“Hilloway, holloway, willowy wee, let’s make the teacher a honeybee!”
Four Winds Nature Program students at Barstow Memorial School in Chittenden, VT recently explored honeybees and other pollinators. They learned about honeybee anatomy by dressing up their teachers – complete with a head, fuzzy thorax, and abdomen; four wings; two antenna; six legs with pollen baskets, pollen combs, and brushes; compound eyes for excellent flower-spying and simple eyes for seeing in the dark hive; a long proboscis for sipping nectar; a honey stomach to carry nectar back to the hive; wax glands; and a stinger.
Students practiced being pollinators by using cotton swabs to gently gather and transfer pollen among dandelions, some wondering if they brought pollen from one species of flower to another, would they create fun new hybrids to find next year?
Students had the most fun practicing the “waggle dance” used in honeybee hives to communicate the location of distant flowers. They took turns gathering “flowers” of different colors and bringing them back to their “hive” then letting their fellow foraging “bees” know how far away and in what direction the flower patches were located. Many agreed with Nellie-Bee from the puppet show, exclaiming, “Being a bee is hard work! We just want to eat honey!”
Upon watching a bumblebee buzzing among the dandelions, the students discussed our very important native pollinators. “I understand how honeybees fly”, said one student, “but how do big ol’ bumbles do that?!”
Honeybees (an introduced species brought to North America by settlers from Europe in the 1600’s for honey and to pollinate crops) are just one of many pollinators. Keep an eye out for some of the around 400 native bee species in the Northeast!
Tricolored Bumble Bee sipping dandelion nectar – learn more about identifying bumblebees in Vermont Center for Ecostudies’ Guide to the Bumble Bees of New England
Faces are all around us if we begin to look for them. Humans brains perceive familiar patterns (often faces) on random stimuli – a phenomenon known as pareidolia. This inclination to recognize patterns and apply meaning likely served as a survival mechanism, enabling people to quickly identify threats.
As you look around outside, what faces do you see? What stories do these faces have to tell?
As we’re entering black fly season – approximately between mother’s day and father’s day in northern New England – consider reasons to appreciate them.
-Black flies are a sign of good water quality. Female black flies lay their eggs in running water. When the eggs hatch, the larvae, which look like wormy bowling pins because of their bulbous rear ends, attach themselves to submerged stones and branches and filter the bacteria, algae, and organic matter with hairy fan-like mouth parts. Most black fly species will not tolerate pollution.
GlacierNPS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
-Black flies are an important part of the food web. Larvae and adults serve as food for fish (including trout), birds (notably nesting northern ducks), insects, and bats.
-Of the 40 species of black flies in Vermont, only 4 or 5 bite humans, most species feed on birds or other animals. Only female flies seek to bite warm-blooded animals with their serrated, scissor-like jaws. They need a blood meal to lay viable eggs. Males do not even have mouth parts that can bite; they only sip nectar.
To protect yourself from black fly bites, wear light-colored clothing that does not have buttons (the flies can crawl in through the spaces between the buttons), tuck your shirt into your pants, wear a second layer, and perhaps a head net. Black flies are most active during the day—especially on cloudy, still, humid days—and do not like to go indoors.
Celebrate black flies at the annual Blackfly Festival in Adamant, Vermont on June 6th!
F.L. Washburn, Edith Reed, others, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Jack-in-the-Pulpit is unfurling! Named for the resemblance to a preacher in a canopied pulpit, “Jack” is a spadix (a spike with many small flowers) and “the pulpit” is a spathe (a modified leaf bract that surrounds the spadix).
Jack-in-the-Pulpit bears male flowers for the first year or two, then the sex of “Jack’s” flowers depends on the amount of fall food accumulated in the corm (underground food storage organ). With ample food, a female plant, usually with two leaves, arises in the spring. With less food, a male plant, usually with one leaf, emerges. If the corm is starved, only a leaf develops.
Take a peek inside the “pulpit” to confirm the sex of Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Male plants have stubby purple projections with stamens dusted in yellow pollen. Female plants have a cluster of small green berries, which will mature into brilliant red fruits in late summer.
Male Jack-in-the-Pulpit left (Laval University, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons) and female Jack-in-the-Pulpit right (Homer D. House, New York State Botanist. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” – Troilus and Cressida, William Shakespeare
Tomorrow is Poem in Your Pocket Day! This celebration of literacy and culture originated in 2002 in New York City and has expanded across the United States. On this day, during National Poetry Month, you’re encouraged to select a poem, carry it on a slip of paper in your pocket, and share it with others throughout the day.
Other ways to share a poem include: reading a poem aloud to family and friends, or to the animals and plants outside your door; adding a poem to your email footer or posting one on social media; printing a poem and illustrating the blank space.
Here are a few of our favorite nature poems. Which poem will you select for Poem in Your Pocket Day? Share it with us in the comments!
Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by.
– Who Has Seen the Wind, Christina Rossetti
A haiku from a Four Winds naturalist educator:
Single black cricket Loves singing, dancing, night life Seeks music lover
A haiku from a Four Winds volunteer:
trapeze artists and tightrope walkers furry tailed in a steel gray sky
Dear Oak, I am round and ready. Bursting with hope, crammed with possibilities. I know I must drop and sleep and sprout and grow. So Slow! But then, Oak, I’ll stretch up my arms, strong and true. I’ll be your friend, the one who rises up beside you. Love, Acorn – Dear Acorn (Love, Oak) Letter Poems to Friends by Joyce Sidman
Today is the 56th anniversary of a worldwide movement in support of this beautiful blue planet. One way to celebrate Earth Day is to go for a “be free-ing” spring ephemeral walk.
Now is the special time between snow pack melt and canopy closure when spring ephemeral flowers bloom. The plants produced compact leaves, stems, and flower buds within their bulbs this past fall. So with the soil temperature and light cues of early spring, the ephemerals are ready to burst through the leaf litter. This rapid growth can cause emerging leaves and flowers to get choked in decaying leaves.
When you notice this, gently remove the old leaves and let the spring ephemerals be free – a small gesture of care and connection in celebration of Earth Day.
The Four Winds Nature Program is open for enrollment for the 2026–2027 school year — discover the wonders of the natural world right outside your school door.
What is the Four Winds Nature Program?
Four Winds offers monthly natural science workshops in communities across Vermont and neighboring states. Designed for adult volunteers who want to share nearby nature with school children, each workshop blends natural science with hands-on activities — and plenty of joy and wonder along the way.
With over 40 lessons organized into five year-long courses of study, each concept focuses on a different key science standard. The program’s whole philosophy is simple: get kids and adults outside, together, learning about the natural world.
How does it work?
Four Winds educators meet volunteers outdoors — at the school or a local public space — for monthly training workshops. Volunteers then go into classrooms in teams of two or more, taking children outside to look, discover, and learn. It’s collaborative, community-driven, and grounded in place.
Each volunteer commits around 5 hours a month: roughly 2 hours of training, 1–2 hours of preparation, and 1–2 hours teaching alongside a partner. The adult training sessions are fun, collegial gatherings — and the children’s lessons are filled with questions, discoveries, laughter, and learning.
Who can volunteer?
No science degree. No teaching certificate. Just an enthusiastic interest in learning and sharing. Four Winds volunteers are parents and community members who value the chance to discover nature alongside children. Enrollment in the Nature Program includes training workshops for volunteers, teaching materials, and password access to online resources, including Nearby Nature from Home for in-class or at-home extensions of volunteer-led lessons.
How do I bring the program to my school?
If you are a parent or community member, start by sharing information about the Nature Program with your school’s principal and/or Parent-Teacher Organization. Once there’s interest and support, the next step is deciding how many workshops your school would like and filling out an enrollment form.
To get started, reach out to Nature Program Coordinator Hilary Redman at tnp@fwni.org — she’d love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have.
What people are saying about the program:
Reflections from a teacher: “Last week we had another incredible session with our Four Winds instructors. We got the chance to learn and see some really interesting owl and grouse wing and talon adaptations as well as dissect owl pellets in groups of 2-3. This was a wonderful lesson and I remain ever grateful that we have Four Winds at [our school] this year.”
Reflections from a parent: “I really appreciate my kids having hands-on nature education that is focused on the wonders in our backyard, because I think it helps to ground them with a strong sense of place. And, they say it’s fun! It is amazing to hear that about something that happened at school.”
Reflections from a volunteer: “Through curiosity and hands-on experiences in the natural world, Four Winds allows our love of nature and wildlife to shine!”
Reflections from students: “I love that my dad teaches my class.” “I love that people volunteer to come in and teach kids about all these amazing, cool things and I really appreciate it.” “I think it’s a really fun way for people to learn about more animals and how they develop and their adaptations.” “I think it’s really cool because you [the volunteers] spend your time with us and teach us some new things.”
This is a mating ball of common garter snakes! After spending the winter communally brumating in the protection of a chipmunk burrow, woodchuck den, or other cavity where they won’t freeze, garter snakes emerge from their winter dens to bask in the spring sunshine (usually in April). Males come out first in groups and later females emerge singly. The males, sometimes over a hundred, will wiggle around a female forming the mating ball. The females incubate the developing embryos within their body until around August when they give birth to live young.
In areas of Canada, like Narcisse, limited den sites lead to snakes migrating and gathering together in groups of tens of thousands!
We spoke with Jami Zmurko from Chittenden, VT, who’s been volunteering for the Four Winds Nature Program at Barstow Memorial School since 2017.
“I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity,” says Jami. As a former fourth grade teacher, she loves being with a class full of children again.
“Implementing the lessons in the classroom has given me a firsthand view of how the program accesses all learners. Four Winds sees every child as capable. The monthly lessons contain diverse activities that reach all learning styles. There is movement, listening, hands-on and visual/creative activities for each type of learner, and I thoroughly enjoy watching each student connect and learn in their own way. Every student feels like a capable nature scientist who can build upon previous knowledge and record new learnings.”
During lessons, Jami gets the chance to know the students by name and understand their learning styles. Each time, she has a goal to spend 1:1 time listening to and learning with each child in the classroom. She shared how she recently had a very special moment with a second grade student, who is usually quiet and shy. During the lesson Skull Sleuthing, studying animal skulls, this student took a risk and shared an impressive amount of information about animals’ teeth and their purposes. When she had a moment to thank him for his amazing knowledge and participation, his eyes lit up and he reached out for a hug. “From that lesson on, we have seen a more eager and proud student from him. This was an inspiring moment, knowing that as volunteers in a school, we can make a difference.”
Jami also values how the Four Winds curriculum transfers to home. “Taking walks with my kids is now much more enjoyable as we can stop to talk about galls we spot on plants or animal tracks in the snow. We are all more present in nature and more aware of our surroundings. We are listening to the songbirds and owls outside our window and thinking about the lives they live. We now have a lot more appreciation for the beauty and magic happening in nature all around us.”
“I feel very fortunate that I am a Four Winds volunteer. Not only is it so fun and engaging working with the students and learning about the fascinating world around me, but I have made so many wonderful friends along the way. They are all such a special part of my life now, and I am forever grateful.”
And we at Four Winds are so grateful for all the amazing Nature Program volunteers! If you’re interested in sharing your experiences with The Nature Program, please reach out to Erika at erika@fwni.org.
Here is the perspective of Four Winds board member and University of Vermont lecturer Dr. Joseph A. Henderson:
Children are naturally curious and love to ask questions about how the world works. Like the rest of us, they too can sense that the climate is changing and are looking to the adults for guidance. How we teach climate change will look different depending on the developmental capacities of our students, and as educators we need to be sensitive to those dynamics.
New York State recently passed educational regulations requiring comprehensive K-12 climate change education, and a similar effort is afoot in Vermont. Senator Anne Watson – a former science teacher herself – recently introduced S.175 [PDF] as a response to calls for climate change education in Vermont’s 2025 Climate Action Plan. If enacted, Vermont would then join New York and New Jersey as the only states requiring interdisciplinary K-12 climate change education. This legislation is an opportunity to provide relevant educational experiences for our youth, and age-appropriate climate education already aligns with what great, place-based teaching looks like.
We know from a broad body of scholarship that environmental attitudes form early in life. Young children are innately curious about the natural world and can develop moral concern for the environment at an early age. While most climate change education happens at secondary and tertiary levels in the United States, it is feasible at the elementary level too, although with some important considerations.
Developmentally appropriate climate change education should emphasize joy and connection with nature. Educators can highlight making observations and developing wondering practices around topics like weather versus climate, seasonal changes, and caring for plants, animals, and their community. Older elementary students can engage with higher-order thinking processes around patterns and cause/effect relationships. Why do seasons change? How do humans impact the environment in positive and negative ways? What do all living things need to survive? In the later elementary grades, they can begin exploring systems dynamics by investigating the water cycle, ecosystem relationships, and energy resources, for example. Our region is full of good teaching examples here: changes to the maple syrup season, shifting ice dynamics on Lake Champlain, increasingly intense flooding events and related forms of mitigation, changes to snow quality and the ski season, etc. Research on climate change education shows that the most effective programs utilize interdisciplinary place-based learning and emphasize hope and agency. The North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence: Educating for Climate Action and Justice [PDF] is a useful starting point for educators wishing to design developmentally appropriate climate change education experiences for young people.
Finally, it is important to acknowledge that climate change is a distressing topic. Be aware of how you are presenting climate issues to young people, for they are always watching, always listening, and always learning from the adults in their lives. We know that kids are already picking up on climate stress in the broader culture, and they deserve to understand the world they are inheriting in ways that promote flourishing. You don’t need to be an expert to teach climate change, and Vermont’s own educational landscape already provides ample opportunities for professional learning. Vermont’s educators are well positioned to lead given the long history of effective environmental education in the Green Mountain State.
