Apples, Leaves, Cats, Bats, and Pumpkins...Oh My!  The October winds blew us right through a colorful array of curriculum.  We had some premature sleet and snow to contend with, but we simply turned the wild weather into a learning experience.

Apples:  Well, as many parents can attest, our cider was quite delicious and we enjoyed a great variety of "pomme" recipes, including crisp, pie and sauce.  We harvested from our own trees and supplemented with apples from a nice little orchard in Lakeville: Applewood.

Leaves:  The cool weather and handful of sunny days combined to produce some beautiful yellow ash leaves right on cue for our discovery and delight.  We hunted and collected and pressed leaves in all colors and sizes.  Some of the older children designed leaf faces and leaf people and preserved them in wax paper too.

Cats:  Our short week prior to the long weekend gave us a few days to host visiting families and their feline friends.  We got up close and personal with the most popular pet in the world.  A big thank you to Figaro, Skippy John Jones (Skippy, you live up to your name), Bacchus, Penny and their human family members-nothing beats first hand experiences.  We compared our cats to their wild MN cousins: lynx, bobcats and mountain lions.  We also met Rotten Ralph, Nicole Rubel's and Jack Ganto's devious creation; their books, including, "Rotten Ralph's Halloween Howl" are great fun. 

Bats:  We explored the contents of the Bell Museum Bat Box for an entire week.  We examined bat bones and stuffed bats.  We became Bat Biologists, "trapping" bats, weighing them and measuring them.  We had Q and A with Bart the Bat (a very friendly Big Brown) and we searched outside for likely bat hang outs and hibernaculums.

Pumpkins:  We read "Pumpkin Circle" and explored the life cycle of a pumpkin.  We tried hard to figure out how to get into a pumpkin, experimenting with a variety of tools and techniques; look for pictures of the "dissections" online soon.

In November:  We'll document our squirrels-in-residence, locating their nests, observing and mapping.  We'll also enjoy cooking harvest foods for a week, and take a closer look at the life of the wily wild Minnesota turkey.  We can't forget to clean up the gardens and put them to sleep for the winter.

ATTENTION: if you have any turkey items, including turkey calls, feathers, hunting dummies and so forth, we would love to borrow them right before Thanksgiving.  If you'd like to come in and demonstrate any of these items, even better!

Speaking of Spooky...the Bell Museum is hosting a fun post-Halloween event:

  Animal Haunts
Sunday, November 1, 2009, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Registration required; $6, $5 members
Pre-register a group of up to six people for $15

Don't put away your Halloween costume just yet-hear spine-tingling animal tales, have fun on a spooky flashlight tour of the museum's dioramas, make a climbing spider puppet, touch real live slimy and slithery animals, and eat a crunchy bug-with your choice of dipping sauces, of course.  Win prizes and enjoy many more tricks and treats.  Appropriate for children greades K-5.

http://www.bellmuseum.org/calendar.html

The Bell is also a great place to see lynx, bobcats, cougars and other interesting Minnesota critters.  The Touch and Feel room is a must.  The museum is free on Sundays (when there isn't a special event)

The staff of Country Day, despite an early snowfall and very chilly temps, enjoyed a great training with Jean Larson, head of Horticultural Therapy at the U, and Tanya Welsch of MN LIND>  Our subject was horticultural therapy in the classroom.  We explored meeting the needs of students with autism spectrum disorders and using animals in the classroom for therapy and enrichment.  The Arboretum is a great fall family destination.  Here are some links of interest.

http://www.mnlinc.org/
http://www.sustland.umn.edu/design/healinggardens.html
http://www.bachmans.com/tipsheets/general_gardening/HorticulturalTherapy.cfm
http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/sensorygarden.aspx

Happy Fall,
Marlais