The Honey Bees :: Week 27

Twenty seven weeks of school! There is a little more than a month left of this year, and we are about to start talking about writing our class play and choosing a song to sing for you on the last day. This past week I’ve been thinking about the word “terroir” and the Appalachian spring. I think that even young children can develop a sense of place, and I love to cultivate that. I decided that I wanted to live in the Blue Ridge Mountains when I was eight years old, and I didn’t get here until I was nearly forty. Of course, terroir is generally thought to be about the flavor of foods grown in specific soil, but can’t we think the same way about young children? This week was the terroir of spring showers, warm days, and earthworms. Inside we are talking about eggs and chicks. We painted with spring blossom colors, made nests out of hay, and talked about how to take care of young chicks when they hatch. Our eggs will ship the week of the fifteenth… now…. and then we’ll countdown the 20-21 days until they hatch. I thought that while we are waiting we could learn about the life of the honey bee.

This week is our annual science expo if you keep up with the calendar. The younger preschool classes have a science focus or project each day, and I think we’ll talk a little about worms, seeds, and some painted lady caterpillars. We will learn to sing and sign a song about Science that you might hear at home. You are welcome to come by and check out some of our science ideas on Thursday or Friday, but it is a very informal focus… not a science fair or exhibition. Our focus will be on the changes that we see in spring.