Bruchsal, second time round!

Last year campaign guide Dagmar Kropp and her class found no tree seeds, as was the case nearly all over Germany, and so together with her pupils she planted 200 wildlings. This year it was quite different- this time the seeds were sown in expert fashion. Here is Dagmar’s report – informative as ever:

Squirrels, jays and secondary school year one pupils

At first glance you wouldn’t expect them to have much in common, the comical russet-brown little animal with the bushy tail and that bird of prey, its flight feathers barred with black, blue and white , set off against pinkish-brown plumage and then my twenty-three year one pupils.

Squirrels and jays, as their names in German say, have a special affinity for oaks or acorns, they definitely love eating the latter and have them on their menu, collecting them with fervour as soon as they tumble from the trees. My boys and girls could be seen gathering these fruits of the forest just as eagerly early in the morning of October 9th 2009.

My charges, all around ten years of age, met up with the municipal forester at a lake in a disused quarry after an hour’s march through the autumnal forest to a huge 180-year-old oak tree far from our school.

The children had brought small cotton bags with them which they quickly filled. The squirrel would have had a lot of running about to manage to collect this amount of acorns for winter storage and to bury them in all its different little pantries. The jay, on the other hand, would have picked up about 10 acorns at one go in its throat pouch with which it could transport its treasures to secret storage places. While squirrels and jays do all this to lay in provisions for the winter, to secure their own survival and that of their offspring, my boys and girls will easily survive the winter even without hoarding food. My kids gathered acorns for completely different reasons.

Inspired by Jean Giono’s book “The Man Who Planted Trees” my pupils, who attend an all-day school, started thinking about the future, and not only about their own personal future. The children in class 5a decided to sow their own small forest because they had learned about how important the forest is for our climate and they did not just want to talk about the problem, they wanted to do something about it themselves.

After working hard collecting tree seeds we moved on to a different location and walked to the other side of the quarry lake to a clearing in the neighbouring woods. Here the children got into twos and then imitated the squirrels and jays hiding the acorns in the ground. All this took place under the supervision of the forester, who skilfully combined exact instructions with play to create a learning effect.

Using the wooden planting tools which had been made in science and technology lessons the children made one hole after the other, and even more quickly their hands – as nimble as the squirrel’s – hid an acorn. In no time at all it was covered up, shoes pushing soil over the hole – and then on to the next one.

With great enthusiasm and energy the pupils buried the seeds and at the same time learned that sometimes forests propagate themselves quite naturally. Squirrels and jays eat the biggest part of their hidden winter provisions during the cold months of the year. The part which they don’t find again has a chance to germinate and grow into young oak trees.

The tree seeds which were buried by class 5a will probably not be raided by anyone and so many, many acorns have a chance to grow into majestic oak trees, even if in springtime deer and possibly wild boars nibble at or maybe eat up some of the seedlings with great delight.

Proud and pleased with their efforts the year one pupils together with me, my very familiar Labrador Amy and our teaching assistant made our way back to school after a big thank you to Herr Durst, the forester.

It’s not surprising that more than a week later the kids are still talking about their forest which they have named “Squirrel Forest” .

Well, what do the three who are mentioned in the title have in common? Squirrels, jays and year one pupils don’t plant trees – they sow them!

- Klasse 5a, Konrad-Adenauer-Schule -