While home during the spring and summer, I enjoyed watching ladybugs, ants, bees, butterflies, and dragonflies enjoying the blossoms in our garden and in the clover that dots our lawn. At times, I was anguished by the beetles eating away at the leaves of the zinnias that I planted from seed and the weeds that tried to overtake patches of lavender. These uninvited guests were reminders to me that a well-tended garden invites us to be saturated by beauty, but also challenges us to do the work to minimize the weeds and beetles.
Tending to the Colorado Academy community also takes time and effort: connecting with others, sharing points of view, and respecting all members of our school community. Reading can help! Reading opens our hearts and minds to the experiences of others. Sharing what we’ve learned through a book is a way to plant the seeds and grow. Then together, we can tend to the garden of our school community, acknowledging the weeds and beetles as they appear, and finding our way through them—to the beauty.
This year in the Lower School Library, we will be celebrating the insects and bugs that are all around us. We invite Lower School students to Catch the Reading Bug and find encouragement from our new library mascot, Ladybook the Ladybug.
I can’t wait for students to bring their curiosity about bugs and insects to the library this year. Whether they are showing me a worm caught at recess and wondering what worms eat, or if they are looking to see if the spots on the ladybug they found are the same as the spots on Ladybook, students bring a sense of adventure to their learning.
We will ask questions, and we will discover the answers. Are spiders dangerous to humans? How did dragonflies get their name? When bees dance are they really communicating with one another? How does an ant carry such heavy items?
While there will undoubtedly be some questions that I’ll have to repress my shudder and muster my courage to answer, I am excited about the opportunities that this year will give us to learn and grow together and to celebrate the beauty and challenges that are all around us.