Saturday, October 16th is the Seth Boyden Harvest Festival!! Please volunteer to make the day really special! Volunteer HERE!

Saturday, October 16th is the Seth Boyden Harvest Festival!! Please volunteer to make the day really special! Volunteer HERE!
From Mrs. Tuohy:
“Dear Families,
Hooray! We started our seeds for our spring and summer garden this week! I will keep you posted on their progress.
Ready for a little I Spy Nature game?
I Spy Nature in the Seth Boyden Garden…
Play with your children and make up some of your own clues. Create your own I Spy Nature Tray. I wonder what you will find outside your door?
I am challenging myself to learn a new bird call with students each week this spring. Today we listened to the Northern Cardinal. You can hear it here by clicking here.
Fourth-grader Callum Catts suggested we learn the Blue Jay and Mourning Dove next! Make sure you hear his Mourning Dove imitation if you see him around!
Lots of love and happy snow melting!
Mrs. Tuohy”
From Seth Boyden Garden Teacher Mrs. Tuohy:
Make a batch of homemade playdough (recipe below).
Gather beautiful objects from nature. Decorate the play dough with the natural objects while reflecting on and celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Simple homemade play dough recipe:
Ingredients
Method
From Seth Boyden Garden Teacher Ms. Tuohy:
Birdseed Cookies
Yummy treats for our winter bird friends!
Read The Snow Tree by Caroline Repchuk to find how other creatures have brought color and gifts to the winter whiteness.
For more information, visit One Little Project – Bird Seed Ornaments.
Snow Scene/Art
Fill an aluminum pan with snow. Using items from home, build a scene and tell a story. Add paint or food coloring if you wish.
Animal Tracking
Visit our Seth Boyden Garden to see who has been checking on the garden and missing us!
We are incredibly proud to share that Jacob Case, a 4th-grader in Mr. Hein’s class, has been featured in Jamie Oliver’s Cooking Buddies Club! Congratulations to Jacob and his family! We’re so happy that Jamie Oliver, one of Britain’s top chefs, recognizes Jacob’s talents!
Over the summer, Jacob made a video of harvesting nasturtiums and other edible flowers from the Strawberry Fields garden (with Ms. Tuohy’s full support and permission of course!). Jacob turned them into a delicious salad and uploaded the video to his Instagram & Facebook pages. The video was then shared in Jamie Oliver’s private Cooking Buddies Facebook group, where the team saw what a star Jacob is! Jamie Oliver’s team edited the video and shared it on Instagram so that thousands more could enjoy Jacob’s food!
Check out Jacob’s Cooking Buddies video by clicking here.
To see Jacob cooking, you can check him out on Facebook at Cooking with Jacob or on Instagram @cookingwithjacob9.
Here’s another recipe that Jacob loves that also uses ingredients (the Swiss chard) he harvested from our school garden.
Sautéed Swiss Chard with Steamed Butter Nut Squash:
Come One, Come All
Seth Boyden Outdoor Learning Center Clean-up!
Looking for a way to help our school this fall? Bring the family and join the outdoor learning center clean-up!
On October 10th and 11th we’ll be weeding, watering, spreading mulch, moving logs– you get the idea!
Oct 10 – 9 am to 1 pm
Oct 11 – 1 pm to 5 pm
Please bring your own work gloves and tools if you can (we don’t want folks sharing tools because of covid). Kids welcome! And of course, wear a mask!!
Sign up today to reserve your spot – click here.
Seth Boyden School students are enjoying yet another new piece of playground equipment as a comprehensive overhaul of the Outdoor Learning Center continues to take shape.
The equipment, installed two weeks ago, is officially called the “GameTime Powerscape PlaySystem,” however, PTA Fundraising Chair Caryn Emmons said, “I hear that the kids have taken to calling it the Big Castle.”
The Big Castle is designed for use by children aged 5-12. The cost for the equipment was $37,025. “It was originally $74,050,” reported Emmons, “but I applied for the ‘Back to School Playground Grant’ with the playground equipment company and they awarded us 50% off.” Shipping cost an additional $5,277, and the installation was approximately $15,000.
The entire cost of the purchase, shipping and installation was paid for by the Seth Boyden PTA. The school district contributed mulch.
The Seth Boyden community has been working hard over the past two years to raise funds to pay for the OLC improvements, including grant writing, individual gifts and special events. This past February, the PTA raised $15,000 at an auction gala at Orange Lawn in South Orange. Also this winter, The Seth Boyden Series raised tens of thousands of dollars for the equipment by hosting two events — one featuring Ira Glass of This American Life and the other featuring Tim Gunn of Project Runway.
The Big Castle joins some climbing rocks and a hexamid that were installed last year, with other improvements to come. The overall OLC plan includes more porous paved areas that would be usable in wet weather (currently students are spend recess inside if the field is too wet and muddy), an improved path, improved entrances, and a new amphitheater. Seth Boyden already has notable garden areas including “Strawberry Fields” where classrooms plant flowers, herbs and vegetables.
So how are the reviews for the new equipment?
“What a great few weeks for our community, for the kids and for all of us grownups who have seen part of our dream fulfilled!” wrote PTA President Susie Adamson in an email to the Seth Boyden community. “We opened up the new playground equipment for play last Tuesday. Since then, we have heard many reports from overjoyed children — hurray!”