On Wednesday, April 24th, Rae Griffiths visited Hilltop with her "Teaching Creatures." She brought an African pygmy hedgehog and domestic Dutch rabbits.  Rae first shared a book and then followed up with a presentation of live animals for our class and the other children visiting from the Brattleboro community.  Each child was able to touch the animals and observe them up close and personal.  What a wonderful experience and a fun activity to celebrate the Month of the Young Child.  There are still many fun and free activities listed in the Month of the Young Child Brochure.

On Thursday the older children walked to Bonnie Stearns pottery studio to see their own creations in clay.  Bonnie displayed each child's creations for all of us to enjoy first, and then we wrapped and boxed the clay pieces to bring home.  We all had a great creative experience and enjoyed our classes with Bonnie for the past 5 weeks.

How heavy is it?  How far is it?  How long is it?  How cold is it?  How much space is inside it?  

The students of Lower El are learning how to answer these questions through their study of measurement. They learned that a cubit, used by the Babylonians and the Egyptians, was the first recorded unit of length. Originally, it was the length of a forearm from elbow to middle fingertip. They laughed at the thought of building a house using several different peoples' forearms as units of measure - what a crooked house that would be! Eventually, units of measure were standardized, and it is these that we work with today.  

Our bird study has been enhanced by the presence of Disco, Leah Brush's visiting parakeet.  He was, literally, at the center of everyone's bird lessons this week, preening and snacking as the children discussed the physical characteristics of his species, his body functions, and the various parts of one of his feathers.  On Monday, May 6th, we will be heading up to Quechee, Vermont, where the Vermont Institute of Natural Science houses injured and recovering birds of prey.  We have already heard from a couple of parents regarding driving, but we are still hoping for more.  Thank you, as always, for considering being a field trip chaperone.

Thankfully, building community never stops. Even after such a confirming experience as our week in Alabama trying to understand the reasons why people treated and continue to treat each other with a lack of compassion, hostility, and indifference, we find we have to face some of the same forces in our own lives. They are perhaps far different in scale but in many ways emanate from the same human elements of fear and the need for acceptance. We have spent a considerable amount of time the last two days in community meeting over issues of privacy and the invasion of that privacy especially in the world of Google Docs. Ultimately it all boils down to respect and responsibility, which are the same themes we encountered over and over again in Alabama. The trick is to recognize them and act upon them in ones own life and not just see them illustrated on the historical stage. Community can be messy and thankfully Hilltop is a place where we can wallow in the mud, wade through it and clean up on the other side. This community is still kind of muddy but as Dr. King said: "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice".

Which is exactly the direction our play is heading in. What is justice? Is it universal? Individual? Do we all play by the same rules? Does it have anything to do with rules? We have collectively been in the act of creation this past week and are doggedly making our way forward. The ideas are flowing, enthusiasm is high, and the writing of scenes, songs, and poems have begun. The time between now and performance will be intense, focused, and will fly by in the blink of an eye. So here is the performance schedule: (all at the middle school)

Thursday, May 9 at 7pm

Friday, May 10 at 10am

Friday, May 10 at 7pm.

Come to one; come to all but please come. The play (as yet untitled) is for the entire Hilltop community and beyond. Invite your friends and be prepared for a fascinating, joyful, and powerful evening of original theatre and song.

When we were in Alabama, we visited with the artist, Joe Minter and his wife, Hilda in Birmingham. We have established a wonderful relationship with them over the years and Joe usually sends us home with some of his work. During our visit, Joe and Hilda spoke enthusiastically about how some folks from the New York Times had recently interviewed them and took photos. The article was in Thursday's edition and can be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/garden/joe-minters-african-village-in-america.html?ref=style&_r=0

It is a wonderful article with terrific photos. It will help bring you into the world we just experienced.

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