Environmental Superhero Project for February

Valentines

I gave a hundred Valentines.
A hundred, did I say?
I gave a thousand Valentines
one cold and wintry day.

I didn't put my name on them
or any other words,
because my Valentines were seeds
for February birds.

                                               Aileen Fisher

This afternoon, we set our sights on memorizing the above poem. Many of the children took the challenge, and now know it by heart. I think memorizing short (or long!) poems is an important (and largely lost) art today. More on that in a future blog entry. But definitely ask your child to try to recite today's poem - I wonder if they will be able?

Then we got into our Tribe family groups and worked on making valentines for the birds. I think we used a lot more than a thousand seeds. I'm hoping by tomorrow these will be ready to string, and then students are welcome to take theirs home to hang in the yard. The February birds should love them.

The recipe is as follows:

Mix 4 cups bird seed, 1/2 cup water, 3 T corn syrup, and 3/4 cup flour. It will be a gloppy mess. This is good. Smoosh the gloppy mess into heart-shaped cookie cutter shapes and poke a hole with a straw or similar object. Wait overnight so they will be hard enough to hold their shape. Sweep. A lot.