The back part of my classroom is all windows. We eat back there, and we've spent a lot of time lately, watching the pigeons, squirrels and crows who visit our side yard and playground. Today, I looked up and saw a big piece of paper floating on the breeze about 30 feet in the air. As the spring breeze gently set it down on the playground, I looked up and saw another that looked like the paper wrapping for a toilet paper roll tossing around up there. "Guys? Did you see that trash?" I asked the three year olds around me? They didn't so some of them said that they did as they looked wildly about, and the rest admitted they didn't. They caught the next piece of garbage as it fell, though. Our school is nestled in the bosom (or lap depending on your perspective) of a Harvard housing project of high-rises. I imagined that someone had irresponsibly left garbage on their balcony and it was now being distributed by the elements.
"Whoa! There's another one! Happy Trash in the sky day, everybody!"
"Happy Trash in the sky day, Kendra!" somebody hollered back.
About an hour later, we went out on the playground with another class. A teacher and a kid were looking up for a long time, when I saw a stretch of paper towels drifting past the branches of a tree. I wandered over with a wry, knowing smile, ready to tell them about trash in the sky day... and realized they were watching a squirrel build a garbage nest! The little one would run into the dumpsters, grab some paper material and then drag it way up the tree and try to stuff it into the tiny stick frame it had constructed!
Another sign of spring, and reminder that there are parts of THIS urban ecosystem that I'm just not prepared for.
