Sunfield Inside Outside

 Cedar, Claire, Carter and Yani Dean show off Hellebores
 in our entry garden

Grandparents and Friends
June 19, 2012

As the school year ends, we present to you a glimpse of Ruth Mandelbaum Pope’s 3rd - 4th grade class. We also remind you that Sunfield is going to be alive this summer with expanded summer camp offerings. 

From pioneer cooking over an open fire, to making real felt hats from sheep fleece, to milking goats and tending sheep, to navigating with a good old fashioned map and compass, children aged 4-19 have a chance to learn real world skills and enjoy the magic of Sunfield at summer camp. 

Proceeds from our camps fund the Community Education Program, through which Sunfield hosts visiting public schools, developmentally disabled teens, and youth in addiction recovery. Please support these programs by treating your child or grandchild to camp for a week at Sunfield! Do you know of local grandparents hosting grandchildren, or out-of-town friends with grand/children who long to visit our peninsula? Please suggest that they make Sunfield Summer Camp part of their summer plans. 

Come for a week of camping or bed-and-breakfasting in Port Townsend while your grand/children enjoy Sunfield Summer Camps! Please visit our website www.sunfieldfarm.org for more info.

Threshing grain in the long barn
INSIDE THE 3rd- 4th Grade Class

Each morning the class greets the day through song, verse, dance and a warm-up math challenge. Then, with their hearts warmed, their minds sparked, and their hands energized, the class begins to study. Whatever the subject they are studying, they always are eager to learn and explore the material.

Last school year the class designed, prepared and planted a beautiful, circular, ancient grain garden. This process helped the children practice math skills, including multiplication, division, fractions and geometry. The Sunfield farmers helped us throughout the work and often added interesting information about soil, or asked challenging questions about planting. The class drew pictures of our plan for the garden and wrote what they learned about the seven grains that were planted.

This garden was planned so that grain would be ready in October of this school year for the Third Grade Ploughshare Jamboree. This was an overnight farm experience for third grade Waldorf classes from the Puget Sound area, and was attended by 97 students (21 from our class), 7 teachers, and 26 parent chaperones. The event was planned, coordinated, and led by Sunfield faculty and farmers. 

Jamboree visitors plow with Farmer Neil
The children watched sheep-shearing, harvested and hand processed grain, ploughed with draft horses, and learned  about different grain varieties from the garden we planted. Our class was proud to display their hard work and share their harvest. They helped gather the grain into bouquets that the visiting children took home with them. Later in the year, the class enjoyed the work of threshing the grain they had helped plant and harvest, gathering seeds to begin the cycle anew.

What’s a Virgule?
During this spring students learned about fractions. What is a fraction? Through story, art, manipulative activities and very traditional mathematical practice, they learned how to understand and work with a subject which, if not deeply understood, can lead to challenges in later mathematical learning. 

What is a virgule? Emphasis was also placed on the language of math. The class learned about equivalent fractions, proper and improper fractions, numerators and denominators. (A virgule, they found, is the line between the numerator and denominator).

Zoological Studies
In May, the class studied zoology. Through development of scientific observation skills, comparative physiology, poetry and art, the children took a journey into the animal kingdom. Having worked and played at Sunfield over the years, these children have already developed an excellent ability to observe animals and plants. Several times each week the class went outside to silently observe and record their observations of farm animals, birds and insects. A trip to the zoo allowed them to practice honing their skills of observation on a larger range of creatures. We recited poetry about eagles, elephants, tigers, and insects.
 
From his study of the peregrine falcon, Carter Swartout wrote, “They mainly eat other birds. When they see their prey they dive at high speeds to catch them. They make their talons into a fist and try to hit a vital spot on the prey’s body. If the dive fails, they may try to strike it from below or repeat the dive.”  And did you know that “their eyes are bigger than human eyes and can see prey from 5 miles away. The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest living thing on earth, diving at speeds of 175 mph. at prey.” (report cover on left)

Claire Jorgensen chose the honey bee for her study. She writes that “honey worker bees will visit up to 10,000 flowers in a single day, while a queen will lay up to 1,500 eggs daily…Bees have a special dance that helps them find food. If the bee doing the dance flies to the left, the other bees fly to the left of the sun.”

The quarter horse, according to Cedar Elliott, is a combination of 4 horse breeds and was bred for its strength and speed. The Pony Express used quarter horses to deliver the mail and cowboys used them because they had good “cow sense” when herding cattle. Cedar added that she took riding lessons on a quarter horse named Snickers. (see her report cover below)

And from the world of amphibians, Stella Jorgensen tells why she chose to research frogs.“I like frogs and find them an interesting amphibian…I hope to learn much more from this report and think I will.”  One area that Stella found amazing was the frog’s life cycle:
The male frogs have special vocal sacs for attracting female frogs in the spring. The male frog uses these vocal sacs to sing and if a female frog approves of his voice she will go and gently tap him on the back. Then the male frog will jump on the females back and massage her stomach. It encourages her to lay her eggs. After she lays her eggs the male frog fertilizes the eggs. It takes about 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch.”
Stella also shared with her readers that a bullfrog was once found with a baby alligator in its stomach.

Looking ahead
Next year, as the class becomes grade 4-5, a small sample of new areas of study include Norse Mythology, Native American culture (including participation in the Waldorf Schools’ potlatch on Whidbey Island and learning Native American crafts), a study of local geography, botany, and cross stitch embroidery.

Class parents have shown tremendous gratitude and support of their teacher, raising funds to help her obtain continuing education over the summer as she prepares for the exciting new school year ahead.

Jake Meyer
Organizational Director
http://www.sunfieldfarm.org/