|
Second Grade Outdoor Learning - Maple Tree Tapping
Our second graders, both in-person and remote, are tapping the maple trees at Fresh Pond! They began the process by greeting the tree, and with the help of Ranger Tim - they drilled into the trees and set up their collection buckets. The trees can produce a lot of sap during this period, so small groups head back to Fresh Pond each day to collect the sap. Back at school, they also have to begin the process of boiling down the sap - and storing it. Once they get enough, they can produce maple syrup. It's a sweet project! The students even spotted a Great Blue Heron on their journey (in picture below).
Thanks to Friends of Haggerty, who funded the bus transportation for some of our remote students to get to Fresh Pond!
   
 Nature Corner
By: Kathleen Fitzgerald
At this time last year, I was collecting buckets of sap from sugar maples at Fresh Pond with my daughter, her fellow second graders, teachers, and some other helpful parents. Just a few weeks before that, the kids had been gathered around tree trunks as I held a device called a “stemoscope” (a bluetooth stethoscope that could play audio through my phone) up to the bark so they could hear the staticky blurps and gurgles as the sap rushed through the xylem layer of the tree. One of my best and last memories from being at school before lockdown was watching their eyes open wide as they realized that in this quiet and deadened landscape, with the crunch of last year’s leaves under their feet, a secret and riotous symphony was hidden in a massive, silent, bare-branched tree.
This year, of course, feels utterly different. During this strange and challenging COVID winter, my family and I find ourselves in a sort of hibernation (perhaps yours does, too) - a state of suspended animation in which we try our best to put one foot in front of the other until something resembling spring comes back into our lives. I had been punishing myself for this, for being so unproductive and bending beneath the weight of recent challenges and worries (which are likely much less than other families’), until I picked up Katherine May’s lovely book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times last week. In it, she argues that winter, while difficult, is profoundly important as a model to all of us: in a season defined by harsh conditions, nature *requires* self-protection. (And could that object lesson be any more true than it is this year?) So for now, I’ve decided, it’s OK to embrace the quiet. Rest a bit more than we usually do. Allow ourselves time to be fallow. After all, we know the sap is rising. Soon enough, life will be filled with joyful noise again. Until then, all we have to do is wait. And listen.
Coach's Corner
 Do you wonder about the strategies students use to solve problems? This site, created by the Investigations curriculum, explains many ways students do math in school.
Click on your child’s grade level on the left side. Then choose something you are interested in learning about! There are short videos or slides about different math topics.
.jpg "Me and White Supremacy") White Caregivers Working Toward Anti-Racism
Please join us for a monthly affinity group for White Caregivers Working Toward Anti-Racism. The affinity group for White Caregivers Working Toward Anti-Racism is reading and learning from Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad.
Our next session will take place on Wednesday, March 3rd from 6:30-8PM.
If you would like to attend, please complete this Google Form by Wednesday 3/3 at 10AM.
Important Note: If you have already filled out the Google Form, you do NOT need to do so again.
In preparation for the session all participating caregivers should read the Week 2 (pp. 75-123) in Me and White Supremacy.
There will be reading to complete before each session, and we strongly encourage families to make a commitment to attend as many sessions as possible.
March 3rd, April 7th, May 19th
We hope to see you soon!
Anti-Racist Academy
Former Haggerty parent Meredith Moore recently founded Anti-Racist Academy, with the goal of supporting children to develop the commitment and tools to dismantle racism.
Anti-Racist Academy’s after-school clubs foster a healthy, anti-racist, racial identity, an understanding of racism, and a commitment to activism.
Registration is now open for the spring session, which starts in late March and runs for 10 weeks.
You can learn about the clubs on the website or email Meredith for more information.
Celebrating Black Awareness & Black History
 Students in Grade 3 both remote and in person classrooms spent the month of February studying important Black leaders, scientists, doctors, presidents, singers, artists, mathematicians and athletes as part of celebrating Black History. Students did a lot of research and have expressed appreciation and inspiration for these compelling stories. Students read, wrote, drew and used a variety of digital tools to design their final biography presentations. We had an exciting month sharing our knowledge about these incredible real life stories. Can you guess correctly? Try a few of our TRUE OR FALSE questions.
- Baseball legend Robert Clemente met Martin Luther King Jr.
TRUE or FALSE?
- Civil RIghts hero, Ruby Bridges is still alive today. TRUE or FALSE?
- Gabby Douglas was 10 years old when she started to practice gymnastics. TRUE or FALSE?
- Stevie Wonder made his first song in the 1960’s. TRUE or FALSE?
Above is a JAMBOARD infographic about George Washington Carver.
Culturally responsively yours,
Ms. Martin & Ms. Yusuf
Mental Health & General Health Resources
Movement/Physical Activity:
- Jump Rope Fun
Try this video from a gym teacher and progressively learn to get more skilled with a jump rope - anyone has a place to start with this video and jump rope skills they can learn! Watch here >>
- For extra fun, take Anna Banana: 101 jump-rope rhymes by Joanna Cole out from the Cambridge library. Learn a bunch of fun jump rope rhymes to go along with your physical fun!
Food, Nutrition & Home Gardening:
- Sounds in the Garden
Listen
and watch this 5-minute video from City Sprouts and you will listen to
garden sounds, try to guess what they might be, and then get a chance to
make the sound yourself! More details >>
- Cambridge Food Resources During COVID-19
This updated list
includes all the current places where residents can find free food
resources. This includes food pantries, community meals, school meals,
and meal delivery options!
Translations available in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Amharic and Mandarin (on the same Cambridge in Motion website).
Mental & Emotional Wellness:
- Free Calm.com Meditations
Check out this long list of free meditations (something for everyone) from Calm.com to help you and your family reduce stress!
Learn more >>
National Nutrition Month:
Lower Cost Healthy Eating!
Did you know that canned fruits, vegetables, and beans are just as healthy as fresh ones? Did you know that frozen fruits and vegetables are good for you, too? Canned and frozen foods are just as good for our bodies, taste great and last longer so you don’t have to worry about them going bad and wasting money! Buy canned vegetables that are low-sodium or have no added salt and canned fruits in light syrup or water for the healthiest options. Buy frozen fruits with no added sugars. Buy frozen vegetables that aren’t in sauces, which are likely to be high in salt and saturated fats. From your friends at Cambridge in Motion, a program of the Cambridge Public Health Department, in collaboration with CPS Food & Nutrition Services.
- Visit Central Square’s NEW low cost, non-profit grocery store The Daily Table where customers save an average of 30% on groceries. Everything
in the store is SNAP eligible. Customers paying with SNAP get an
additional 50% off fresh produce through the Double Up Food Bucks
Program, up to $10/day.
- Food Resources for Cambridge Residents (pantries, community meals, food box delivery options, school meals, meals on wheels, etc.) in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Amharic, and Mandarin.
Healthy Snack of the Week
Here's Cambridge in Motion's Healthy Snack of the Week: Sliced Hard Boiled Egg on Whole Grain Toast: Try spicing this up with a sprinkle of paprika, dill or basil!
|