. . . Not so much when the custodians are working hard throughout the summer to methodically shampoo carpets and clean every inch of Forest Trail.
     It's always time for celebration when the clean-up ends and the unstacking can begin.  Thanks to our hard working custodians, Annie, Albino and Karen, for their efforts!

     May is an exciting time at Forest Trail for students and teachers- especially for our graduating 5th graders.  We had a special moment at our adopted class tree and did some 'high fives' all around for a job well done.  It's been a pleasure to watch my/our 5th graders grow and change and become shining lights as they've blazed their individual trails.  I'm confident the class of 2021 will make everyone at Forest Trail very proud as they lead the way in middle school.  Well done, graduates. We salute you!

Web bear got the vacation of his little life when Riley and family took our class bear to England.  (WEB = Week End Bear- but in this case it was 10 ish glorious days abroad!)  In this photo Riley is being a fantastic tour guide as she makes sure WEB gets to check off visiting Westminster Abby from his bucket list.  When Riley and Web made it back to the USA and class, she reported  lots of fun adventures that she and Web shared in England.  Thanks to the Hooks family for securing Web's passport and adding one more little one to watch over during their very excellent adventure. 

     The class intently watched the eggs in our class incubator for 21 days.  Each new day a class member wrote the next number in the 'count-up' to get to day 21.  The anticipation was at a fever pitch by day 21 and we were all relieved and thankful when Mother Nature cooperated and our chicks hatched on schedule.   The class had a great time building a pen for them and observing all the things that baby chicks do :-)  We journaled about chick growth and development and cheered their milestones.  We thoroughly enjoyed being proud chick parents!

The end of the year insect learning was fascinating for the class as they entrenched themselves deeply into insect life cycles (think: Egg, Larvae, Pupa, Adult / replace adult with butterfly, ladybug, or whatever insect applies) and imagine the class enthusiastically belting out the life cycles stages in song.  We had fun releasing lady bugs into our garden and watching larvae make their metamorphosis from caterpillars to butterflies and then releasing them with shouts of 'Be free!'.  We observed praying mantis egg sacks and anticipated hatching hundreds of the tiny creatures, but alas, school ended before we could observe the miracle.  The class was totally protective of nature and our world and I say with pride that they are very good caretakers of the earth.