To Bloom or not to Bloom

“This is for you,” she announced as she handed me a ruby red leaf.

“Why thank you, Cara,” I exclaimed as I received it. “Do you know what kind of leaf this is?”

“An autumn leaf!” was the reply.

“You’re right, it is a lovely autumn leaf, but it’s also a maple leaf.” I informed her. “I’ll place it in this vase on my desk and it’ll remind me of you when I look at it.”

 

When you teach in a primary classroom, you’re frequently presented with special, seasonal gifts and surprises and you never know what stories will transpire out of them!  In autumn, you might receive a pretty leaf or caterpillar.  Winter wonders can include frosty pine cones, or perhaps a sparkling row of icicles might be pointed out during a walk across the yard with your class.  Spring, with new buds and blossoms bursting forth, could bring any number of plants!  

Fistfuls of brilliant blossoms presented by beaming youngsters are as common in my classroom each spring as robins tweeting on boughs and branches.  This year is no exception!  As usual, I stuff the dandelions into a vase, jar or whatever container is available.   We enjoy the blooms for a few days and once they start drooping, we discard them, and they’re soon replaced by yet another bright bouquet plucked by one of my precocious primary pupils. 

Before school let out for the summer, one such posy graced our staff room table; several blooms had sadly hung their tired heads. 

As usual, at the end of the day, my students pick a library book for their home-reading and were now lined up and waiting for me to sign out their selections.  “Oh,” one loquacious lass exclaimed as she gazed at the bouquet, “Your bloomers are down.”

Before I had time to give her the definition of said garment, a young lad peered at her somewhat appalled and sternly stated, “Those are underwear!”

What could I do but shake my head and enjoy a chuckle as I started planning for another school day; perhaps wondering what underthings will be brought to light next.

Black Swallowtails

Black swallowtail chrysalis

Last Fall, during our carrot harvest, our ladies found a caterpillar amongst the carrot tops.  Someone brought it to our house.  Shortly after, my sister Shirley worked in her herb garden and found another one crawling on her dill plant.  We brought them to school where they soon created their crysalids for the winter.
Over the years we've raised countless monarch caterpillars, but this was our first for this type of caterpillar.  Upon doing a bit of research, I discovered that swallowtails lay their eggs on carrot, dill, parsley and fennel plants.
Now, what to do with swallowtail chrysalids during winter? I learned quite a bit from  Joyful Butterfly.  We placed ours chrsalids in a plastic jar and stored in in the fridge  until the apple trees and lilac bushes started blooming the following spring.

Newly hatched butterfly

I was surprised that it would take two weeks from the time they were placed in room temperature to turn from pupa to butterfly!

Wings dried and expanded

 Oh the excitement we had when we came to school that Monday morning to discover a special springtime surprise!!

Being passed from hand to hand

Feeding on lilac nectar before taking flight!

Aren't those hands-on life science projects just the best?!

Maple Sapping Time

Maple Time

My sister Sonia has been maple sapping for five years or so.  Since she began this annual early spring project, I've wanted to include my students in the process, perhaps make some kind of hands-on lesson out of it. 

My students have seen Sonia out and about tapping trees and collecting sap, so they naturally wanted to share what they'd observed.  My nephew Jakobi has even helped Sonia, so of course he shared some long-winded stories.

Other Articles on Maple Sap

My sister Linda has posted several articles on Sonia's maple sapping on her blog which you can read here.   She also wrote an article on this topic for the Manitoba Cooperator.  The link here will take you to here blog and there you'll find the link to the Manitoba cooperator article.  Scroll down the the Crossroads section to page 29 to read it.

Maple Books

Each spring during maple sapping time, I dug out my books on maple sapping.  Sometimes I read one to my students but didn't do much more.  This year my planning is working out!My grade 1 & 2 students are just working on the social studies unit Canadian Communities.  One of the first topics in this unit is Aboriginal contributions and lad-de-da -- maple syrup!

We started our maple unit by reading and comparing the following books which are all set in different time periods:

• Maple Moon by Conniebrummel Crook;
• At Grandpa's Sugar Bush by Margaret Carney and  
• A Day at the Sugar Bush by Megan Faulkner.  

 

Our Maple Projects

Next, we joined Sonia in every step of the process from drilling, to collecting the sap, to hauling wood scraps from for commercial carpenter shop, to finally cooking the sap into maple syrup.  We enjoyed several tasting sessions as we worked on this project: raw sap, hotdogs cooked in sap, maple butter on toast and waffles topped with whipped cream and maple syrup.

To commemorate this special event, we created a class book entitled Maple Sapping at Elm River Colony.  This book that outlines the entire process as well is the graphed results of our favourite maple treats.   We've added it to our class library where we can now boast of four maple sapping books. 

Springtime Excusion

Last week my sisters happened upon a "chuck wagon" just west of our colony along the La Salle River where our dad used to keep his breeder geese during the summer months.
Today, my sister Sonia took our nephew Jakobi and me out to see this old time mode of transportation.  Along the way, we enjoyed various lovely springtime sights...

Dandelions - Ready for wishing upon

Puffy Cotton Clouds

 

A Pair of Canadian Honkers

Strolling through Fiddleheads

 

All of these spring wonders reminded me of  the beautiful spring song we sang at the Lehr on Sunday:

Schau', mein Geist die Frühlingszeiten,

alles will sich zubereiten,

Gott zu geben Preis und Ehr',

nimm es an zu einder Lehr',

da man alles neu sieht werden;

was für todt lag in der Erden,

das geht wiederum herfür,

grünt und wächst und blüht vor dir.

After trudging though tall grass, dried weeds and uneven terrain, we finally came upon the remains of the "chuck wagon".  Upon our arrival home, my Uncle Dave was there for a visit.  He looked at the picture and informed me that it was a "tupplepax", a double box wagon.  That seems much more reasonable, after all, our people moved to Elm River from Rosedale with trucks and panels and perhaps pick-ups, not Conestoga wagons as the early pineers did.  And... we've been involved in farming since we arrived, so a double box wagon, could have been a mode of transportation in Elm River's early days..

Remains of a Double Box Wagon

In its glory days in may have resembled this wagon. I found the image at Double Box Wagon

  

What did you do and see during your Victoria Day weekend?