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Downstairs:
Here at the Randolph School, our everyday experiences provide the environment within which learning occurs. In a project-based curriculum, each experience is a piece of the whole and, while the maple sugaring process was happening mainly outdoors, we were simultaneously exploring facets of the experience inside as well. Maple sugaring is an important example of our interdisciplinary curriculum in action. Each project or activity, short- or long-term, has skills interwoven from many of the domains. This creates a real-world experience, where learning happens in context. Humans learn best when they are active, engaged participants in constructing their own knowledge. Below is this year's story of maple sugaring, with road map stops incorporated along the way.
W1 I can express my ideas with drawings or words.
Maple sugaring is a year-round curriculum, with the most intensive portion of the process happening in the late winter and early spring. Children and teachers worked together in the fall to notice, identify, and label the sugar maples around campus with help from older friends who teach us to see the difference in tree buds and bark structure. We also used maple leaves in different ways, including our Leaf People stories, leaf rainbows, and leaf necklaces. In the winter we hauled wood chips for a cozy blanket on tree roots and decorated identified maples with beaded necklaces and strands of string to help us remember where they are when the ground is covered in snow. As we connected the maples' "sleep" with our own, we wondered about what maples dream of, which led us to creating dreamcatchers for our special tree, Love. When the temperature turns and it's freezing at night but warmer during the days we know it's time to begin tapping!
Continuing from our successful harvest last year, teachers noticed that the more time spent caring for and enjoying the maple trees, the larger quantity of sap collected and boiled into delicious syrup. We wanted to further test this new and developing theory with the already known information that young children are curious and kind beings to things in their daily lives.
SE6 I can demonstrate empathy for someone or something else.
S3 I can make a prediction based on what I observe.
SE2 I can be helpful.
The Fungi Friends were tasked with a very important job this year. We were given the opportunity to take care of a specific maple tree on our campus, Love. This tree sits on a very special spot right behind the amphitheater. This tree provides wonderful shade in the fall, spring and summer months but soaks up a lot of sunshine during the sugaring season. On occasion we snack or lunch nearby, and enjoy stories with our tree. Before we leave the children tend to give a gentle goodbye tap or hug and a "see you next time" as we continue on with our day.
Having a personal connection with one of the maple trees on campus translated into a different relationship with the maple trees as a group. As we thought about the trees sleeping or dreaming, human-like activities, we also wondering, "do maple trees have feelings?"
SE5 I can recognize and name feelings in others.
The first tree we were set to tap was one close to our playground space. evan led us in the process, which began with identifying sugar maples and measuring the trees. We looked closely at the terminal buds on the branches, to see which shape and color identified a tree as a sugar maple, from which we could harvest sap. Once a tree was identified, either from bud reading or a previously-identified tree marked with a ribbon, we had to measure the tree to see if it was big enough to tap. The size of a Fungi Friend's hug is about the right size for a tree that is big enough to tap! Each additional five inches makes a tree big enough for another bucket. Then we looked closely at the tree to see where taps had been placed in previous years, in order to place this year's tap. First we used the drill to make a pilot hole, cleaned it out, then hammered in a spile. Sometimes the sap started flowing right away, while other times the sap was slower to emerge. Either way, we added a bucket and then listened for drips. We also had several opportunities to explore and practice using the tapping tools on old stumps and logs around campus.
A4 I can demonstrate safe and proper procedures for using materials and tools.
We were excited to tap Love, as well, the tree that we have been caring for this year. We added two taps, one using an electric drill and one using a hand drill. Two small groups worked with evan on Tuesday and Thursday to tap additional trees, including adding a third bucket to Love! We have also had the chance to check sap buckets and empty the ones that were filling up. After less than 36 hours, we were surprised to collect about 2 1/2 gallons of sap from just one of Love's buckets!
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P I can build strength and stamina by using my core and gross motor muscles.
The days of sap bucket checking were filled with excitment and wonder! Which trees would have sap in their buckets? How much sap would we collect? We made estimates of how much sap it would take to fill one of Love's buckets. The Fungi Friends also started the school-wide Sap & Maple News, inspired by our daily Choice Time News for the school community to share their daily discoveries. After all the counting and collecting, it was time to transform the sap into syrup. We visited the evaporator, where we could see the process in action as well as learn the scientific explanation for what was happening from evan. Later, playing "the evaporator game" on the playground, we got to act out the actions of the sap and water molecules for a kinesthetic understanding of the science. The penultimate step in the process was finishing the syrup in the kitchen, getting it to the exact temperature, and straining the syrup. We got a close-up look as evan led the charge!
S1 I am curious about the world around me.
S2 I can gather information about my surroundings using my senses.
As the maple sugaring process was underway, we were exploring bits and pieces of that process with extension activities inside and outside. We truly immersed ourself in sap, maple syrup, and pancakes, including...
- hammering golf tees
- peeling, breaking, and melting crayons into maple leaves
- creating observational drawings of maple sugaring tools
- exploring different textures and states of matter in the sensory table
- asking questions and researching during Morning Meetings
- creating a collaborative maple-inspired collage
- painting with corn syrup to mimic maple syrup
- creating menus for our dramatic play restaurant
- spelling out different words related to the maple sugaring process
- reading books and telling stories related to maple sugaring, maple syrup , and pancakes
- setting up a "pancake restaurant"
P2 I am in control of my body when I am moving.
P I can use my fine motor muscles to manipulate objects, make marks, and perform self-help tasks.
A8 I can describe what an image represents.
S5 I can document what I observe using pictures and letters.
S2 I can gather information about my surroundings using my senses.
How many drips of sap will fill up one of Love's buckets?
M2 I can count to twenty or higher.
A3 I can engage in self-directed creative making and collaborative art making.
A5 I can create and tell about art that communicates a story.
W2 I can tell a story using drawings and words.
R1 I can recognize words and letters around me.
R2 I can retell a story I knkow or make up a story using my own words.
A1 I can engage in imaginative play with materials.
The final step was our favorite one of all: tasting! With all of our cooking and eating practice, the Fungi Friends were ready to taste and describe the maple syrup, which we tried on top of pancakes, in a practice run the week before Maple Fest. We also took the opportunity that week to revisit our maple sugaring journey as a community, sharing photographs and work samples with the students to document their thinking and reflections. In a spiral curriculum such as this, where students visit topics or subjects again and again over time, students can deepen their thinking and experience complexity as they come back to their learning with new insights and skills each year.
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