Green STEM Learning ~ Review of 2016 and Next Steps 2017

Here's my review of Green STEM Learning for the year 2016.

Thank you to clients, individuals and organizations I've worked with this past year to bring outdoor programs to students. 

And here's to a healthy and inspirational new year 2017!

 

Pinecone Coloring Sheet - and using LucidPress

This is my first experiment using LucidPress.

Here's My Pinecone Coloring Sheet.

• You're welcome to download and print 
• Find the spirals and color using highlighters

This is a fun activity as part of a lesson on pinecones, patterns and fibonacci math for preschoolers and up!

Learning with Pinecones

Learning with Pinecones

Today was drizzling. As I walk with preschoolers we listen to rain, step in puddles and admire raindrops cascading off a roof. We pass a couple of tall pine trees and check out the bundles of needles littered on the grass. Count the needles in each bundle: some have three, four, or five needles. The pines are Eastern White pines that have up to five needles in a bundle. We look for pinecones too. I have setup our class in a gazebo - where we continue to listen to the rain and can be sheltered.

Observation

A selection of pinecones to pass around, touch, lift and smell engages the young learners. The pinecones smell of resin, some are sticky, others prickly. The Coulter pinecone is huge, spiky and incredibly heavy and resiny. The sugar pinecone is light and long. The Jeffrey pinecone is also huge, and surprisingly strong yet light. For each pinecone we can see where the seeds grow and are protected - and have fallen out. Bring a pineapple and a dried sunflower flowerhead to highlight the similar fibonacci spiral patterns. I also bring in another different seedhead: one from a “bobbletree” - Liquidambar to compare and contrast with the pinecones patterns. This helps set the scene for an appreciation of patterns and diversity.

Coloring as prelude to journaling

I leave a medium-sized pinecone in the table of the table and give students the My Pinecone coloring sheet.

Observe the spirals on the drawing sheet.

With highlighters I encourage the students to highlight the spirals in one direction. Then we pick a different color highlighter and try to find and color the spirals going in the opposite direction.

The preschoolers enjoy writing their names on the sheets too. Coloring can be trendy therapy, it is also a first step to future journaling.

Decorating pinecones to take home

I have collected small pinecones from a Virginia pine tree (the State Virginia pine tree) - that fell in a storm a few winters ago. Each year I collect a few more from other trees in the neighborhood.

Students decorate a small pinecone using glitter glue. Taking time with the brush and glue is fun and enhances the sensory experience. The pinecones take a day to dry. Students can take home as a gift from the garden to enjoy as a seasonal sparkly winter decoration, and reflect on the patterns they’ve experienced in nature!

We go back to class stomping in the puddles and looking at the clouds!

Resources

Pinecone coloring sheet - download, print and color http://www.slideshare.net/MaryVanDyke/my-pinecone-coloring-sheet-greenstem

Seeing Math Patterns in Nature by Mary Van Dyke, 2014

WOW factor: How to Grow Bulbs Indoors and Out

With our winter season fast approaching it is time to plant some spring flowering bulbs indoors and out.

Here's the link to my current lesson plan on planting paperwhites

Here are how-to's from my blog piece of February 2016. How about planting some fragrant Paperwhites or Hyacinths to brighten up your class? Or buy Journey North's Red Emperor Tulips and plant outdoors? You can track and log the tulip's growth and bloom-time as part of an easy citizen science project.

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• Crocuses, daffodils and snowdrops are appearing in the schoolyard through the melting snow.

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• Do you love or hate the scent of Paperwhite narcissus and Hyacinths that you can grow indoors over winter?

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• Why and how do these plants grow shoots?

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• Observation and inquiry about flowering bulbs can be a great gateway introduction to plants and plant lifecycles throughout K- 5th grade.

• Growing flowering bulbs is an appealing, fun nature-themed project for the winter months.

• Introduction to Bulb Biology

• Here’s a 7-minute video introduction to bulb biology for a 2nd - 5th grade audience, that I made with Nicole Schofield 5th Grade teacher at Jamestown and filmed by Yorktown High School student, Stephanie Schofield - LINK

• These are easy 5E steps for a lesson on bulb biology and bulb planting

• Engage: Cut carefully through a spare tulip bulb or red onion in class and you can clearly see that a bulb is modified leaves. You may see the central shoot that will have flowers and if pollinated will produce seeds.  

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• Check out the basal stem and roots.

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• Use the Journey North diagram to teach your class the parts of the bulb.

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• Explain

• How does the plant work? The sun shines on the plant, and with chlorophyll and CO2, the leaves convert the sun's energy into food (carbohydrates) through the process of photosynthesis - and the plant gives off O2. The roots carry water and nutrients into the plant so it can produce flowers, seeds and reproduce. The bulb is the plant's tissue structure (modified leaves) that stores energy for the plant as the above-ground leaves die back.

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• Elaborate

• Learn about dormancy. The bulb is dormant (not dead) and usually needs to go through a real or artificial winter to promote growth.

• Now plant some bulbs indoors or out.  

• Here’s some choices of bulbs and how-to’s to optimize your project for successful flowering.

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• Journey North Tulip Test Gardens - outdoor planting

• For planting outdoors, growing a Journey North Tulip Test Garden is an easy citizen science project for ages K and up.

• You need to buy Red Emperor tulip bulbs.

• The Red Emperor tulip bulbs may cost a little more per bulb than other cultivars, but buying Red Emperor bulbs allows you to then leverage the educational linkage to the Journey North citizen science project. That is extra teaching value that may be worth the extra cost!

• Here’s a movie from APS GreenScene about planting Journey North Tulips with 3rd Grade students from Carlin Springs talking about the benefits - LINK

• By recording the planting and flowering dates on the website, students contribute data that can be used to track climate change.

• Growing bulbs in the ground outside has advantages, in that the bulb goes through natural winter cycle and will shoot in the spring.

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• Here below Kindergarten students plant tulips in raised beds at Jamestown.

• I use string, stake and tape to mark the planting place for each student. The students are using their trowels to the measure correct planting depth.

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• Container planting outdoors

• At Jamestown, the 5th grade gardening team plant Tulips and Daffodils in big planters outside the front entrance and the trailers.

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• However if you grow bulbs in outdoor planters and containers you need to make sure the bulbs are not too cold - since the bulbs could die if over-frozen.

• In early January, I wrap the containers with layers of newspaper and cover the layers with burlap and tie securely with string. Will that be enough insulation to keep the bulbs as warm as if they had been in the ground? I will need to unwrap the containers so the plants can continue to sprout later in the spring.

• Why are tulips and daffodils OK when planted in the ground? The bulbs may be dug up by rodents and squirrels when outdoors, but they will at least be kept warm with the earth's geothermal heat provided you planted the bulbs deep enough, and ground is not too cold for them! As with most outdoor experiments there are a lot of variables. It is difficult as a gardener to control for all of them!

• Planting bulbs indoors

• For students to plant a bulb each, try Paperwhite narcissus bulbs with low scent (to reduce risk for people sensitive to the smell) e.g. I select the cultivar Inbal.

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• You can buy Paperwhite bulbs before Thanksgiving, and plant them in class before the winter holiday. Then students can take their potted bulb home as a winter gift and look after their plants during the holidays. Or you can aim to store the bulbs in a cool/dark place and then plant them with your class in early January, so students can then take the bulbs home and care for the plants during January and February.

• The 5th grade classes planted their paperwhite bulbs in a big pot or a customized clean milk carton - with drainage holes. Both ways worked in my parallel experiments.

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• Hyacinth bulbs - growing indoors over water

• For a class demo, in addition to each student growing a paperwhite at home, you can also grow a "class" Hyacinth bulb on a light window cill or in a very light place at school.

• The Hyacinth bulb as bought, will need to have already gone through an artificial winter in order to grow and flower.

• Or you will need to keep the Hyacinth bulb in the fridge in paperbag to chill the bulb but not freeze it for a few weeks (say 9 weeks). Then you can place the bulb on a vase of water, just below the basal stem and begin to watch the roots grow in the fridge first for a few days.

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• Then move the bulb and vase out to a light window cill. Keep the water refreshed and just below the basal stem.

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• Grown hydroponically over water, is a wonderful way for students to see the speed  of growth and spread of the root system.

• Students can see the Hyacinth's roots growing measurably every day. As the plants grow, transfer the hyacinth bulbs from small vase to clean quart size recycled juice jars. Be careful of the delicate root system!

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• Link science and Language Arts and have students write a My Hyacinth Story.

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• When your bulbs flower

• Take a lesson to study flower parts using your bulbs when they are flowering as demonstrations.

• Name and count and draw: petals, sepals, stamens, pistil.

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• Monocots and Dicots

• All the bulbs: hyacinths, narcissus (paperwhites, daffodils, tete a tete) snowdrops, crocus, amaryllis, iris have “straplike veined leaves" and are monocots. Monocots have seeds with one food part, mono-cotyledon. Note the symmetry of the monocot’s flowers - it is symmetry of 3 with 3 or 6 petals or three petals. Grasses are also monocots

• Dicots include plants such as beans with seeds with two food parts, di-cotyledon.  Early spring flowers such as spiraea, early blooming forsythia, aquilegia, apples and cherries are dicots. You can see the flowers symmetry will be 5 or 8 (but not 3) and the leaves of dicots are veined.

• For this lesson, you can bring in an asssortment of flowers and have students study and sort them into monocots and dicots.

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• In summary here are some activities for students to do while their bulb plant grows:

• Before you plant your bulb weigh it and measure its circumference

• Track your plant’s  growth and development

• Record the growth in an album, science notebook or on a googleform

• Report your data for Journey North Tulips on their website

• When did your plant flower?

• Was the flower pollinated?

• Did the flower produce seeds?

• When does the plant die back?

• After the plant has died back - dig it up and recheck the weight and measure its circumference, compare with your previous measurements.

• Have fun labeling your bulbs too. If you plant your bulbs outside in the schoolyard, labeling the planting spot is good PR for the rest of the school and then you won’t forget where you planted them. Here are some simple labels made with googlepresentation and photocopied onto Xerox polyester paper.

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• Good Luck with your flower bulb planting projects, indoors and out.

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• Enjoy the flowers beauty and wow factor.

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• Now is a good time to plan the time for this project in your schedule for next fall, and to budget for the project supplies.

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• Reposted from the former Arlington Public Schools ATS Gardening Blog

• By Mary Van Dyke, 2/3/2016

As a postscript: 
The tulips and daffodils in the wrapped containers - did really well.
I unwrapped the planters when the weather warmed, and the flowers looked great at the front entrance of the school, blooming in successsion for a really long time in the spring. 

NOTE: I now use TerraSlate 'non-wood waterproof paper' in 7 mm or 10 mm to make outdoor signs and labels for schoolyards.

I am about to redo these bulb-planting class projects with K (Journey North Tulips) and 5th Grade (Paperwhites and Hyacinths). 

I am wondering if the tulip and daffodil bulbs in the planters have survived over the summer and may rebloom in the spring too?

Gather, Play, Create: Acorn Cap and Oak Leaf Crafts

By Mary Van Dyke

In the autumn, collect easy-to-find acorn caps and fallen leaves around the schoolyard, garden and neighborhood. Play and create transformative works of art. Enjoy the diversity and bounty of the harvest season. This is basic integrative learning and fun creative Nature STEM for pre-K thru adult.

Here below are several crafts and activities for working with acorn caps and leaves:

• Acorn Jewels or Acorn Gems
• Acorn Memory Game
• Acorn Nests
• Acorn Berets
• Acorn Cap Whistle
• Acorn Wreath
• Oak Leaf Wonders
• Seed Safari

Acorn Jewels or Acorn Gems

For ages 5 - 10

Materials

• Small acorn caps about 1 cm diameter e.g. from Willow Oaks and White Oaks (5 or so caps per student)
• Washable felt tip pens to color inside of the cap
• White acrylic glue
• Q-tips
• Muffin cases
• 13 x 9 x 2 dish
• Pound of rice
• Popsicle sticks (small) - one per student
• Sharpie pen

Method

1. Use washable felt tip pens to color inside of acorn caps (one color per cap).
2. Fill acorn caps to brim with white acrylic glue e.g. Elmer's School glue (pour glue into muffin cases - use Q-tips for child to add glue to acorn).
3. Fill 13 x 9 x 2 tray or pyrex dish one inch deep with a pound of rice
4. Carefully place acorn caps to dry upright in the tray of rice - and label each child’s row of acorn caps with a popsicle stick.
5. Leave for 3 days or so to dry.
6. Watch the glue dilute the dye from the felt tip pens and then slowly evaporate.
7. Acorns will transform into shiny colored Acorn Jewels or Acorn Gems!

Acorn Memory Game

Adult to make for ages 5 - 10 to play the Memory Game

Materials

• Large deep acorn caps from Red Oak family e.g. Black Oaks
  You need 16 acorn caps for each 4 x 4 memory game

• Tight-weave jute burlap 18” x 15“  (e.g. obtainable from Michaels) 18” x 10 ft roll makes 6 playmats)
• Deco Americana Gloss enamel in 8 colors - White, plus True Red, Bright Yellow, Bright Orange, Lavender, Festive Green, Calypso Blue I mixed pink from the white and true red
• Americanan DuraClear Gloss Varnish (2 oz)
• Flathead brush
• 13 x 9 x 2” tray or dish with about 1/2 inch of rice (a pound of rice) for drying rack
• Paper plate as paint palette
• Organza bag in gold color, 7 x 5 inches for acorns
• Gold color satin ribbon, ½ to ¾  inch, say 18 inches for playmat tie

Per playing set - make two painted caps of in each of 8 colors, reserve caps and make some spares too!

After you paint each acorn cup stand it up in 13 x 9 tray with 1 inch deep rice. Two coats of gloss for each cap, plus three coats for yellow and orange, cover each painted cap with a coat of gloss varnish for extra protection.

Put your acorn cap playing pieces in an organza bag 5 x7 in gold color.

Make burlap playmat

1. Outline a 12 x 12” square template, and divide into four 3 x 3 squares.
2. Use template to draw outline of "board" on the burlap.
3. Roll up the burlap playmat and add a gold satin ribbon for tying and storing when not in use

Enjoy playing this memory game alone or take turns with a partner!

Acorn Nests

Ages 10 to adult to make

• Acorn caps, use large flat 1 - 2 cm diameter acorns with spiky caps, for example from Sawtooth Oak trees
• Look at a guidebook to Nests and Eggs to be inspired and informed about the diversity of birds eggs color, shapes and patterns.
• Sculpy or other polymer clay shaped and baked as per instructions

Here are some eggs my daughter made with blue and speckled with gold paint flicked on with a toothbrush.  In retrospect they seem like a Summer Tanager’s egg!

Acorn Berets for small stuffed animal beanies

Ages 8 to 10

• Acorn caps, use flat caps from Red Oaks - to dress your small stuffed animals with berets “beanie caps for your Beanie animals”.

Here’s Pink Kitty looking stylish in her Acorn Beret!

Acorn Cap Whistle

How to Whistle Using an Acorn Cap

Whistling with acorns is a trick that is easy to learn and teach, plus, it is very effective at getting attention and amazement from friends. Additionally, it can save your life if you are lost in the woods and need a way to signal rescuers/ scare off wildlife. See http://www.wikihow.com/Whistle-Using-an-Acorn-Cap

Acorn Wreath

A craft for 2 year olds and up - and with plenty of acorns and caps of all kinds. I have not tried this one. Let me know if you do!

http://www.mybrooklynbaby.com/blogs/my-brooklyn-baby/6999552-an-acorn-craft-for-toddlers

Oak Leaf Wonders

Go on a oak leaf gathering hike - red oak leaves work well

Use snowflake, flower and other 5/8 inch small craft hole punches (e.g. from Fiskars) to punch holes in oak leaves and other fallen autumn leaves.

Hang student’s work on string with miniature clothes pins, on orange paper background. Or enclose your beautiful leaves in a letter to a friend!

Voila - a cheerful and wonderful art display!

And of course - where the harvest-gathering all begins...
Go on a hunt looking for seeds!

Seed Safari

• This is a perennial favorite activity with children of all ages. 
• Use an card egg carton box (one per student) to collect and sort finds.
• If your schoolyard has few seedheads in the autumn - then bring some in from elsewhere to increase "findability"
• Use microscopes/magnifying glasses to increase students observation experience.

Discussions
How do seeds travel? Do they float on the wind? Travel by animals?
Seeds we eat: discuss what did you have for breakfast? coffee, beans, wheat, oats, nuts
Bring in other seeds for students to study - including a tomato, cucumber, coconut

Do a seed dissection
Soak pound of lima beans for 2+ hours, demonstrate and give a bean seed to each student. Peel off the seed coat. Can you find the two food parts (cotyledons), and the seed embryo's root and shoot? The food in the cotyledon supports the first growth of the new plant

Readings
A Seed is Sleepy, Diana Aston, Sylvia Long, for 3-5 grade 
Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds, Jean Richards, for 1-2 grade 
One Tiny Seed, Eric Carle for pre-K to 1

Oak Trees and Acorns as Teaching Tools
See my previous blog Oak Trees and Acorns as Teaching Tools for a discussion of teaching with oak trees, acorn biology and seed viability.