Our Sap Buckets
Photo by Amy LV
Students - It is healthy and good to make things. At the end of February. over at A Year of Reading, Franki posted a fantastic post about the power of making things as well as many things her school has done to "make things to make a difference." Any children, teachers, or parents who wish to instill a love of making and helping others should read this post. Teachers - if you teach a "how to" unit in writing, this would be a wonderful direction to take.
We are tapping a few sugar maples here in the yard! It certainly would not have happened if our son Henry had not gotten things going this afternoon. Our eight-year-old Henry found the sap buckets, cleaned the sap buckets, and tapped the trees. He was "the little red hen of syruping!" (But we hope he shares with us.)
It takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, so we won't have a lot of syrup, but we will boil a few jars full on a cinder block chimney fire in the yard, and oh will we enjoy those pancakes. Thank you, Henry!
This is not #9 in my series of poems about reading. Because Wednesday was Read Aloud Day, I wrote and posted Reading Aloud right on that day.
Students - It is healthy and good to make things. At the end of February. over at A Year of Reading, Franki posted a fantastic post about the power of making things as well as many things her school has done to "make things to make a difference." Any children, teachers, or parents who wish to instill a love of making and helping others should read this post. Teachers - if you teach a "how to" unit in writing, this would be a wonderful direction to take.
Franki also links to Amy Krouse Rosenthal's video 17 Things I Made. Don't miss it. This weekend I cannot wait to learn more about stitching together handmade books at the Western New York Book Arts Center. And in two weeks, this same center hosts International Edible Book Festival. This is the time to see if there your city or town celebrates edible books on April 1.
If you would like to learn about maple sugaring, head over to "How to Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup" posted by the University of Maine. And for a warm and funny post about the comparison between sugaring and parenting, do not miss Bill's Saturday post over at Daddled.
Liz is hosting Poetry Friday over at Liz in Ink today. Enjoy tapping everyone's posts for richness, wonder, humor, and beauty.
Countdown to National Poetry Month...20 days!
(Please click on POST A COMMENT to share a thought.)
I bought some maple syrup for my husband yesterday -- almost $9.00 for a small container.
ReplyDeleteCute poem to remind me how much he likes it. :)
Yay for maple syrup! I've always been fascinated by the process. And what a fun poem. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Amy! Nice mix of sweetness and inspiration to go out and make things. Hats off to Henry!
ReplyDeleteThe sound of this poem is quite delicious. And I love the image of the Little Red Hen of syrup. There is a whole picture book there: Little Red Henry...and everyone else is sooo tooo busy until PANCAKES!
ReplyDeletePS sorry I haven't been by. I hit a high tide of work to do.
Mmmmmmm -- maple syrup and pancakes and edible book festivals!
ReplyDelete*clap clap clapping*
So many wonderful (and delicious) things to take advantage of!
ReplyDeleteI love it that HENry was the "little red HEN" of maple tapping! Go, Henry! Take charge and make things happen!
ReplyDelete(great poem, too, as usual)
Hi syrup-loving friends! Henry got a smile out of your comments...many thanks! He got 5 gallons in his buckets on this Poetry Friday! A.
ReplyDeleteMMM. Your poem makes me hungry for New England! I love the sound of this poem-- can't wait to share it with kids.
ReplyDeleteCarol, Thank you so much! Happy pancaking! A.
ReplyDeleteToday, our second grade class went on a field trip to learn about maple sugaring. We shared this poem before our maple adventure. We loved the word lapping. I am still trying to convince my wife that it is acceptable for me to lick the syrup off my plate when the french toast is gone! (I don't lap in public.)
ReplyDelete