Sugar Maple Buds

Landmark 12 (Nearby Plants and Animals)

Yesterday, we ventured out to our favourite forest with magnifying glasses. After a brief lesson on how to use a magnifying glass effectively, we explored the Sugar Maple buds, to see if they’ve grown since last week, and then ran about the woods in small groups to examine bark, decaying logs, and leaves that were still hanging from a few of the beach (poplar?) trees. We marveled at the bright green moss, exclaimed when we found tunnels and spider webs within debris and asked about jagged holes on weathered leaves. Last week, we discovered a tiny sprout in the soil, so we tried to relocate it and see what it looked like, but unfortunately we couldn’t find it this week. One of the wooden bird box houses in a tree looked like the opening had grown bigger by what appeared to be the gnawing of teeth. Who might have done that? The joy and curiosity of my students as we bounded around the woods sharing our discoveries was so much fun–Spring is literally “abound!” I’m looking forward to learning more about the names of these trees and plants with my grade 3 team when our Naturalist comes into our class later this Spring.

St Catherine CES Gr 3 – April 1, 2022