March 16, 2022
Birds & Notebooks
Activities and opportunities to see and enjoy more around you – for yourself and/or your students.
View
The Kingfisher by Vincent Van Gogh. Tell about all you notice in this painting. What colors, textures, angles, lighting, etc. do you see?
Record
One of the many notebooks Mason recommends for students is a calendar of firsts (Home Education 54). Students record the first swallow, the first maple leaf sighted, the first snow, etc. in a notebook that perpetually gains more entries over the years. A fun activity for families, individuals, classes, etc., these notebooks are not only delightful and fun to keep but, accumulated over time, provide fascinating scientific data about the nature of a particular place (Why did the buttercups start blooming two weeks later that year?) and also instigate curiosity each year (when will the first tadpole with legs appear in 2023?). With so much changing or starting to change during the next few weeks, now is the perfect time to grab a journal and begin one for yourself (here’s one good option). Perhaps start with the birds!
Investigate
Read one or both of the articles on birds below and then go outside and see what new things you hear around you.
Listen
The Silver Swan Rag by Scott Joplin. Why do you think this rag is named “The Silver Swan”?
Read
Bare Tree and Little Wind: A Story for Holy Week. A beautiful book for the upcoming season, you’ll want to get your hands on a copy sometime in the next month. Also, we’re thrilled that the author, Mitali Perkins, will be giving the Eve Anderson Lecture at the CMI conference this year!
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What inspired you?
