Yesterday we had the pleasure of spending a (warm and muddy) winter day at Stratford. We continued the second part of the Messages From the Earth lessons from our fall visits.
We warmed our hands by the campfire and learned the process behind making maple syrup.
We practiced tapping maple trees ...
In the greenhouse we learned how we can alter our environment to make it more productive.
We made compost using leaves, kitchen waste, soil and water. We put the compost in a big pile and will get to see how it changes between now and our next visit in May.
When we got back to the classroom, we choose three words to describe our experience. Here are some of the students' reflections from the day...
Jess: Today we went to the awesome place called Stratford. We chose some words that best described our trip. My words were cows, mud, and water. I chose cows because all of the cows were mooooooooooooooing at us. I chose mud because we walked in it all day. Last but not least I chose water because around lunch time it started pouring. I had a great time at Stratford and I cant wait to go again in the spring!!!!!
Alex: I think that today was the better of the three field trips to Stratford. Today seemed more fun to me because I was able to go in the creek this time (I wore tennis shoes last time) and of course the syrup. Well anyways, the three words I picked were sugary, wet, and Gopher.
If you were on the field trip you probably don’t need an explanation of why I said sugary. I picked sugary because the maple syrup was, well you know, sugary. We even learned that sugar was created by photosynthesis and that mixes with water that the roots collect and it makes sap inside of the tree.
Wet is kind of self explanatory. First of all, I went walking through the creek in boots but the creek had a layer of ice under the water and when I stepped on the iceCRACK and my feet got soaked. It also rained a lot but luckily we were by the sugar shack so we didn’t get that wet.
Gopher is kind of harder to guess what it means. My group’s name is The Gophers (I’m not sure why) and this cat named Louie kept following us around the last time we were at Stratford so we called him Gopher (we are his namesakes). It’s to bad that he didn’t follow us around this time though.
Ariana: When we visited Stratford ecological center there were a lot of words to describe it.We had to choose three.
un-snowy
In the fall I looked forward to winter because I couldn’t wait to see the snow covering Stratford, but today, we didn’t have any snow!
moo
When we were playing magic spots in the hayloft the cows kept moooing and mooing and moooooing!
yuck
When we were making compost, was it just me or were there a lot of yucks flying around?
Ad: One of my words for Stratford was maple syrup I picked this word because we got to see how maple syrup was made. We got to taste real maple syrup which is really cool. And just seeing all the sap was awesome.The other word I picked was muddy. I picked muddy because the whole trip was super muddy. And the last word I picked was icy. I picked that word because We went to see the pond and was frozen. so we poked and stomped on it and I stomped on it and almost fell in the water covered my whole ankle.
Emma: This trip to Stratford was a lot of fun! My three words were creek, wet and fire. My first word, creek, was because our group had the opportunity to go creaking for our “magic spot/walk.” I noticed all the tiny rocks. They were all different shapes and sizes, and they were really cool. Part of the water was ice, which brings me to my next word, wet. I slipped on the ice and fell into the water.The water was ice cold, and the rest of Stratford was cold and wet, but fun. My last word is fire because we sat by the fire drinking cider at the end. That was fun, and the apple cider was very good and warm.
My favorite part of Stratford (which I cannot help telling) was when we were in the greenhouse, playing the game. Our group divided into two teams, boys on one side, girls on the other. Girls won! I had a great time at Stratford and I can’t wait until we go back in the spring.
Blake: I thought the winter trip was the best one of all because it was so muddy. One of my words was slippery. I picked slippery because all the water and muck was sticking to your shoes and it was slippery when you walked. Another one of my words was muddy. I picked muddy because at the end of the day we were covered. My last word was tasty. I chose tasty because the apple cider and maple syrup were tasty.
Aaralyn: I had a lot of fun at Stratford today. But the only parts I am going to tell are the ones that my words describe. I first picked sweet because we went to the sugar shack and got to see how sugar was made it was super cool. The sweet part was that I got a sample. It was the best most mouth watering delicious syrup I have ever tasted. Now why I choose the word green I choose that word because we went to the green house and we got to play a game the game went like this. So first there was this little wood path that went around in a circle and there were teams one person from each team would stand at one end at the circle as a game piece. Then each team would take turns spinning this wheel that had the numbers 1-4 on them what ever the number was that was how many steps the game piece could take. But our guide was giving the team a question and there game piece could only take the steps if there team mate got the question right. We also had time to sample things in the green room. I tried Cabbage and I ended up liking it. So now last but not least the word animals I choose that word because we went to the barn and got to visit some of the animals. My favorite one was the pigs I liked them because I just found them fascinating and when I petted them there fur per say it felt like wire. It was a weird texture.I had a very informational and fun day at Stratford and I can’t wait to go back in the Spring.
