Town Forest Structure Building

Today we had our Native American Town Structure Building Day! Eight teams of kids with parent chaperones chose a spot in the Town Forest and, using only materials they could find in the area, built a structure that they could (if they had to) spend a night in. 

This eager and energetic group were the fastest builders we've had on this project in years! They quickly claimed an advantageous territory and foraged for materials to build with. Popular items were downed limbs, branches, pine needles, bark, leaves, stones and even a banana peel! They had to be creative in the assembling of these structures as any modern (post-contact) tools and materials were not allowed! They could only use items found in nature and their own two hands. 

Different styles of structures were constructed including lean-tos, tipis, and wigwams. Each structure had its own individual features and unique technologies such as water bottle holders, clothes lines for coats, fire pits, natural recliners, and beds (some with moss for comfort). A few groups even gave their structure a number (like a street address number) or a title (The Pine Hut). 

This constructive experience was enjoyed by parents, kids and teachers all! If you have the chance this weekend, take your child to the Town Forest so they can show you their structure and tell you all about it! Enjoy the pictures below! 

Spring Cleaning & Gardening

 Spring has sprung and our garden perennials are waking up!  Our spring cleaning alarm clock is going off - time to get the garden ready for new plants! This week, kids have been pulling weeds, clearing rocks as well as sticks, straightening out the rocks that border the garden and replenishing and refreshing the soil in the plant beds. Many hands make light work of these efforts to spruce up our pollinator garden and border gardens - green thumbs and dirty hands!

Mrs. M. and Mrs. A. made a trip to Russell's to get new plants to liven up our garden spaces. Many new annuals and perennials were selected in colors that honor our Dragon House Tables. One plot will be devoted to herbs as we create a sensory garden of herbs that have a pleasant smell or taste (mint, stevia, lavender). We are also excited to plant the three sisters (corn, beans and squash) in the traditional way of Native Americans that we have been learning about. Our shady areas will see some new Bleeding Hearts while our sunny patches will nurture petunias, snap dragons and salvia.

This is always a very exciting time of year for us! Kids feel a real ownership of the garden as they played a part in planning, preparing and planting. Many kids who move on from the 1-2s return to visit the legacy they have taken part in creating. Check out the pictures below of our garden in progress!

Lilja Mosaic Mural

 As many of you may know, the kids at Lilja have used some of their art periods to work on an amazing community mural with the artist, Mr. Winer. All kids got the opportunity to use mosaic stones to add shape and color to the images, and this week, the mural was mounted and is up for display. The kids were overjoyed to see their larger-than-life work beautifully mounted outside the entrance to school.  We heard lots of kids pointing and calling out the parts of the mural that they had worked on. 

We took a class picture in front of the mural today (one serious, one silly) and are happy to share this masterpiece with you. Some of you have likely seen the mural already, but we encourage everyone to come see it for themselves - it is much more impressive in person! Our second graders were reminded of the mosaics of Ancient Rome (from our study of Ancient Greece last year). For the first graders, it was a preview of what's to come! 

Thanks to Dr. Marscher, Ms. Golestani, Mr. Winer, our PTO, the Town of Natick and the Mass Cultural Council for making this possible.

Rob Aptaker Visit

 Rob Aptaker came to visit the 1-2s! He is a remarkable man who has spent lots of time living with and among different Native Peoples to learn their culture, traditions, songs, stories, language and way of life. We were very lucky to have the opportunity to learn from him in person and in a hands-on way. Rob brought lots of artifacts with him: tools, skins, instruments, baskets, toys, games, natural resources, and more to teach the children about the life of Native Americans in this country from hundreds of years ago. The kids also got the opportunity to handle and even try out many of these materials. 

After his initial presentation, the kids got to rotate through stations of artifacts.  Rob himself taught the students how to make their own string from sticks of dog's bane (which does grow around here). The first challenge is to crack and scrape off the stiff outer bark to get to the strong and flexible fibers inside. Rolling and twisting the fibers into string took some practice to get the hang of, and we hope to continue working on our string here at school. Rob also demonstrated fire making with a bow-drill. This was a particularly tricky effort in the misty and windy weather we had outside that day but he was able to produce smoke that we could see and smell (sadly, the few embers he brought to life were immediately extinguished). 

One of the biggest points of learning for the kids was using only the resources available in the area where you lived to meet all of your needs. We chanted "sticks and stones and skins and bones" to remind ourselves of the natural resources available to provide food (farmed, hunted & fished), animal skins (for clothing, homes, blankets), sticks (including all plant matter such as wood, bark, flowers, leaves), and stones. This was evidenced as all the artifacts were made of "pre-contact" materials, that is, before the settlers brought metals, glass and other new resources with them to the continent.

Rob Aptaker is also a gifted story teller who even knows a favorite Native American author of ours - Joseph Bruchac! Rob told the children many stories from different regions with wonderful voices and movements to bring the story to life. 

The finale of the day was a call and answer song Rob taught us with an accompanying snake dance! We practiced the song and then went outside to line up behind Rob and follow his steady drum beat with our feet as we sang the song. Our dance ended when our "snake" spiraled in on itself and Mrs. A. shook the final rattle!

Enjoy the pictures below! Ask your child to tell you about their experiences at the different stations and what the highlights of the day were for them!