英语博客：A kindergarten tree walk.

　　Kindergarten is proving to be quite a fun place for my daughter. They went on their first field trip the other day; it was a 'tree walk'. They have been studying trees: how they grow, and how they change with the seasons, so a tree walk was the perfect ending for their studies. I volunteered that day, and arrived at the school a few minutes before the bus left. There were several mothers there, and we all helped the teacher line the children up and get them ready for their big trip. When I say 'big trip', I mean that it was big for them, because it was exciting, and their first so far this year. It was actually just a five minute trip, up the road, to the Wenatchee Valley College grounds. The bus parked and let us off. We walked over to a shady¹ area where one of the college staff greeted us. There were several stations of fun activities, all to do with trees. One was an observation of chlorophyll. The children had to find a large leaf, put in on a wooden board, under a white sheet of material, and then bang it all over with a hammer. Kindergarteners with hammers? Now, that sounds risky²! They loved it! And they could see, as they banged, the green chlorophyll come out of the leaf and soak into the material. Another activity, which I'm sure was one of their favorites, was to build habitats for wild animals out of bark and pine cones³. They paired up for this, and had a little toy mascot⁴ representing the kind of wild life that is found in the forest. Some had beavers⁵, or squirrels⁶, and others had mice. There were habitats of all shapes and sizes built for the little furry⁷ forest creatures. And, of course, when the children had finished, they wanted to keep the soft toys. It took some convincing to get them to put them back into the boxes for the next group of children. The last station was where we sang songs in the shade of a big tree. The songs were carefully chosen by two of the school district's music teachers; they were, of course, all about trees. The teachers passed out different percussion⁸ instruments to various groups of children, and each was told to play the instrument when a certain part of a tree was mentioned. So, for example, one group of kids would play the triangle when they heard the word "roots", other kids would play the wooden blocks when they heard "branches" etc. It was a well organized event for the first year students, and, I think, a great way to, solidify⁹ their knowledge of trees.
Grammar notes.
Useful expressions: so far..., to soak, pine cones, solidify.
1. So far this season, the pumpkins¹⁰ have stayed quite small. Let's hope they get bigger for Halloween.
2. Let your shirt soak in water with a little bleach¹¹ in it; that should get rid of the stains.
3. We collected pine cones as fire starters. They catch light very quickly because of their natural oils.
4. The liquid gelatin will solidify as soon as it gets cold enough.

1 shady   

adj.成荫的，多荫的，可疑的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• This is a shady avenue.这是条林阴大道。
• He's a rather shady person.他是个相当靠不住的人。

2 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

3 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

4 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

5 beavers   

海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人

参考例句：

• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。
• Thus do the beavers, thus do the bees, thus do men. 海狸是这样做的，蜜蜂是这样做的，人也是这样做的。

6 squirrels   

n.松鼠( squirrel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Squirrels are arboreal creatures. 松鼠是栖于树上的动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Red squirrels are now very rare in Britain. 红色松鼠在英国已十分罕见了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

8 percussion   

n.打击乐器；冲突，撞击；震动，音响

参考例句：

• In an orchestra,people who play percussion instruments sit at the back.在管弦乐队中，演奏打击乐器的人会坐在后面。
• Percussion of the abdomen is often omitted.腹部叩诊常被省略。

9 solidify   

v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结

参考例句：

• Opinion on this question began to solidify.对这个问题的意见开始具体化了。
• Water will solidify into ice if you freeze it.水冷冻会结冰。

10 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

11 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？