Thursday, December 17, 2015

"From Fish to Dish" Update: Fish Eggs?!

It takes two to measure our longest plants!

Fifth graders have noticed many changes to our Aquaponics system over the past month. We have exciting news: Not only have our plants grown longer, but our oldest fish seems ready to lay eggs soon!

As you can see, some plants have gotten much longer. When we first measured in October, the longest plant measured 1 inch long. Now it has grown to 7 inches! Although a few plants have gotten longer and greener, others have shriveled up. We have noticed that the plants near the bottom of the tubes are shriveled and pale, while the plants near the top are green, but short with small leaves. The plants near the middle of the tubes, where the most light reaches, are longer and greener, with broader leaves. Here's a view with the lights turned off:

See the difference?

We now wonder...
When will our "red leaf" lettuce actually turn red?
Will our oldest fish lay eggs over winter break?
Will the eggs survive winter break without someone to remove them from the tank with the adult fish?
How can we help the shriveled plants to grow stronger without harming the healthy plants?



Friday, December 4, 2015

Our Field Trip to Umstead State Park

Today the first graders took a field trip to explore the woods of Umstead State Park. They went on a hike, played games, explore dirt and soil, and befriended a tree! Here's what they have to say about their experience:

We played games. We played Beetle, Frog, and Hawk.

We got to play in the dirt!

We went hiking.

We explored the dirt.

I learned that the leaves turn into soil.

I learned about the soil.

We dug holes in the ground.

We learned that trees give us oxygen.

We met a tree.

We learned that there is clay underground.

We got to explore the trees.

We were able to touch worms.

We saw worms.

We guessed what tree we met.

We found clay.

We actually got blindfolded then we hugged a tree.

We got to know that the more wide a tree is the older it is.

The soil was kind of like clay.

We touched the worms.

This was my first time riding a bus.

We played Bat and Moth.

We saw millipedes.

We played a game called Fire.

The worms looked like they were dead... but they weren't!

We explored part of the woods.

We used our "deer ears" to listen to nature.

There was a bird's nest.

We went on a hike.

We saw a centipede that was moving all around. It did not want to be picked up.

I dug a millipede out of the ground.

We got to look around and we got to hear lots of things in nature.

We dug in the dirt.

OUR FIELD TRIP WAS AWESOME!!!!!!

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

In third grade, students have been charting growth and comparing and contrasting our classroom plants!  Broccoli fans will be pleased to hear that broccoli is in the lead.  By far, our broccoli plants both inside the classroom and outside in the greenhouse is growing much more than our lettuce and pansies.  Check back for more updates soon!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Primary Onion Plant Update

The Primary classes have been using all their senses and what they have learned about being a scientist to observe the seeds we planted.  Our first observations were how small onion seeds are.  We compared the onion seeds to other types of seeds that the children brought in: apple, avocado, orange, sunflower, corn, pumpkin and pear.  The onion seeds were the smallest.

                                                               ^^^ Observing seeds ^^^

We observed the soil using all our senses (except taste).  We planted our seeds in a variety of settings.  The seeds we planted outside and inside grew about a half an inch in one week!  They are now standing 2 inches tall.  The seeds we planted in the greenhouse struggled due to the heat.

                                                                     ^^^ Inside ^^^

^^^ Outside ^^^

We are looking forward to seeing how big our plants will be next month.  We are predicting that if our plants survive, they might have an onion forming under the soil.