Books I am reading....

and totally inspired by

1) Letter to my daughter by Maya Angelou






2) Mother Power by Jacqueline Hornor Plumez





3) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

A Book Recommendation

We have really been enjoying the following series




The Lighthouse Family by Cynthia-Rylant. We have just read the first two.....The Storm, and The Whale next up The Eagle. Although they are intended as a early reader, the series also works as a read aloud.

Plannning ahead and someone I would like to meet

or maybe I should rename this post planning behind! for I am still not clear about Zoe's "homeschooling" plan for this year. I thought I had a plan.....continuing her exploration of letters and numbers steadily and gently. However, over the past few summer months I have noticed her change and become much more in her head. Whenever given paper and crayons she wants to write words or numbers, "mama how do you write ......." or "look mama what number is this 31. She can fill page after page with letters and when she gets tired of focussing she shifts to pretend letters. This isn't all bad. Her speech has progressed in leaps.....trying out new words, and sentences daily. But she spends less time daydreaming and much more time "figuring things out." I have noticed her less apt to draw a picture or make something. She seems more stressed out and fearful and for the first time ever is not wanting to leave my side.

She turns 5 in about a month, so she is officially still in preschool

Seeing this change i am thinking about more art, colorful handwork, storytelling, nature exploration, dance, drumming, music and an introduction to the fairy tales. We're going to put away the letters and numbers until Solstice and then re-evaluate.


I have been a fan of Byrd Baylor's books for a while.

The Way to Start a Day
She and illustrator Peter Parnall were awarded a Caldecott Honor for The Way to Start a Day in 1979. Written in free verse poetry, it tells how our ancestors, from the cave people to the Native Americans, greeted, praised and were blessed by the dawning of a new day.
Everybody needs a Rock
Here is my favorite page from this one
"Everybody needs a rock. I’m sorry for kids who don’t have a rock for a friend. I’m sorry for kids who only have TRICYCLES, BICYCLES, HORSES, ELEPHANTS, GOLDFISH, THREE-ROOM PLAYHOUSES, FIRE ENGINES, WIND-UP DRAGONS, AND THINGS LIKE THAT — if they don’t have a rock for a friend."
The Other Way to Listen
those are illustrated by Peter Parnall- super complimentary!
There is also When Clay Sings

are the ones I had already read......
and I just discovered a new favorite

I'm in Charge of Celebrations

I looked for a website and this is about all I can find

Naturalist Byrd Baylor celebrates her birthday on March 28th. Baylor lives and writes in Arizona, presenting images of the Southwest and an intense connection between the land and the people. Her prose illustrates vividly the value of simplicity, the natural world, and the balance of life within it.

and here is a picture of Byrd- Don't you want to meet her?



So our fall reading will include the above Byrd Baylor books as well as some Elsa Beskow "Christophers Harvest Time" and "Woody, Hazel and Little Pip"

I am also introducing some Fairy Tales beginning with Princess Stories



I think we'll also do a unit on the moon, memorize some poems as well as some seasonal crafts.

Lighthouses!

Most recently Zoe has been fascinated by Light Houses. While in Maine recently we saw Cape Neddick Lighthouse fondly known as as Nubble Lighthouse. Funnily, her beach towel that was given to her by a friend last year, which she is really attached to, pictures this lighthouse as well as dolphins swimming (another obsssion!)

(made on photo-notes)

I am thinking next month of an overnight camping trip to check out a few more New England Lighthouses (either Maine or Mass).


Here are some books we have from the library that we are enjoying....

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift and Lynd Ward
The Lighthouse Cat by by Sue Stainton and Anne Mortimer
The Sea Chest by Toni Buzzeo and Mary GrandPre
Birdie's Lighthouse by by Deborah Hopkinson (Author), Kimberly Bucklen Root (Illustrator)

I love trees!

Some trees are tree house trees, some are thinking-under trees, some are fairy house trees, there are climbig trees, shade trees, drawing trees, hugging trees, meditating upon trees, picnic-ing under trees, animal living in trees, playing hide and seek in trees...huge trees, and barely trees, scrawny trees and glorious trees...



Between Earthday on Tuesday, Arbor day today and the glorious April weather we have been blessed with we are spending lots of time outside.

There are so many ways that you can celebrate and honor trees. Our favorite is to take a tree walk a hike with the intention of finding a favorite tree. When either of us find one often we will stop and spend some time with "her" doing a bark rubbing, tracing/drawing the leaves, photographing, hugging, identifying and finally sitting up against her quietly to see if she has a message for us......often we will end our time together by me reading or telling Zoe a story. Out favorites for our tree walks are nature tales by Thornton Burgess.

There are so many kids books about trees, some fiction and some non. I am drawn to them all......there are the typical early science ones by Gail Gibbons or Bobbie Kalman but here are a few of our favorite with the reasons why!

Fiction:
- The Tree Farmer by Chuck Leavell (Author), Nicholas Cravotta (Author)
- The Old Tree by Ruth Brown: (A fun nature story with a great suprize at the end!)
- An Elm Tree and Three Sisters by Norma Sommerdorf (Author)
- Sarah's Willow by Friedrich Recknagel (Author), Maja Dus (Illustrator)
- Spirit of the Forest: Tree Tales from around the world by Eric Maddern (Author), et al. (Great campfire stories)

Art/Science:
- Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art- by Thomas Locker (Illustrator), Candace Christiansen (Author) (Beautiful Illustrations as we all expect from Thomas Locker)
- The Tree in the Ancient Forest by Carol Reed-Jones (beautiful lyrical story of life around an old-growth fir tree)

Non Fiction:
- Around the Oak by Gerda Muller
- My Favorite Tree: Terrific Trees of North America Diane Iverson (Kids sharing about their special tree....somewhat of a field guide)
- A Logs Life by Wendy Pfeffer (Lifecycle of trees)
- Exploring the Forest with Grandforest Tree by Joanne Dennee (Author), Julia Hand (Author), Carolyn Peduzzi (Illustrator) (Great homeschooling book! Like no other)

Guide Books:
- Trees, Leaves & Bark (Take-Along Guide) by Diane Burns

There are so many more....already I am thinking of a few more that I really like but I have to stop.....I'll have to gather up some of my favorite from my adult collection and share a list one of these days!

After a couple of season of doing these tree walks I have found that Zoe notices trees where ever we are, " Oh that would be a great tree house tree" or "look mama that tree needs a hug".

Another way to celebrate Arbor Day is to make tree cards for your special friends and family and include a few seeds and instructions for planting a tree. For a while now I have loved to give seeds and tree planting kits as childrens birthday gifts. I like to choose plants such as giant mamouth pumpkins, fatmama sunflowers or baby carrots as well as all kinds of gourds.

UNLESS

"UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not."

The Lorax Dr Seuss 1971



This month we have an unintentional theme going. As part of our weekly family movie nights we watched "Flipper" and the original "Dr Doolitle" (with Rex Harrison). This weekend while at the Odessey bookstore listening to this mama speak we read the book Prince William we are reading Dolphin Adventure by Wayne Grover.


I wanted to get Zoe a book to mark Earth Day and have recently browsed several great kids environmental awareness books....and believe me my wish list is long and growing by the day, one more here. I finally chose "The Lorax" now I am not really a Dr Seuss fan but this book seemed like the best match for us this Earth Day. I do not want Zoe to feel the burden of feeling responsible for the environmental crisis....I want her to first and foremost LOVE the Earth. Feel at peace when surrounded by her natural beauty. Marvel in her wondrous ways and thus become an advocate following her heart. I feel that the Lorax was fun to read while introducing some of the concepts of being a earth stewart (or in our house "Daughter of the Earth"-a term taken from the Cd by our friend ALisa Starkweather)

the moon- another book post!

Is the moon tired? she looks so pale
Within her misty veil:
She scales the sky from east to west,
And takes no rest.
Before the coming of the night
The moon shows papery white;
Before the dawning of the day
She fades away.

From Sing-Song by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)



Zoe has become very interested in the moon's journey. For a long time we have been marking the days and months by reading passages from the following books

A Child's Calender by John Updike
Around the Year by Elsa Maartman Beskow

Recently we have introduced these two
Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back, A Native American Year of Moons Joseph Bruchac and illustrations by Thomas Locker*
When the Moon is Full A lunar Year by Penny Pollack Ilustrated by the Mary Azarian*

* (these are favorite illutrators) i have been lusting over some of her prints and this book for a while now

Last night we looked at
The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn M. Branley (Author), Barbara & Ed Emberley (Illustrator) It is a Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2- Zoe really enjoys this introduction to science series.



More moon inspiration. Have you seen these? The are regulars we get from the library.
Walk When the Moon Is Full by Francis Hamerstrom
and Moon Journals: Writing, Art, and Inquiry Through Focused Nature Study by Gina Rester-Zodrow

I am also looking forward to reading this series of books by by Jean Craighead George in a year or two

Autumn Moon (Seasons of the Moon, Vol 1)
Winter Moon (Seasons of the Moon, Vol 2)
Spring Moon (Seasons of the Moon, Vol 3)
Summer Moon (Seasons of the Moon, Vol 4)

Also talking about the Moon we have really enjoyed listening to the "Moon" themed show over at HFVS (Hilltown Family Variety Show). There is also a great "Bird" themed show and "RoadTrip" show!

I think we'll plan some full moon circles this summer!

Little Signs that Spring is near

When we returned home 3 days ago I could see no signs of Spring. I had fully expected that the snow would all be gone and the grass would have begun its transformation from brown to green. I was sorely disappointed. The nature table still displayed our Queen winter, snow people and a blanket of snow. Zoe's book basket in her reading nook was filled with books about deep WInter life and our porch still loaded with Winter sporting goods. This had to be changed.

I decided that the Nature table was the place to begin the gentle transformation to Spring, a gentle reminder that it was time indeed....It is still a work in progress but here is the start...Mother Earth gently waking her sleeping (the story of the) Root children. Oh, how we love this book. Pure magic! I think it must be my all time favorite book.

Do you have an all time fav? Please share them in the comments section.




I am also working on this needle felted bulb baby that I got last year!

Next up was the book basket. It seems that Spring is the Season that we have fewest books for....Maybe because it always seems so short. These books are in the basket today

Spring Thaw (Hardcover)
by Steven Schnur (Author), Stacey Schuett (Illustrator)

Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Arthur Dorros. Zoe really enjoys this series of early science books.

Spring's Sprung by Lynn Plourde (Author), Greg Couch (Illustrator) Though I do not love this book anywhere near as much as Wild Child by the same authors.

Pelle's New Suit (Hardcover) by Elsa Beskow

What are your favorite Spring books?

We also have a bird basket but more about this one in a follow up post.


Another sign that Spring is close is that Zoe's adventure basket is ready sporting flashlights, compasses, a loupe, a variety magnifying glasses, binoculars. And her rainclothes are out and ready to be worn at a moments notice. "Mama I think my camera will need fresh batteries soon" she said as she packed up her basket. She is not the only one itching to be outside. I guess it is time for me to pack my adventure basket too.....field books, art supplies, journals and camera.

Summer plans

We get home in a few days..... I hear that it is still snowing! It is Spring here, poppies and cherry blossom, and best of all strawberry season. We get two strawberry seasons this year. How lucky are we!

I asked Zoe yesterday what she wants to do this summer.....

Bike riding
Take my clothes off
Go to the beach
Wear bathing suits all day
Go swimming
Picnics at the lake
Camp fires with songs and stories
Go Camping
Go to Maine
Playing outside all day
Playing in the mud (mud monsters!)
The festival (falcon ridge)
Ballet recital
Camp
Kayaking on the lake

I also have a few books that I want to introduce to her this Spring/Summer

The Tree Farmer by Chuck Leavell (Author), Nicholas Cravotta (Author) around Earth Day


Stories around the campfire/or camping:
Spirit of the Forest: Tree Tales From Around the World by Eric Maddern (Author), Helen East (Author), Alan Marks (Illustrator)

In a Circle Long Ago: A Treasury of Native Lore from North America: by Nancy Van Laan (Author)

Nature studies:
Among the Forest People (Yesterday's Classics) by Clara Dillingham Pierson (Author), F. C. Gordon (Illustrator)

Salamander Rain: A Lake and Pond Journal (Sharing Nature With Children Book) (Sharing Nature With Children Book)
by Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini (Illustrator)

and as an on-going chapter book relating to the marrionettes that we have seen on this trip

Pinnocchio Does anyone know of a good version? I was thinking of this version...The Authentic Story of Pinocchio of Tuscany

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Last week at the library Zoe picked out this movie from the kids section,
"I want to learn about Yaks"
"But Zoe it looks like that movies is about Camels"
" Yes I know let's get it, the Yak movie" as she hands me the Camel movie
"Oh Ok" I say as we go to check it out. The librarian tell us it is a good choice and that it is beautiful. I try to ask subtly whether it is too much for a four year old. Zoe responds " don't worry mum, it is not too scary for me !"

It is a subtitled movie (there is actually little conversation) set in Mongolia , the Gobi Desert, featuring a nomad community living in yurts. Following a difficult birth one of their camels has a rare white colt which she rejects (refuses to nurse). They call for a "healer" at a nearby town...................It is a great blend of documentary and fiction....a great choice to introduce children to different cultures, different homes, different foods and children around the world. Highly recommended.

Of course after we watched it we got out the map and the world puzzle and found the Gobi Desert. "that is really near 'bet (Tibet)" she says smiling.

Celebrating Losar

Presently *LOVING* Tenzin's Deer by Barbara Soros (Author), Danuta Mayer (Illustrator)

“May no harm come to us. May we love each other well. May we be kind to all the creatures of the earth.”

Who can resist a book with such a beautiful message!

Thursday was the Tibetan New Year (Losar) as well as the Chinese. These two important festivities rarely fall on the same day. Losar is the most important holiday in Tibet. We celebrated with some craft projects

creating sand mandalas




prayer flags






As you have probably read in this blog before we have a small library of kids books about Tibet, folk tales, fiction and non fiction. This week at night I have also been showing Zoe photos from this beautiful blog....especially the ones "women" "children"


Other than that we have been in awe of the winter beauty that has been surrounding us....spending time outside looking for animal tracks. building shelters, fires and taking photos and then coming inside and




snuggling on the couch and reading books and drinking hot cocoa,

Rainbow Crow by Nancy Van Laan
Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft
Big Tracks Little Tracks by Millicent E. Sels

planning our trip and finishing hand made gifts for our family in Europe (more about that soon).

and the winner is....

" holistic_earthmama " please email me your mailing address.....thanks


Snow Bears

We have really been enjoying the arctic illustrations Jan Bretts latest book "The Three Snow Bears" Today while we were out stacking wood here are some pictures of what the Littles were up to....




fishing, canoeing and plain arctic living......Brrrrr

45 mins later, dry and playing princesses in the warmth of our home

Mama's Loving......

Women of Courage by Katherine Kiviat (Author), Scott Heidler (Author)

Zoe's loving



365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental (Author), Joëlle Jolivet (Illustrator)


Next post = 200th post..........they'll be a give away!

Gingerbread Tornado

We were down in NJ visiting friends. It was everyones first Gingerbread house experience. She wanted NO assistance or instruction......so the Gingerbread Tornado hit.






And then the sugar high ...... oh it was disastrous.



At least fun was had making ginger bread cookies.



Now we are ready to make those great Martha Stewart gingerbread mobiles.

We have had a great time reading Holiday Books. Some old favorites and some new to us and some brand new books.....

"Winter's Gift" by Jane Monroe Donovan is our favorite new book so far this season. So heartwarming and gentle a tale and beautiful illustrations.

We have also enjoyed Jan Brett's The Three Snow Bears also new to us this year. We are Jan Brett fans! I love her artwork.

****I have been having trouble with blogger?? anyone else?? Photos not uploading? I have been trying for days to write this post***

Thankgiving Reading

Zoe:

Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World

Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message

The Legend of the Lady Slipper

Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed

We are also continuing with this super read.....
The Tales of Tiptoes Lightly: The Bee Who Lost His Buzz, Pumpkin Crow, Lucy Goose and the Half-Egg



Me:

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving

Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times

It's has been a while, I know. I have a good reason. My computer is dead awating ressurection. It will be a couple of weeks until it is back with me, so I'll just be popping in to say hi until I am back on track again.

But here is a summary of my week:


- Zoe began 3 days at her home school collaborative. She loves it. I love it too! For the first time in 4 years I have me time.

- Much apple polishing, apple picking, apple eating, apple printing, apple sauce making while learning about Johnny Appleseed. I told the story of the little curious boy on a search for a red house with no doors, no windows, 5 rooms inside and a star inside- what a captivated audience.

- Not enough cider drinking.

- Lots of peach eating. Season will soon be ending. Not ready for that yet. I should freeze some.

- Ate a huge sweet as can be, juicy locally grown pink watermelon!

- Too many dental appointments cause me to be grumpy.

- Super Elecampane Harvest. Syrup to follow.

- Bought "Doodle Stitching" by Aimee Ray for me and "Pumpkins" by Ken Robbins for Zoe

- Read "Christophers Harvest Time" by Elsa Beskow , "Little Red Riding Hood" retold by Andrea Wisnewski and "The Old Tree" by Ruth Brown

- Played with Milkweed and read "Milkweed DAYS" by Jane Yolan

- Unsucessfully tried to needle felt Milkweed!

- Am thoroughly enjoying these Indian Summer Days-my favorite season

- Started planning a birthday party (she's turning 4)

- Determined to grow an apple tree from seed

- Watched "Little House on the Prairie" with Zoe- I am in love with the apron dresses with the bloomers. I must learn to sew bloomers. Read Zoe some of the "my first little house books"

- Cut and pinned my first quilt (brown and pink) Pictured below in the early stages, it is much bigger now

-Cut and pinned a pinafore dress for Zoe's birthday

- Started reading Zoe "The Tales of Tiptoes Lightly: The Bee Who Lost His Buzz, Pumpkin Crow, Lucy Goose and the Half-Egg" by Reg Down, so sweet

-Made Zuccini muffins. Pumpkin muffins next up.

-Began making my napkins for the napkin swap

-Thought about our Fall nature table. We still have out summer holidays one up.

-Signed uo for my first craft show as a crafter and not an herbal products person!

Now for some photos:

A head scarf I made for Zoe a few weeks back loosely following an Amy Butler pattern. Using some "trefle" Japanese Fabric purchased from Superbuzzy. In process made a self discovery. I do not like to cut into fabric! I like to see it piled neatly on my shelf and day dream about the endless possibilities for it. Once a cut has been made the dream ends!



WIP

long summer days......


this week at the


zoe made "glittery fairy balm" coconut oil, beeswax, tangerine essential oil and glitter.....mucho glitter!



this summer i have found myself with little work......it has been many years since my schedule has been so wide open in the summer months. my first instinct is to panic....bills to pay, child to raise etc....often I've been waking up before z having to talk myself into breathing through the anxiety. I try to let go and to enjoy these long not so warm summer days, the only summer I'll spend have my 3 1/2 year old daughter , and how blessed am i to be able to spend everyday with her! watching her learn to swim, watching her come into herself as a little person, digging, playing..........and living in the most beautiful place i can imagine in the summer months! surrounded by such a great community! potlucks and playdates, farmers markets and community dinners....oh blessed am I.




With more time comes lots of time to think.....think about my impact on the planet, make some choices, work through sticking points, collect information, start practicing what I preach and teach!!! read about how others have done it. the most recent book is

Living the Good Life: How One Family Changed Their World from Their Own Backyard by Linda Cockburn

The premise is inspiring! A family of three in Australia deciding to strive for complete domestic sustainability. The Goal: For six months, the Cockburns wanted to grow, barter for, and make everything they ate; use exclusively solar power; collect rainwater for drinking, cleaning, and cooking; park the cars and turned to bicycles; and aimed to not spend a single dollar. Though there is much interesting factual/statistical information in the book I find the authors voice a little annoying.

Dreaming In Green


Many years ago when I was a new herbalist a friend and I dreamed up an herbal project. We named it Dreaming in Green. Though the project never came into fruition and Michelle and I have been out of touch for several years that name has always resonated in me.

My hopes and dreams have always been in "Green", or at least of a Greener, simpler way. As many of you know food activism has been a big part of my work over the years. I was updating some handouts for a class I am giving at the 20th Annual Women's Herbal Conference and I came across some fun links I thought I would share here......

Eat Wild
Blog: Low mileage Food
Food Routes

Eating local has always been near and dear to my heart. We are blessed to live in an area where this is possible. We get our milk (raw) straight from the farm. We make our yogurt and ice cream. We buy local cheeses. Fruit and veggies from our CSA and plentiful farmstands, bread from local bakeries (though the grain was not grown locally). Miso from down the road. Eggs from our neighbors. Meat (organic and free range from our local farms. Medicine and Spices from our garden. This is not to say we do not indulge and enjoy what town has to offer but we try to keep it local.

There are many challenges out there at present:





One Local Summer
100 mile diet



Start today: Save tomorrow! So I have decide to make a new environmental pledge every week for the rest of this year, that is 25 environemntal changes that my family will commit to this year. Starting NOW!

I pledge to:

- Choose tap water over bottled water whenever possible;

- Fill a reusable bottle with tap water;

- Support public funding for safe and affordable tap water

Take back the Tap

Please play along. Use my ideas. Share your own.........Let's be the change we want to see......

And on a complete side note check this out!!!


Oh my gosh inspiring !!!A low impact woodland home Way cool!!!

What we are up to......
MAMA Reads:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century

Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey--The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World

The Fourfold Path to Healing: Working with the Laws of Nutrition, Therapeutics, Movement and Meditation in the Art of Medicine

NEXT in line.....Foodwise: Understanding What We Eat and How It Affects Us : The Story of Human Nutrition

Zoe reads:

We just finished
The Complete Tales of Blackberry Farm

What a treat! We saw these stories at a friends house recently. I instantly fell in love with the sweet characters and illustrations. When looking them up due to cost ended up ordering this collection. All the animals Ernest Owl, Joe Robin, Mr and Mrs Nibble and their young bunnies Rosey, Posey and Christopher, Walter Duck, Little Martha the lamb and more are so sweet. Another great thing about this book is that the characters come to life and visit and live at our play farm! so it had led to hours of creative play. The stories are simple, 25 of them! The language is English (as opposed to American!) this was a plus for us having grown up in England reminiscent of my childhood.

A little warning as one or two of them are "old fashioned" a little politically incorrect! (mainly the adventures of Walter Duck) We just skip or update!

The Empty Pot

The Life and Times of the Honeybee

Belinda Bee's Busy Year

The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa

Do you see a theme? We are about to start a mini unit on bees.....we will do it with our homeschooling coop.

To Be . . . A Bee! A Bee Unit

Here is the Beehive
Here is the beehive. Where are the bees? 
(hold up fist)
Hidden away where nobody sees. 
(move other hand around fist)
Watch and you’ll see them come out of the hive
(bend head close to fist)
One, two, three, four, five. 
(hold fingers up one at a time)
Bzzzzzzzz… all fly away!
(wave fingers)

1.  There are thousands of different kinds of bees.  BEE FACT: A bee has five eyes: two large compound eyes on each side of its head and three smaller eyes on top of its head.

2.  They are found everywhere in the world except the North and South Poles.  

3.  Bees are the only insects that make food that humans eat, (honey).  Honey is a natural and healthy sweetener. How Much Honey? On a single flight, a honeybee can visit more than 1,000 flowers, drinking nectar with a tongue that resembles a drinking straw. When its "honey stomach" — which holds only one-eyedropper's worth of nectar — is full, the bee deposits the nectar into hive cells. Tell children that each bee produces about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

(Engage in a honey tasting activity or an easy recipe calling for honey as a main ingredient)

4.  Beeswax is used in making candles, and other products. (Make a salve/dipped candle)

5.  Bees live in large groups called colonies.

Siblings by Scent: Explain to children that honeybees of the same colony recognize their siblings by scent. When an unrelated bee tries to enter the hive, guard bees detect its foreign scent and sting it to death.

(Game to help understand how bees recognize one another, divide them into groups for this activity. First, gathersome cotton swabs and three clear food flavorings, such as peppermint, coconut, and lemon. Divide the cotton swabs into three groups, dip each group into a different flavoring, and randomly arrange the swabs on waxed paper. Have kids pick a cotton swab and form colonies (groups) by finding other "bees" with matching scented swabs. After they have identified their "bee siblings," share their experiences.)

BEE FACT: A bee smells, tastes, and feels with its two antennae. It also senses things with the hairs on its body and legs.

6.  Their dwellings (homes) are called hives. BEE FACT: A beehive is built with wax produced in special glands in the workers' abdomens.

7.  The leader of each hive is the queen.  She directs the activities of the other bees, the workers and the drones.  The queen bee lays up to 2,000 eggs per day to populate the hive. BEE FACT: Worker bees are female. They build the beehive and perform all the jobs necessary for the survival of the hive. Many people raise bees for the production of honey and wax or just as a hobby.

8.  The honey bee is important for the farming industry and natural settings in the process of pollination for the production of crops and growth of wild plants. 

Pollination: A bee traps pollen on its hairy legs as it gathers nectar from a flower blossom. When it visits another flower, pollen falls off the bee's legs and pollinates - or fertilizes - that flower. This cross-pollination allows plants to reproduce.

( To show how bees transport pollen, kids will make their own bees and cut out large flower shapes from construction paper. Sprinkle a thin coat of powdered paint in the center of the flowers, using a different color for each. Each paint color represents flower pollen. Children will be invited to gently land their bees on one flower center and then fly them to another. What happens as their bees move from flower to flower? Explain that real bees transport pollen in a similar fashion in order to cross-pollinate flowers in nature.)

Circle Dancing Directions
When a bee discovers a field of nectar-producing flowers, it communicates its find by dancing on the hive. A circle dance means that the flowers are nearby. A waggle dance, in which the bee wags its abdomen, indicates the flowers are far away. To further direct the colony, the dancing bee waggles in a straight line, to the left, or to the right. Invite children to communicate in a bee's language. First, write the names of different classroom objects on note cards, making sure the objects are visible to students. To play, group children into "colonies." Then secretly show one "bee" in each group the note card. Instruct that bee to perform circle and waggle dances to give its colony clues to the location of the mystery object. When a colony guesses the object, invite the dancing bee to fly to the object to confirm its location.



Zoe listens:

Uncle Wiggly

Mandy & The Magic Butterfly

Otherwise the big project is my office re-do.........finally picked the colors. Hopefully I'll paint this week!!!

A Rhode Island Birthday
Originally uploaded by HerbalT.

It's spring in Rhode Island! We left home this morning in ice and mist, spent the day in breezy warmth and returned tonight in snowy fog, Barely a sight of the Maple Sugar Moon! and no sign of the Lunar Eclipse.

Looking forward to this month of sugar shacks and maple goodness.

Here is a book list on Maple Sugaring for Pre Schoolers through elementary....

Sugar on Snow by Nan Parson Rossiter

Sugaring

Sugarbush Spring by Marsha Wilson Chall
GREAT ILLUSTRATIONS! My favorite!


Sugar Snow (My First Little House) (Paperback)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Sugaring Time by Kathryn Lasky
Black and white photos.

and one for older children

The Maple Syrup Book
by Marilyn Linton




Has anyone else discovered the Knee High Fundanas yet? Nature games on cotton bandanas, great to pack picnics in when going on nature walks.......