trail. Much of the soil and stone, including a block of granite, have washed away in the abundance of rain runoff and snow melt this past season. As part of our efforts to reverse the effects of this erosion in conjunction with the DPW, we took a look at possible resources that could be used to both repair the path as well as find new paths for the water so that the erosion does not reoccur. More posts on that project will be forthcoming later this spring.

Check out the pictures below of our trip!

Earth Day Art Walk

Natick will be holding an Earth Day Celebration on Sunday, April 28th. As part of this event, there will be an Art Walk. Art from second graders and the 1-2s across the district will be displayed in businesses downtown in the weeks leading up to the event.

As part of our contribution to this celebration, we read the book Brother Eagle, Sister Sky which is a picture book version of Chief Seattle's famous speech. The speech was given in December of 1854. Chief Seattle lamented the changing landscape of our country as more settlers destroyed the pristine natural lands to exploit resources and adapt the environment to accommodate an ever growing westward expansion. 

The kids were struck by his understanding that the earth does not belong to us, but rather we belong to the earth, and what we do to our world we do to ourselves. It is amazing to think that even 150 years ago, there was such great concern about the lack of conservation efforts on the part of earth's citizens and stewards. We in the 1-2s take this responsibility very seriously and do our best to take care of mother earth! This love of nature and the outdoors was very apparent in our contributions to the art walk. It has been attached below to give you a preview!

March Town Forest Walk

We had a warm, though wet, walk today. Kids were decked out in boots, rain gear and beach day garb. Snow on the ground provided some track visibility so kids were able to see dog tracks (of course) but also deer tracks - distinguishable by the two "dew claw" marks they leave behind from their cloven hooves.

Other animal signs in the forest today included deer, turkey and rabbit scat, bark stripped off a small sapling, an owl feather, and the remains of mini tunnels in the snow made by mice. We were happy to hear the song of the cardinals and chickadees, and to note the red winged blackbirds who are back from their southern migration. We did not see any, but we heard them in the wetlands.  We hope to see them on our next walk.

Enjoy pictures below from our walk: