Maple Sugaring March 2011

Today is March 15th, 2011. This is important because today we are going to tap a maple tree to extract some sap. This is called Maple Sugaring!

First we discussed and learned some things about Maple Sugaring.

Mrs. Ziegelbauer visited our classroom to talk about maple sugaring. We learned that the best time to tap the maple trees is in the month of March. This is the end of winter and the beginning of spring. It is warm in the day and cold at night. She explained the tools we would be using. They were the hand drill, a spile and a metal bucket.

Before we went outside, Madame Dupee told us a legend about how Native Americans discovered maple syrup. The story was very interesting. It was fun to let our minds travel back in history.

We were excited and ready to put our coats on to go outside and find our maple tree. We walked outside to the middle school car circle in search of a maple tree!

As we were looking for a tree we observed signs of spring. This made us more confident that this was the right time for maple sugaring.

We used our senses to touch, smell and hear different clues that spring was here. Some of the buds on the bushes and trees were fuzzy and green. Some were big and some were small. Some buds were closed and others were opened.

Puddles!

Another sign of spring. The warmer weather melted the snow and made puddles.

Then, with Mrs. Ziegelbauer's help, we found our maple tree!

We found the perfect tree! There was still some dried up leaves on the tree. There was a lot of sap trickling down the tree bark. Can you see the sap?

The temperature was around 43 degrees farenheit. It was the perfect temperature. It was warm during the day and cold during the night.

We began our work with Mrs. Ziegelbauer immediately. We drilled the hole four feet from the ground and about 2 inches deep. We were careful not to drill too deep into the bark of the tree and not too close to the hole drilled last year. The wood pulp coming out reminded some of us of the meat in a coconut.

Next we used a hammer to insert the spile. Maple sap began to drip out.

We quickly put a bucket on the spile to catch the sap. We used our math skills to determine how many drips of sap per minute. We counted 25 drips in 15 seconds. Can you figure out how many drips of sap per minute?

Then we got to taste it!

"It tasted like water combined with sugar."

"It tasted like water with a little bit of sugar. I expected it to be sweeter."

"It has a little sugar flavor."

"It was plain and didn't have a flavor."

"It didn't have much of a taste."

"It didn't taste like maple syrup."

"It taste like watery sugar."

"It tasted like plain water."

"It tasted like water with very little sugar."

"It tasted like water because I could not taste much of a flavor."

"It tasted like water."

"It tasted yummy."

"It tasted sweet."

"It was cold. It tasted like cold water."

"It tasted bitter."

Here is our class with our maple tree!

We wonder ...

... if it will be a different color after it boils?

...if the bucket was ever overflowing while we were on spring break?

... if the syrup is heavier than the sap?

... how many cups of sap we have in our 7 1/2 gallons of sap we collected?

... if it will taste differently after the sap has been boiled?

... if the maple tree still has sap left in it?

... how much syrup we will have after it has boiled?

... if it is possible to know how much sap is in the tree before we tap it?

... if the color of maple syrup will affect how it tastes?

... how long it will take before the sap will turn into syrup?

... how much maple syrup we will get?

... how hot the sap will be when it boils?

... I wonder how fast the sap is coming out of the tree?

... what it is going to taste like?

... what it smells like before it cools down?

... how good it is going taste?

... how long it would take to get 50 gallons of sap?

... if there will be bubbles in the sap after it boils?

... if the sap color changed while it was stored in the refrigerator?

... how good it is going to taste?