Friday, January 25, 2013

Depths of Light: Owl Investigations Class

"Coming down out of the freezing sky 
with its depths of light, 
like an angel, or a Buddha with wings," 

- Mary Oliver (White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field)

A cold winter night spent inside the warm nature center dissecting owl pellets, separating the small bones from the ball of undigested animal fur. 

My owl must have had a good night as I discovered three rodent skulls within my pellet. 
 

The wonderful naturalist, Ken Rosenthal took time with each child, helping them to identify the bones they found with those pictured on the anatomy charts he gave them.  He thoughtfully engaged them with interesting facts about their tiny treasures. 

Afterwards we took a night hike into the woods to listen for owls.  The wintry air was brisk, and the moonlight sparkled on the snow like some sort of ethereal glitter.  We did not hear any owls, but the crunch of our boots, the babbling brook and the sound of our breath was music just the same.

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posted by Wendy at 10:07 AM 2 comments

Monday, January 21, 2013

National Day of Service


"May You Be Blessed Into Usefulness." - Dalai Lama





We spent the afternoon wandering in the streams and woodlands of the county park behind our home, picking up trash.  We collected two large bags, the majority of which was sports drink bottles left behind by bikers and hikers.

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posted by Wendy at 6:52 AM 0 comments

Monday, January 14, 2013

Weekending

“If you never did you should.
These things are fun
and fun is good.” ― Dr. Seuss


There was Friday night Bingo at his school....













































 and a slackline on Saturday...























and a Pinewood Derby on Sunday...where he won first place in his pack and will be racing in the districts (second year in a row).  He's very excited.




























*In case you're wondering how the wee boy made such a cool Spongebob...we printed an image and colored the back with graphite to make our carbon paper.  He taped the image to the car and traced over the lines with a hard pencil to transfer it onto the car.  I demonstrated how to use the paint marker on one side of the car while he repeated the steps on the other side.  Then he used a paint marker to color in the details and make the outlines.  Paint markers give kids more control than a paint brush.  He decided to elongate the mouth to represent that the car is going so fast that it stretched Spongebob's head.  He had lots of practice because on our first attempt we finished the car with varnish and the paint bled so it had to be re-sanded and painted a second time.

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posted by Wendy at 5:30 AM 0 comments

Friday, January 11, 2013

And Then This Happened

“It is not half so important to know as to feel.” ― Rachel Carson



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Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Happy New Year




















(Blessings...and a bowl of Vegetarian Hoppin' John)


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posted by Wendy at 4:55 PM 0 comments