Three Sisters are Blooming!

The second graders have been taking care of our three sisters garden and are happy to report that the plants are growing and blooming! We have planted corn, squash, and beans together strategically to help create an optimum growing environment.

Here you can see one of our squashes growing in the garden.

The students finished the year by taking data and tending to our growing garden.

The 2016-17 year is ending and we have been busy in fifth grade enhancing our outdoor learning areas.  Some 5th graders worked with Randy Senzig digging holes and looking at types of dirt as we get ready to have some wetland areas built around the school this summer.  Students looked at rock and soil as they discussed the placement of the wetlands.

Our final STEM project was building a new hexagonal tree bench after EOGs.  Students had learned how to use geometry to build something that made a perfect hexagon.  Each interior angle was 120 degrees because the total degrees in a hexagon is 720 and there are 6 angles.  The problem was how to cut angles in wood to make the space where there was no wood 120 degrees.  It got fairly complicated but our work with the Harpedonaptae of ancient Egypt helped us figure it out.  Ms. Z cut the wood and students assembled it using power drill, hammer, bolts, washers, nuts and a wrench.  Everyone got to participate in the joy of creation  and the beauty of creating something to leave to future classes to enjoy. 

Garden club celebrated on June 2 with a picnic using lettuce and herbs we grew in the garden.  We had parsley spiced potatoes, salsa with black beans, corn, avocado, and onion, a salad with spinach, arugula, green leaf lettuce, and cucumber, and pesto toast with basil we grew from seed.  The garden will come in more this summer and the staff and neighbors will enjoy the bounty.

Have a great summer!

Planning for the Rain Garden!

After much planning, our school will receive a rain garden over the summer! Our 4th graders spent time over the last 2 weeks working with Mr. Randy Senzig, from The Center for Human Earth Restoration. He taught us about the purpose of a rain garden, and how it might help improve our outdoor space. He led us through activities that helped us analyze our campus and determine the best place for a rain garden. We also learned how to use a compass to navigate! We had a great time learning outdoors! 

S more's of Fun After EOG's

On Friday June 2, Third Grade had camping day. Students took turns reading inside a tent and created folktales that they told around the camp fire. In the afternoon, we discussed the sun's rays and its effect on different colors. Student's created solar ovens out of supplies found in the classroom. 

Creating Hypothesis! S'More

Solar Oven's working hard!

Making changes to our solar ovens! 

                               Discussing how the chocolate melted before the marshmallows!                                                          
                                                      Colors effect the rate of melting! 

                                      

Primary's Plant Update

We loved checking our sunflower seeds each day and watching them sprout. 

Many even had the seed coat stuck to the sprout!

Below you will find our half-eaten pepper plant. At least somebody was able to enjoy them!:)

Worms aren't just for books!

Third grade students LOVED getting dirty creating a habitat for our worms!  We collected organic material from around the schoolyard to create compost bags for our live red worms.  This activity was a fun way to end our Plant and Soil unit in science!

"Souper" Soup Time!

First grade will be enjoying the last week of school with a fresh batch of soup! Yum!

We grew scallions and celery which will be soon be transformed into a bowl of vegetable soup. We had hoped to add some freshly grown potatoes, but they have yet to sprout. 

Our low-carb soup will be the perfect ending to a fabulous year:)

Busy birds!

We've been busy with EOG's in fourth grade, but our Kingswood birds have been busy too! We currently have a "full house" with all of our birdhouses full with nests. So far, we think we've had bluebirds, chickadees and house wrens build nests on our playgrounds.

Our chickadees hatched! We were able to observe them for a couple weeks, until they were big enough to fly and they fledged the nest!

This strange looking nest was in one of our boxes. It was deep, like a cave, and made of all sorts of materials.

Once the eggs were laid, we predicted that this nest belonged to a house wren. We hope to see them hatch soon.