“I can’t believe we have a pet now.” Elliott

For the past two weeks we have been watching the happenings in our birch tree.  A family of robins has taken up residence and have caught our attention.  First, we observed long strands of grass being carried to the y branch of the tree.  Soon a full nest took shape.  Then for days we saw the parents sitting for long periods of time.  Now we watch as the robins fly to and from the nest, carrying worms and bugs for their young.  

 

It is this caregiving that has sparked our curiosity.

Could we too help take care of the babies? 

Could we deliver grubs and worms to the young?

A small group of children began to collect insects from the garden.  Then they drew plans of how to get food to the baby robins.

What if we could feed the robins?  CALLEN

How might we do that?  Emily

Well, we’d need to dig for worms.  We’d need a shovel.  Oh, I know!  CALLEN

What are you doing?  CHARLIE

Digging to find worms to feed to the birds.  CALLEN

I found something.  It’s a grub.  Not a worm.  CALLEN

Might robins eat grubs too?  Emily

Let’s keep them separate so that the grubs don’t eat the worms. See, they have teeth.  They might bite you.  CALLEN

Baby worm!  Another scrub!  Those are the scrubs, they go in there.  There are more worms down there.  If there’s a small worm then that  means there’s a daddy worm.  TAIT

The worms like to go deep. CHARLIE

I found one and where do I put it?  HELEN

I want to look at the nest to draw it. (The sign says, ) Worms and grubs for birds. Worm, cuz we only have one. No worms, cuz we might find more. HELEN
I accidentally made a swan. I'll do a robin now. A teacher tied a rope to a branch. And there was a loop at the bottom of the rope. It was secured and tied to another rope. The food is slowly hauled up. There's a machine that pulls it up to the top branch. A roly-poly machine. SOPHIE
My idea was to get the longest ladder to go up when the birds fly away and put out the grubs and the worms. We don't want the birds to fly down and get it. Their wings might get tired. CALLEN

At the end of one day, Violet and Callen organized the food.

I gave you a grub.  I found one in here.  Which one is for grubs?  RUBY

This one.  CALLEN

Maybe we should write grubs and worms so we know which is which.  VIOLET

Maybe we need a sound tool.  CALLEN

Violet and Callen work together to create two labels and tape them onto the containers. 

That one doesn’t have an S on the end.  “Grub” is only one.  We want “Grubs.”  VIOLET

You protect them Violet and I’ll go find more.  CALLEN

On Friday morning, together as a whole group, we watched some robins more closely.  “Let’s see what we might figure out when we can see them up close.”

I think there are eggs.

Laying the eggs.  She’s roosting.  ELEANOR

She’s itching herself.  MARK

It’s round robin!  ALEX

Babies!!

Those do not look like robins.  SOFIA

They have no feathers cuz they are babies.  VIOLET

One of them is sticking his head out to wait for more food.  ELEANOR

His eyes are closed.  RUBY

They eat worms.

There’s four!

Their mouths are open.  They’re falling asleep with the mouths are open!

Only one got the food.

They’re getting bigger.  They’re awake.  ALEX

Now there’s only two.

Two flew off.  Two crowded down.

I was embarrassed when the birds were like a grown up like that.  AVIA 

They grow so fast!  SOFIA

Like one day.

I think the mom just flew away cuz they were sleeping.

When you sleep you grow bigger.  MARK

Like growing pains.  AVERY

My legs hurt when I bend them.  ALEX

Cuz it’s like my body stretching out.  It’s your bones growing and it hurts.  AVERY 

“As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unselfconsciously to the soughing of the trees.”
Valerie Andrews

What becomes possible when we take the time to notice?