Meadowgarten: April 8 - 12

Greetings Meadowgarten Families!

We enjoyed a very warm week in the Meadowgarten, with the children asking when we will start swimming in the creek!  We have enjoyed observing the signs of spring all over the school grounds.  The ducks have returned to the pond and wetlands, there is a bird nest with baby birds in the garden, and the vegetable garden is growing and growing before our eyes.  

We planted a small herb garden of our own, starting with spearmint and basil and we will plant more seeds next week. We look forward to using the mint in iced herbal tea to enjoy during snack time.  This was our second week sharing soup with our Joyful Beginnings friends and we are so happy that they are able to be with us.  Ki Ieva gave us some radishes from their garden and the children enjoyed the fresh, crisp and spicy taste.  

On Tuesday, Ki Holly made some dough for the children to practice kneading.  She took the extra dough home and cooked mini tortillas for everyone to try on Wednesday as part of our snack.  They were very yummy!

On Thursday, we enjoyed a wonderful Creature Feature.  We met sweet Norbo, a K-9 working with the Cobb County Police.  We learned that he works hard to ensure that stadiums and other public places are safe by sniffing for explosives. Norbo understands very well when he is working and when he is playing.  When he has his police vest on, he is working and when the vest is off, he is like any other dog, wanting to chew his toy and have his ears scratched. All of the students were able to pet Norbo and they loved the experience!

 On Friday, even though it was warm, we made a fire in the forest so that we could pop some popcorn for our snack, which we enjoyed with sweet, juicy apples.

In the forest the children played tag, made beautiful and fun creations in the mud kitchen and the sandbox, collected nature treasures and climbed trees.  Inside play was fun too, dressing up with silks and balancing on our new sensory pads, giving to us by Ki Melissa.

Along with all of the beautiful signs of Spring, we are also noticing the return of mosquitoes. Please send bug spray to school with your child.  Also, the sun is getting warmer so please apply sunscreen to your child prior to school.  We can help them reapply as necessary, especially since the sun is warmest in the afternoon.  

Kindly,

Ki Amy and Ki Holly 

Mountaingarten: April 8 - 12

Dear Mountaingarten families, 

We had an eventful and exciting week this past week! The children enjoyed holding the soft baby chicks in their hands and looking at their different colors and feathers.

In the garden we planted herbs, smelled the newly bloomed lavender, and had to seek shelter under the gazebo during Spanish one day as the sky opened and poured rain upon us! 

We also got to admire the lovely radishes Ki Ieva and Joyful Beginnings planted, they kindly gifted two to our class. Thank you Ieva and Joyful Beginnings!

In the forest we also enjoyed making leaf crowns, spotting the turtles sunbathing on top of the logs in the lake, and climbing on top of the Trojan horse. 

We also had our last creature feature of the school year- a cob county bomb dog! The kids loved petting him and watching him chew up his toy. Thanks to the police officer Elijah who brought him in and for answering all our questions! 

A special thanks to Sarah Darby and all who helped out during the Springtide festival on Saturday. What a beautiful festival it was.

A few reminders:

As sunny days are up ahead, please apply sunscreen on your child prior to coming to school! We are planning to jump in the creek this week so make sure your child comes to school with a swimsuit and change of clothes as well! 

Thank you all, have a wonderful week ahead :-) 

Warmly,

Ki Fatima & Ki Aja 

Joyful Beginnings: April 8 - 12

First week back from the Spring Break. I could tell that on Monday everyone was excited to play again with their friends. The kids had more energy for games indoors and outdoors. I and Ki Whitney were so excited to see them being so energetic and playful on their return.

We started a new song and a fairy tale about three bears. Kids will continue to learn these during the upcoming weeks.

On Wednesday we celebrated Julia’s birthday. She turned three years old. Her mom visited our group to celebrate this event together with her classmates.

On Thursday we had a special guest - a German-trained dog. Now he lives and works in Georgia with the special bomb detection unit of the police.

On Friday, we planted new flowers - sunflowers. We hope that these will grow taller than all of us, even Ki Ieva and Ki Whitney. We also reaped the fruits of our earlier labor, in this case, vegetables. We harvested our first batch of radishes from our garden. Some even tried them:)

HomeSchool: March 25 - 29

Hello everyone!

What a pretty week we had! On Tuesday we learned about the bp oil spill that occurred in April 2010 on the Gulf coast. We talked about how the spill affected so many birds, especially brown pelicans, seagulls, gannets, and ospreys. Please look up these bird species with your child so they can see what they look like! We did an activity where we found oiled pelican and seagull feathers and tried to clean them with Dawn dish detergent.

Also on Tuesday, Bear, Cooper, and Brolin helped me monitor the water quality on Little Noonday Creek. Our school has monitored the creek once a month since September and it is amazingly clean. It has an average pH of 7 (perfectly neutral) and an average oxygen level of 9 parts per thousand (very healthly).

Thursday morning, we placed frog markers from Cobb County Watershed on the storm drains in a neighborhood behind the school. It’s a way of reminding residents that only rainwater should go down our storm drains. That means no leaves, grass clippings, trash, pet waste, cigarette butts, leftover grease, motor oil, rocks, or coals from the BBQ grill! 

A HUGE thank you to Ki Debbie and Ki Heather for adding the collector app to their phones and helping us cover three large sections of the subdivision. We cleaned, marked, and recorded 34 storm drains. In addition, we hung 82 bags of educational materials on the mailboxes of the homes along the way. All of these storm drains lead into the Little Noonday Creek watershed.

The HomeSchool students were VERY excited to do a project that helps protect Little Noonday. They would like to go back and mark storm drains along the roads that we missed. We could do more storm drain marking Thursday, April 18th, either 9:00 to 11:00am or 3:15 to 5:15pm. Which is better for each of you? I would need two parents to be with us again to serve as small group leaders so we can split into three groups.

I hope you had a relaxing and adventurous spring break. I flew to Dallas to help my little sister Stacey. She had surgery on her foot  and will be in a boot for 5 weeks. I am her nurse, chauffeur, and egg collector (she raises chickens) for the first week! 

This week, we will begin our study of mammals. We'll have our last Creature Feature on Thursday: a Cobb County bomb dog!

Mark your calendar with these special events:

Saturday, March 30th, 8:30-9:30pm: Earth Hour

Tuesday, April 9th, 3:30-5:00pm: Girl Scouts storm drain marking, in the neighborhood the school

Thursday, April 11th, 10:15-11:00am: Cobb County bomb dog Creature Feature

Saturday, April 13th, 10:00am-2:00pm: Springtide Festival (I'll need some older kids help me teach younger kids how to build fairy houses, near the retention pond black fence.)

Thursday, April 18th, 9:00-11:00am OR 3:15-5:15pm: Storm Drain Marking, Part II for HomeSchool students

Tuesday, April 23rd, 6:00-9:00pm: Girl Scouts frog monitoring on Noonday Creek Trail, near Cobb Parkway (Sunset is at 8:15pm.)

Tuesday, April 30th: Receive take-home project on mammals

Tursday, May 2nd, 9:00am-3:00pm: HomeSchool field trip to TELLUS Museum and Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville

Friday, May 3rd: Grand Friends Tea and Maypole Dance

Tuesday, May 7th, 3:30-5:00pm: Girl Scouts caving basics, at the school

Thursday, May 9th: Birthday celebration for Ollie

Saturday, May 11th, 10:30am-12:30pm: Hiking with Prancer at Pettit Environmental Preserve

Tuesday, May 14th: Mammal take-home project due, class presentations

Tuesday, May 14th: Water quality monitoring of Little Noonday Creek, Elsu, Helene, & Ollie

Thursday, May 16th: Last day of school

Thursday, May 23rd, 8:00-9:15pm: Older Girl Scouts sunset frog walk on Noonday Creek Trail, near Cobb Parkway

Monday, May 27th-Friday, May 31st: 1st week of Summer Camp at The Garden School

Tuesday, May 28th-Thursday, May 30th: Girl Scouts camping and caving trip, Nickajack Lake and Cumberland Caverns

Monday, June 3rd-Friday, June 7th: 2nd week of Summer Camp at The Garden School

Quote from a child: "I didn't stat crying because I knew I could do it. I'm a lot stronger than I look!"

Quote from Stacia Tauscher: "We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."

See you after the break,

Ki Sonya

Upper Grades: March 25 - 29

The Upper Grades class thanks the local entrepreneurs who visited our class last week to share about their business successes and setbacks and help our students explore their own entrepreneurial potential. We heard from A Good Gut Feeling about the delicious and healthful foods they create, from Anvil 8 about designing board games that people want to play again and again, from Rocking Bed about building new systems of manufacture, and from Clover & Birch about making wooden toys! This week we're turning our attention to Ancient Mexico with a special block from Don Andres.

Middle Grades: March 25 - 29

Welcome back. I hope everyone had a safe and restful Spring Break. We are well into our play block. Mark your calendars for Thursday, April 25, 6:30.  The Lower and Middle Grades will be telling the story of Joseph and his brothers. I hope to see everyone Saturday at the Springtide Festival. 

Have a great week!!

Lower Grades: March 25 - 29

The Lower Grades enjoyed our first week of the Play/Language Arts block. We spent time each morning practicing for our play that will be April 25 at 6:30pm in the church’s sanctuary. The children have their various roles and are all the learning songs. We played dramatic acting games and worked on memorizing the extensive list of colors in Joseph’s technicolor dream coat. For Language Arts we read, drew and wrote about the fairy, Tiptoes Lightly, and the Barefoot giant. We learned about “ing” and revisited “Magic e” (silent e).  

The weather was lovely and we spent a lot of time outside. The children worked in the garden and explored the wetlands with Ki Sonya. In Handwork, we are working on pot holders and hats with rounded tips that work on our skills with decreasing. We also painted a spring tree and practice drawing rabbits to celebrate spring’s arrival. Spanish and Mandarin are both moving along happily and busily. 

Spring Break should be a fun and, hopefully, relaxing time for all! Once we return, we will continue with our Play and Language Arts block. If the weather is staying warm, we will also resume water play in and around the creek. Please help your child come ready to change their clothes as needed! 

Enjoy! 

Warmly, 

Ki Melissa 

Meadowgarten: March 25 - 29

Greetings Meadowgarten Families!

 We hope that everyone had a restful and rejuvenating Spring Break.  It is hard to believe that spring time is already upon us.  The Meadowgarteners have enjoyed observing the signs of spring, such as flowers blooming, birds chirping, turtles basking in sun on logs in the pond, ducks returning to the wetlands, and dandelions and onion grass sprouting everywhere!  

The week before Spring Break was yet another week with wintery mornings and warm afternoons.  We practiced nailing some nails into boards of wood.  The children greatly enjoyed this.  We will keep practicing our hammering skills so that we can work toward a craft involving nails and wood and also to help the upper graders frame out the tree house in the forest. 

We are continuing to work on our finger knitting skills and it is so exciting to see many of the children really getting the hang of it!  They are working very hard and several students have already made bracelets and necklaces.  

On Thursday, our Joyful Beginnings friends met us in the forest for our soup snack.  We look forward to having snack with them every Thursday for the rest of the school year!  Lunch time has also been fun, as we continue to eat outside in the meadow. 

 We will be adding a new song to our Morning Circle when we return from break.  We are looking forward to seeing all of the students bright and early Monday morning!  

Kindly,

Ki Amy and Ki Holly  

Mountingarten: March 25 - 29

Dear Mountaingarten families,

Warm spring greetings! We hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing spring break. We are happy to have the children back and swing  into our spring rythm!

We have a couple of new Spring songs to introduce and we are excited to see what has grown in the garden while we’ve been away. 

The week before spring break went very smoothly, we said good bye to the last of our chilly mornings and enjoyed the warming days. 

The children listened to a story about a brother and sister who went for an adventure at night in a makeshift raft, got stranded in the middle of the lake, and were rescued by a family of lightning bugs, a little bird, and a friendly alligator. 

We celebrated Ezra and Lounes’s sixth birthday. We enjoyed hearing their stories growing up together as well as the delicious berries with coconut cream- thank you Christine! 

There’s already been mosquito sitings so please start spraying the children with repellent before they come to school. 

Thank you, 

Ki Fatima & Ki Aja 

Joyful Beginnings: March 25 - 29

Welcome back from the Spring Break! We are entering the last stretch of the school. Kids have only six weeks left until the school ends and summer starts.

Looking outside the window this Sunday, it is hard to imagine that just before Spring Break the weather was still cold in the morning and that kids were often walking through the mud to the playgrounds. We even made mud cakes.

Kids were painting using red color and yellow color. We mixed them together to see how it forms various shades of orange.

In the second part of the week Ki Ieva left for trip to visit her family back in Latvia and Sweden. Now she is back full of energy and surprised by the warm weather lush with blooming flowers that received her back in Atlanta. She is excited to take kids to our garden to see what has been happening there.

HomeSchool: March 18 - 22

Hi!

We had a wonderful morning at Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground. It started off cold but warmed up quickly. There was lots of sunshine and so many daffodils! We hiked the trails and climbed on the mulch pile and rolled down the hill at the great lawn and explored the lily ponds and enjoyed the many sculptures throughout the gardens. Our favorite place to sit was definitely the swimming pool with its many waterfalls and flower beds. Thanks to all the parents who helped. It was delightful to have all the little brothers and sisters join us too!

This Tuesday we will learn about the bp oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. We will try an activity that involves cleaning oil from feathers. We will do the monthly water quality monitoring on Little Noonday Creek.

Garden Girls Girl Scouts will meet Tuesday at 3:30pm in the neighborhood behind the school for our storm drain marking community service project. To get there, turn right out of our driveway onto Canton Road heading north. Turn right onto Ebenezer Road. Turn right onto Hadley Farm Drive. Turn right into the first culdysac, Croy Court. We will divide into three small groups led by Ellie, Elsu, and Nola. I'll work with one group. Kenny will work with a group. And we need one more parent to help with the third group. You will need to install a locator app on your smart phone before we begin (you can remove it afterward). Parents need to bring their Girl Scout to this neighborhood and stay until we are finished or arrange for a ride with another Girl Scout parent. I'll send out a Girl Scout email with more details.

On Thursday, HomeSchool students will mark the storm drains in the next neighborhood. We will meet at 9:00am. To get to this neighborhood, turn right out of the school/church driveway onto Canton Road. Turn right onto Ebenezer Road. Cross over the railroad tracks and turn right onto Bellair Drive. Turn left into the first culdysac, Debonair Drive and park there. You will need to drive your child there or arrange with another HomeSchool parent to transport your child. I will be able to take Elsu, Bear, and Mike in my car because it is such a short distance. Caitlyn: Debbie can transport Lucan if you will install his car seat in her car before you leave. You'll need to meet her at the school at 8:40am. I will need two HomeSchool parents to help me by installing the locator app on their smart phones and walking around a loop within the neighborhood with a group of 3 students, recording the storm drains. I will train the whole group before we begin! We'll return to the school in time for lunch and Creekcess.

On Saturday, March 30th, people around the world will participate in the annual Earth Hour. It takes place from 8:30 to 9:30pm local time. During that hour, we ask that you turn off all lights in your home (including porch lights and other exterior lights if you can control them). You may use candlelight or flashlights. Also turn off or refrain from using as many other electrical appliances (stove, television, dryer, etc.) as possible during Earth Hour. The drop in energy use is significant, and you can see the earth darkening from space as Earth Hour moves around the globe.

Quote from a child: "I didn't know there was such a thing as a waterfall and now it is my favorite thing in nature."

Quote from Wilfred Peterson: "Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world a better place than you found it."

See you soon,

Ki Sonya

Upper Grades: March 18 - 22

Last week, the Upper Grades class attended Pentathlon practice with the fifth grade class at The Waldorf School of Atlanta. The movement teacher at WSA Mr. Moreno spent the morning working with our class on the motions and intentions for each event. He also gave them an overview of the agenda for the three day event and answered any questions we had about what to expect. Our students enjoyed interacting with the other fifth graders and excitement is building to attend the Pentathlon in April. We will be going back to WSA this Tuesday, 3/26 for more practice and again after we return from spring break. 

Middle Grades: March 18 - 22

This week we will begin the new block for the Spring Play, which will be presented on Thursday, April 25, at 6:30 p m .  We will also be concentrating on math functions and will try once more to finish our bricks. Tomorrow we are dying fabric with mud, which we will use for the costumes of the 11 brothers of Joseph. If you sew, and can help sew them, please contact me. They will be ready to sew by the end of the week, and we will need them by April 20th.   The spelling list is shorter than usual, but we will still have the quiz on Monday when we return. 

Have a wonderful Spring Break!!

Lower Grades: March 18 - 22

The Lower Grades completed their last math block for the school year. We spent time with each of the four operations practicing and memorizing math facts. We also painted wooden pegs for our math gnomes and the children sewed felt hats and capes for them which they brought home on Friday.  Any unfinished gnomes went home with the needed supplies to complete them with the exception of a sewing needle.  The students used the blanket stitch to edge the cloak(s) and hats.  They worked very diligently and with great pride and delight on this project. Many children improved their sewing skills dramatically as well, as we worked on slowing down and/or improving our stitch consistency working on making even, thoughtful stitches. 

Our next block, led by Ki Kathee, focuses on our upcoming performance with the Middle Grades of Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.  Our performance will be held Thursday, April 25th at 6:30 in the sanctuary (where we hold our First Friday assemblies).  During this block the children will spending time daily practicing their roles, lines and songs and also working on costumes and props.  We will also work on our language skills through stories and writing and continue to practice our developing math skills during the school day.  

This past week we again painted mountain scenes while wet-on-wet painting and also practiced drawing rabbits in a field with block crayons with great success.  We enjoyed our outside play while gardening and nature exploring where they made sun prints with Ki Sonya.  Handwork continues to be a favorite class.  In Mandarin, the children finished papers of practice strokes for Chinese characters and continued learning Spanish through various games and songs.

Warmly,
Ki Melissa

Meadowgarten: March 18 - 22

Greetings Meadowgarten Families!

Last week in the Meadowgarten, we enjoyed brisk mornings with fires and warm afternoons where jackets were shed and students actually complained it was “toooooo hot!” Toward the end of the week, some of the puddles and mud finally started to dry out in the forest. We spent about half our outside time in the forest and the other half in the garden.  The students are looking forward to helping the Upper Graders with the tree house project in the forest, which was started this week.  In the garden, students continue to excavate the soil looking for buried treasures.  The students have really enjoyed spending more time with our animal friends.

Typically, when we are in the forest our rule is “dry play” so that our Meadowgarteners can stay dry and warm throughout our morning time outside.  However, one morning was particularly warm and students found themselves migrating toward the large puddle at the bottom of the forest and when we saw how much fun they were having jumping in the puddle, we lifted the rule and encouraged wet play. And they had a muddy, wet BLAST! 

We are starting to learn numbers in Mandarin with Ki Cerena.  We enjoyed Mandarin out in the garden this week with the donkeys and goats as our backdrop.  After Mandarin, the students devoured Ki Holly’s Famous Bread, as one of our students coined it, and huge, tasty oranges.  

We are looking forward to some basic work with hammers next week out in the forest and we will also start kneading some dough! We have asked the Joyful Beginnings class to join us on Thursdays for soup starting next week.   

Even though the forest is starting to dry out, there is still a large amount of mud so please continue to send waterproof boots and a change of shoes.

Kindly,

Ki Amy and Ki Holly 

Mountaingarten: March 18 - 22

Dear Mountaingarten families,

Last week we experienced some chilly mornings again but warmed up by the fire and by the afternoon shed our layers and enjoyed the warm Spring sun. 

The children have been thoroughly enjoying foreign language. They are now learning the numbers in Mandarin and have picked it up very fast! 

We were excited to see the sprouts from our tomato seeds and the newly blossomed daffodils and tulips in the garden. 

We saw some interesting objects during show and tell including a beautiful drawing of a giraffe, a special stick, crystals, and one of our children’s first tooth that had fallen out! 

On Friday we made our pizza together and had a pizza feast. Outside we enjoyed chamomile tea. 

May all be well.

Warmly,

Ki Fatimah and Ki Aja 

Joyful Beginnings: March 18 - 22

We continued our bread making practice. This has become our favorite activity in the week. Everyone loves to work with the dough. It is a simple recipe with few ingredients. We use masa harina, water, salt and a little bit of oil to mix them all together. Kids knead the dough to get a consistency similar to playdough. Then we bake them in the oven. We dip our freshly baked cornbread into hummus and enjoy our snack.

In our painting time, we continued to use blue and yellow colors. Kids started to learn about the green color. We mixed our blue and yellow to get to the green. We discussed how blue sky and yellow sun can combine into green grass. Another day we used beeswax to make a rainbow.

The warmer weather starts to do wonders in our garden. We had our first flowers blooming. The kids were finally able to see the results of seeds and bulbs that we planted earlier in the school year.

We had another visitor in our class. He joined our class on Friday and spent a day with us. He played with our kids and kindergarten kids as well.

Ki Ieva is traveling to Latvia to visit her mom and sister who is getting married. She will be out next week from Wednesday. Ki Ieva will be back after spring break.

HomeSchool: March 11 - 15

Howdy everyone!


Signs of spring are everywhere and we are enjoying more outdoor time at The Garden School. HomeSchool students gave their bird migration presentations and practiced tracing bird migration flyways on a world map and the class globe. Our champion migrator was Ollie's bird, the arctic tern, which travels up to 25,000 miles each year from its Arctic breeding grounds to Antarctica and back again. We drew birds using colored chalks. We learned how to use a compass, played compass basketball, and followed our compasses on a scavenger hunt through the forest. We took a close look at a goose egg and visited with a tiny turtle and an anole. We ate lunch on Kindy Beach and played in the creek, although the water is still a little cool.


This Tuesday, March 19th, HomeSchool will meet at Gibbs Gardens for a field trip at 9:00am. Gibbs Gardens is located at 1987 Gibbs Drive in Ball Ground, 35 miles and 45 minutes north of The Garden School. We will hike through the daffodils, 20 million daffodils in full bloom this time of the year, and tour the gardens. Gibbs has the largest display of daffodils in the nation. 


Parents should plan to come with us or arrange to have their child ride with another parent. Cost is $20.00 for adults and $10.00 for children. Siblings are welcome to join us. No pets are allowed. No food or drinks are allowed except for water bottles. They have an Arbor Cafe in the gardens, and restrooms in two locations.
Please be on time. There may be a line of cars at the entrance when you arrive. Go through the entrance and meet me in the parking lot. Text me when you arrive. We will be at the gardens from 9:00 to 12:00pm. We will not eat lunch as a group. I'll return to the school so I can help with afternoon programs there. I'm not able to transport students in my car that distance. You are welcome to stay at the gardens longer or to head home instead of returning to the school.

On Thursday, March 28th, we'll have our second field trip...to the neighborhood behind the school. That's right. We are going to place Watershed Stewardship frog markers on each of the storm drains in the neighborhood, and hang bags of educational materials on doorknobs or mailboxes of the houses along the way. We hope to educate residents that nothing but water should go down the storm drains (no plastic bags, no leaves, no grass clippings, no pet waste, no charcoals from the BBQ grill). Everything that washes into these storm drains finds its way into our Little Noonday Creek and beyond.

Meet me in the neighborhood at 9:00am on the 28th. Students should wear tennis shoes, not rubber boots. To get there, take a right out of the church/school and head north on Canton Road. Take the first right onto Ebenezer Road. Cross the railroad tracks. Take the next right onto Bellair Drive. Turn left onto Debonair Drive. We will meet in that culdysac. We will be marking storm drains from 9:00am to 11:30am. We ask that parents stay for that time. If you have a conflict that day, you may arrange with another HomeSchool parent to transport your child both ways. We will arrive back to the school by 12:00pm in time for recess and lunch.

Ki Kate will be with the students on March 21st. I'm going to Mobile for my niece's wedding.

Quote from a child: "If I was a turtle, I would not want to be a tiny turtle. The crows would be looking at me with dinner on their mind."

Quote from Unknown: "If your ship does't come in, swim out to meet it."

See you amongst the daffodils!

Ki Sonya

From The Week of March 4 - 8:

Hi HomeSchool families!

On Tuesday, we learned about Mardi Gras and celebrated with Mardi Gras coins from different years and mango chocolate chip bread. We learned about Great Blue Herons and met Perdido, the Great Blue Heron puppet. Ki Sonya told us a story about her encounter with a Great Blue Heron and we worked together to build a heron nest, complete with three huge sky blue eggs. We learned about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, which was thought to be extinct before a few were found in the swamps of Louisiana and Arkansas. We drew herons and woodpeckers. We covered the terms extinct, endangered, threatened, and species of special concern.

On Thursday, We celebrated Elsu's 12th birthday. Elsu and her friend Gabby made brownies for everyone. Elsu received a rock (blue geode), a feather (from an emu), a shell (shark eye moon snail), and a treasure (a bracelet made from snake vertebrae). We tied kite string to our painted duck decoys and floated them in the pond to see if we could attract any ducks. We played Hidden Birds, hiding painted Cardinals, Bluebirds, and Goldfinches in the forests for others in the group to find. We discussed camouflage, why female birds are usually mutely colored, and why male birds are so brightly colored. We visited the farm animals and ate our lunches in the sunshine on the beaver marsh pier.

Next Tuesday each student will give their bird migration presentation. I'll have a world map and the class globe. They can use either (or both) to trace their bird's migration path.

On Thursday, we will learn about the bp oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. I had the honor of spending 5 weeks after the spill interviewing oil spill workers, shrimpers and fishermen, restaurant managers, and others who were affected by the spill. I collected samples from the water and beaches, took photos, and kayaked to barrier islands to check on nesting birds. We'll experiment to see which substance works best to clean oiled feathers.

The Garden Girls Girl Scouts will meet Tuesday the 12th, 3:30-5:00pm at the picnic tables. We will learn how to use maps and compasses. Each girl will receive patches for their participation in the following programs: creek cleanup, stargazing, cast iron cooking, tent pitching, cookie baking, bird feeders, leash decorating, and reading to rescued dogs.

Mark your calendars! These are the three dates I'm requesting for our HomeSchool field trips:

Tuesday, March 19th: Hiking through the daffodils at Gibb Gardens

Thursday, March 28th: Storm drain marking in the neighborhood behind the school

Thursday, May 2nd: TELLUS Science Museum and Booth Western Art Museum

I still cannot bend my left thumb, the one I injured when I fell hiking in the snow out west. I'll be going to the hand physical therapist the next three weeks to try to regain flexibility in it. Please add my thumb to your prayers!

Quote from a child:"The minute I saw it, I knew you would say that it was special. It was different from all the other things in nature."
Quote from Gustav Mahler: "The point is to not take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life, and to work unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause."

See you down the trail,

Ki Sony

Upper Grades: March 11 - 15

The Upper Grades' journey through ancient Greece finally comes to an end this week. We're looking forward to visiting the Waldorf School of Atlanta on Tuesday for a joint pentathlon training session, and as the week ends we're working hard to finish up work on the Greek Mythology card game we'll be publishing -- look for copies at Springtide!

Middle Grades: March 11 - 15

The rain is giving us a break!!!!!

We did not have the opportunity to do the Celtic fairy tale block last week, so we will be doing that this week along with chores in the garden and continuing to work on our brick making.  There will also be a lot of math practice.  Since the prediction is that we will have no rain, most of our mornings will be spent outside, so please help your children make wise decisions about what to wear.  There will still be a lot of mud, so boots or washable shoes are a plus.

Have a great week!