Green Hour Assignments #2 & #3

Evidence of Spring, even amidst the bare trees.


Robin's Come

From the elm-tree's topmost bough,
Hark! the Robin's early song!
Telling one and all that now
Merry spring-time hastes along;
Welcome tidings dost thou bring
Little harbinger of spring,
Robin's come!

Of the winter we are weary,
Weary of the frost and snow.
Longing for the sunshine cheery,
And the brooklet's gurgling flow;
Gladly then we hear thee sing
The reveille of spring,
Robin's come!

Ring it out o'er hill and plain,
Through the garden's lovely bowers,
Till the green leaves dance again,
Till the air is sweet with flowers!
Wake the cowslips by the rill,
Wake the yellow daffodil!
Robin's come!

William W. Caldwell

Assignments #2 and #3 have sort of blurred together, we walked around our yard and listened. We heard a woodpecker, cicada, birds singing and squirrels moving in the trees. The creek near our yard has a lot of run-off water flowing through it from all the rain from last week and we talked about why the water flows faster in some areas and slow in other areas. I saw a place where the water was making a sort of waterfall and before the kids saw it, I had them close their eyes and tell me what they heard. Camille said it sounded like running water, I told her to open her eyes and locate the sound.

We also identified areas where we think nests are being built the trees in our yard. We're going to observe these to see if they do become nests and whose home it'll be.



We also went back to our tree stump and investigated more. Before when we broke off a piece, we saw termites crawling for cover. Now the stump has turned into mud, ahem- termite poop. The red in the stump is loose and has the consistency of mud. Dh took the picture, I'm not usually in any photos because I'm the one taking the pictures.

Spring is right around the corner for us, the next few weeks will bring about a lot of change in our yard.