Leaves for my Tree Hunt

I left home extra early this morning, wearing these leaf earrings, a birthday present that my niece Marianne sent me from Alaska last summer, via my visiting daughter Kathe. Marianne and I share our birthday, July 3rd, and have enjoyed many joint celebrations over the years. This year, we exchanged earrings.

At 7:15 this morning I was hanging signs from 27 trees in preparation for my class's annual tree ID hunt.

An early morning stroll around my school's campus offers many joys, even when I'm scrambling with scissors and yarn and signs and most importantly a deadline: a list of other tasks to complete before the children arrive at 8:10. Our campus is beautiful, with wandering paths, spreading lawns, and hundreds of trees. I chose 27 species around the core buildings. Each child will adopt one tree for the year-- to sketch, to measure, to observe.

With the guidance of a 7th or 8th mentor, pairs of my 3rd graders followed a map around the campus in search of those 27 signs.

The joy of a hunt on a cool, crisp October morning.

Well worth arriving at school extra early.

And thanks to my niece Marianne, for the perfect earrings!