Why the evergreen trees keep their leaves: a winter tree and bird tale

This story is a great one for this time of year when most of the trees save the evergreens are in their skeletal form.  A little injured bird needs a place to stay, but no one  will help her. Spruce, pine, and juniper show her kindness and offer shelter,  and for that the Frost King rewards them in kind.

One day, a long, long time ago, it was very cold; winter was coming. And all the birds flew away to the warm south, to wait for the spring. But one little bird had a broken wing and could not fly. He did not know what to do. He looked all round, to see if there was any place where he could keep warm. And he saw the trees of the great forest.“Perhaps the trees will keep me warm through the winter,” he said.

So he went to the edge of the forest, hopping and fluttering with his broken wing. The first tree he came to was a slim silver birch.

“Beautiful birch-tree,” he said, “will you let me live in your warm branches until the springtime comes?”

“Dear me!” said the birch-tree, “what a thing to ask! I have to take care of my own leaves through the winter; that is enough for me. Go away.”

The little bird hopped and fluttered with his broken wing until he came to the next tree. It was a great, big oak-tree.

“O big oak-tree,” said the little bird, “will you let me live in your warm branches until the springtime comes?”

“Dear me,” said the oak-tree, “what a thing to ask! If you stay in my branches all winter you will be eating my acorns. Go away.”

So the little bird hopped and fluttered with his broken wing till he came to the willow-tree by the edge of the brook.

“O beautiful willow-tree,” said the little bird, “will you let me live in your warm branches until the springtime comes?”

“No, indeed,” said the willow-tree; “I never speak to strangers. Go away.”

The poor little bird did not know where to go; but he hopped and fluttered along with his broken wing. Presently the spruce-tree saw him, and said, “Where are you going, little bird?”

“I do not know,” said the bird; “the trees will not let me live with them, and my wing is broken so that I cannot fly.”

“You may live on one of my branches,” said the spruce; “here is the warmest one of all.”

“But may I stay all winter?”

“Yes,” said the spruce; “I shall like to have you.”

The pine-tree stood beside the spruce, and when he saw the little bird hopping and fluttering with his broken wing, he said, “My branches are not very warm, but I can keep the wind off because I am big and strong.”

So the little bird fluttered up into the warm branch of the spruce, and the pine-tree kept the wind off his house; then the juniper-tree saw what was going on, and said that she would give the little bird his dinner all the winter, from her branches. Juniper berries are very good for little birds.

The little bird was very comfortable in his warm nest sheltered from the wind, with juniper berries to eat.

The trees at the edge of the forest remarked upon it to each other:

“I wouldn’t take care of a strange bird,” said the birch.

“I wouldn’t risk my acorns,” said the oak.

“I would not speak to strangers,” said the willow. And the three trees stood up very tall and proud.

That night the North Wind came to the woods to play. He puffed at the leaves with his icy breath, and every leaf he touched fell to the ground. He wanted to touch every leaf in the forest, for he loved to see the trees bare.

“May I touch every leaf?” he said to his father, the Frost King.

“No,” said the Frost King, “the trees which were kind to the bird with the broken wing may keep their leaves.”

So North Wind had to leave them alone, and the spruce, the pine, and the juniper-tree kept their leaves through all the winter. And they have done so ever since.

(Adapted from Florence Holbrook’s A Book of Nature Myths. (Harrap & Co. 9d.))

from How to Tell Stories to Children, and Some Stories to Tell , by Sara Cone Bryant

 

making pine cone bird feeders

The air is cold, the worms are hid

for the robin what can be done?

Let us make some pine cone feeders

so he may eat until winter’s gone.

 

We are working on the lives of saints. This week I told the story of Saint Francis & the birds. We made some simple pine cone bird feeders with pine cones, peanut butter, and birdseed, and hung them in front of all of the windows so that we could see the birds. DD spent about half an hour today just watching the differnt birds who came to feast.  Most of you I’m sure have seen these before. If not all you do is smear the cone with the p-nut butter, and then roll in bird seed. I give my daughter all of the supplies on an old baking pan, and when we are done there is very little mess to clean up. She loves making these, and the birds love eating them.

 

 

Science block:rocks,minerals & soil – story, song, & verses

Today we started a new science lesson block. We will be studying minerals, rocks, & soil. This ties into us preparing the soil for our garden beds  which will soon be planted with early spring crops.  I used the verse Teaching Handwork  had posted for my chalkboard.  In the drawing I showed the 3 layers of soil; topsoil, subsoil, and bedrock. DD and I will talk about the layers later this week. During circle we sang the song Teaching Handwork put in the same post, but added 2 more verses we made up. You can find the lyrics at the end of this post. Teaching Handwork also has an audio clip of the song so that you can hear the melody. I love her blog.

I told dd the story of “The Stones” that came from a file of 12 nature stories by waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli. You can download them for free here. They are very useful in teaching science.  “The Stones”  is a story of 4 differnent types of rocks which represent the 3 kinds of rocks found on Earth: sedimentary, igneous, & metamorphic. I left out the part about limestone as I felt for us it was unessecary. For me it  streamlined the story & made it easier to tell.  We looked at many kinds of rocks & minerals and tried to classify them.  We ended our day with drawing and rock candy making. I will try to post that process here too.

 

 

 

 Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its off to the woods we …..Are
We’d like to stay but time is…Short
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its into caverns  ….. Deep
To find the stones we’ll…Keep
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
We’ll heave our heavy …..sacks
Onto our sturdy …backs
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its off to the woods we …..Are
We’d like to stay but time is…Short
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Winter nature table

 

This is our winter nature table featuring king winter. We will most likely add some hanging snow flakes, & frost fairies. I hope to have time to craft a little Prince Silvercap to go put on it as well. We made the background by folding a posterboard in half, the cutting an arched shape on the top. We  drew snowflakes with a white crayon, and then did a purple & blue color wash with watercolor paints. I am sure watery tempura paints would work too.  We like to paint or draw backgrounds for the table rather than use cloth. It really gets the child/children involved in the process, and is so easy that even a 3 year old can help.

 

Prince Silvercap: a story and verse for winter

This is a winter story I told my daughter this week since it has been so cold. It is about how silvercap, son of King Winter, became the king of the frost fairies. It is particularly good if you have mild winters like we do, and the feel of autumn is just now leaving. I adapted a Jack Frost poem to use as a verse to go with this story. The original Jack Frost poem can be found here at mainlesson.com it is several stanzas long, and is a lovely seasonal poem. The story of Silvercap also came from mainlesson, and can be found in For the Children’s Hour, a tremendous resource for early grade stories. Mainlesson.com has thousands of out of print & old books online free for you to use. This is an incredible resource & gift they have provided. You could get lost for days on that site. You can also buy many of the books through the website. After the story my daughter drew the verse & a picture from the story in her lesson book. We used the words in the verse as word family words for the week (freeze, sneeze, round, ground, found, sound, ect.). Story & verse BELOW…………..

 

Silvercap: King of the frost fairies

Silvercap lived far up among the white, fleecy clouds of north. All his life he had played with his brothers and sisters in the kingdom of his father, King Winter. But now he was grown, and he looked with disdain upon childish sports, and he longed for something great to do. So he was very happy, one day, to have a message from his father commanding him to come at once to the council chamber of the palace to discuss plans for a trip to Earthland.

Silvercap did not waste a minute, but rushed into the palace, where he found his father sitting upon a beautiful crystal throne, with all his servants about him. As soon as Silvercap had taken his place, the king rose and said:

“I have called you together, my dear subjects, because my son, West Wind, has just returned from a flying trip to the Earth. He says that Prince Autumn  is staying longer than usual this year, so we must hasten to send him off.

“North Wind, you must start at once. Attack the trees, and scatter the leaves far and wide, for some of Autumn’s fairies are still at work painting them. Hurry to the gardens and the fields; snip off the heads of the goldenrod and aster. You understand your work—see that you do it well!

“Prince Snow, fill you bags with flakes from the mountains. Have them ready to-night, so that you may fly down early in the morning and scatter the crystals before the sun peeps out.”

When King Winter had given orders to Prince West Wind, Prince Ice, and all the rest, he turned to Silvercap.

“My son,” he said, “you are to be King of the Frost Fairies. They have been idle long enough. Just what they can do I leave to you; make your own plans, but never forget that you are a prince, and the son of King Winter.”

Silvercap made a low bow to King Winter and left the council chamber. All the rest of the day, he thought. All night he thought, but in the morning he called the Frost Fairies together and said:

“My father has made me your king. West Wind has just returned telling of the wonders he has wrought. He has pulled the painted leaves from the trees, he has killed the flowers, and driven the birds away. I am sure he has made the little Earth-children unhappy. Let us gather the feathery leaves from our trees and our dainty crystal blossoms. Let us fill our chariots with building materials. Perhaps we may be able to make the children happy again.”

The Frost Fairies set up a shout for Silvercap. All [128] day they worked filling their chariots, and when it came twilight they started out for Earthland. They flew to the trees and decked every bough with leaves of lace. They covered every plant in the garden, even the weeds and grasses, with their wonderful feathery blossoms.

“I don’t believe their own twigs and blossoms could look more beautiful,” said Silvercap, as the last twig was finished.

“Now for the castles,” said the Frost Fairies.

“Let us build them on the windows of the rooms where the children are sleeping,” said Silvercap.

So into the rooms, through chinks and crevices, the tiny fairies crept. Silently they began to build, not only grand castles, but high hills covered with silvery trees and rushing waterfalls, fields filled with rare ferns and flowers, and flocks of birds flying everywhere.

Just as the sun began to show in the eastern sky the last chariot was emptied. “Into your chariots!” shouted Silvercap. “We must be gone!” And away flew the Frost Fairies just as the little Earth-children woke up, crying:

“O, the beautiful trees! O, the wonderful silver castles! O, the kind, loving Frost Fairies!”

And King Winter was so pleased with their work that he made Silvercap King of Frostland. Every winter since, he and his fairies come and work night after night to make the world beautiful for the little Earth-children.

 

Silvercap verse:

Prince Silvercap walked through the trees;

“Ah,” sighed the flowers, “we freeze, we freeze!”

“Ah,” sighed the grasses, “we die, we die!”

Silvercap said, “Good-by, good-by.”

Frost fairies danced ’round and ’round

Spreading much snow on the frozen ground,

Nipping the breezes, icing the streams,

Chilling the warmth of the sun’s bright beams.

 

January Verse, Time, and our new black board

We made a huge 4 x 8 foot blackboard over the winter break. It was super easy, and only cost about $25. We used an $11 masonite panel & chalkboard paint that we bought at Lowes. We applied the paint to the panel with a roller, and then screwed the chalkboard to the wall. You could just paint it directly on your wall, but by doing so you do not have the ability to move it when you need to, and the black paint would probably be difficult to paint over later if it was applied to your wall. The chalk goes over the blackboard surface smoothly, and the pictures really pop against the black. We have done lessons all week on it, and I LOVE IT!!!!! My first drawing was of a wheel of the year & our January verse about King Winter. We even had enough paint left over to make my daughter a 2 x 3 foot board of her own. It will come in handy for form drawing lessons. We will make a nice wood border around the blackboard later when we have more time.