Winter Celebration 

The word winter evokes images of ice, snow and a ground crisp with frost. We bundle up, hunker down and balance braving the cold outside by creating cozy spaces indoors. It is a magical time of year where extremes in climate have forced humans together as they have struggled to endure the conditions. For thousands of years cultures that experience this period of dormancy have created traditions, rituals and belief systems that foster community and honor scarcity. In the absence  of warmth and light, humans have always found ways to create their own. 

Of course nature, ever a fickle collaborator, had other plans for our Winter Celebration. Blustery, gale force winds combined with balmy, humid air evoked an early spring storm rather than an austere winter day. Instead of singing our trees to sleep in a frigid wintry landscape, we raised our voices to  be heard over the boisterous, tepid wind. On top of that, nature's other trickster, cold and flu season, ensured that much of our community was unable to participate in our festivities. And so, we made the difficult decision to postpone our celebration. 

Tuesday we gathered on the snowy back field to honor the underlying principles behind our Wassailing tradition; celebrating community, creating joy and reverence of nature and its cycles. We certainly missed having our families and community members with us and hope that the pictures and videos below help you feel included in one of our most treasured traditions. 

Kid Gifts and Maple Candy

You probably noticed your child returned from school on Tuesday with some special items. Each year the teachers work together to prepare a gift that symbolizes our care and love for each child while also strengthening our links to curriculum. As we learn about dormancy, the winter solstice and cultural traditions that surround this time, light arose as an important theme. The teachers rolled and decorated beeswax candles so that your child could bring home some of the light we have been learning about. We hope your family has been able to come together and keep the light alive in your homes during the long nights. 

We also embraced a slight tweak to the filling of our piñata this year. Through our sugaring work over the years we have dabbled in candy-making. It has expanded our maple curriculum and the children have enjoyed learning about the chemistry of candy. It also has the benefit of being almost entirely allergen-free and in our case, sourced locally. So this year, the candy in the piñata was homemade from maple syrup. It served not only as the sweet treat we have come to expect at the end of a celebration, but also as a fond reminder of what our sugaring work will bring. 

Introducing, the Sugar Shack

While it seems that our curricular cup runneth over, we are delighted to announce the addition of a functioning Sugar Shack to the Randolph School maple sugaring program. Thanks to the help of countless people, including many parent volunteers(Keith MacLean, are your ears burning?) it is up and running and ready for when our trees wake up. This unique space will be dedicated to housing our sap production and creating a laboratory space where children and teachers can explore every nuance of the chemical and physical  properties at play when we transform raw sap into that magical elixir, maple syrup. Have you ever wondered how the Barometric pressure influences the exact boiling point of water or syrup?  Can you actually see or measure the trace mineral molecules that trees absorb from the soil as their sap starts rising? We've always said you can learn just about anything from maple sugaring, and with the Sugar Shack at our disposal we are better equipped than ever to make that true. It is an exciting development that was made possible by the generosity of our families, current and past, as well as donors. We are so grateful. 

Huzzah!