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!

 

Join us for "first Monday" monthly APS School Garden Meetups - today's is at Campbell Elementary School, Arlington, VA

Please join us for today's Arlington Public Schools - APS School Garden Meetup!

Monday, October 5, 4 – 5 PM

At Campbell Elementary School, 737 S Carlin Springs Road, Arlington, VA, 22204

Hosted by Christy Przystawik and Jessica Haney

Come and see the Campbell Wetlands Learning Lab, learn about Campbell’s Expeditionary Learning Community, see the Hugelkultur beds and other gardens and more!

All are welcome, including accompanied children. Rain Plan: We will meet indoors

Sign in at the school front office and follow directions to where we’ll be meeting, in the courtyard, weather permitting. Please RSVP:  http://goo.gl/forms/c19jMx2hO3

Visit Campbell Elementary School‘s Outdoor Classroom and Gardens and: 

• Network with parents & staff
• Learn about Campbell’s Expeditionary Learning Community
• Discover Campbell’s Wetlands Learning Lab, Hügelkultur Gardens, food growing programs and more!
• Learn about our volunteers and community connections
• Connect and get inspired
• Share best practices and curriculum ideas
• Brainstorm solutions

This is the second APS School Garden Meetup, following up on the April 2015 APS Growing Green Schools event. 
Read about the first APS School Garden Meetup at Jamestown Elementary in June 2015.

SAVE THE DATE: for the next School Garden Meetup at Patrick Henry ES School Garden, Monday November 2, 2015, 4- 5 PM 

Come to network, exchange best practices and learn about Patrick Henry ES’s Habitat and focus on Service Learning “Helping Hands”

Host Susan Spranger

on Monday, November 2, 4 – 5 PM
RSVP to Patrick Henry School Garden Meetup http://goo.gl/forms/mDIFweZykD

Please join us for School Garden Meetups at other schools in Arlington over the year.
We are meeting most months on first Mondays.

Please contact GrowingGreenSchools@gmail.com to host a School Garden Meetup or for further info.

APS School Garden Meetup organizers:

Kirsten Buhls, Virginia Cooperative Extension

Jessica Haney, Mindful Healthy Life

Elenor Hodges, Arlingtonians For A Clean Environment

Mary Van Dyke, Green STEM Learning

Reposting from Mindful Health Life and the APSGreenSchools listserve

To join the APSGreenSchools listserve to receive future notices about the APS Garden Meetups and other area events and to share green schools information in the Arlington VA community - please send an e-mail to: APSGreenSchools-subscribe@yahoogroups.com with the name of your Arlington Public School (APS) or affiliation/interest group

You’re invited to a School Garden Meetup, Jamestown Elementary School - June 8, 4 -5 PM

Interested to share and learn more about outdoor learning and gardening in Arlington schools? 

Parents, staff and community are warmly invited to drop by for a first School Garden Meetup on Monday, June 8, 4 -5 PM at Jamestown Elementary School. 

Details and RSVP at http://goo.gl/forms/980LWWTkIk

One Small Square in the Outdoor Classroom

Ms Rascoe’s fourth grade science classes come out to the Jamestown Courtyard "outdoor classroom" to work collaboratively in teams of four students and to practice scientific method while observing a “one-meter square plot”: a One Small Square.

• We frame our inquiry in terms of “health”.
• How can we begin to assess the health of the small square?
• What is the health of the one small square plot?
• What would we do to improve the health of this plot?
• The lesson guides students experientially to an understanding of improving health of an ecosystem through increasing biodiversity. 

Click for lesson plan details.

Also note: although students mark out a meter square area, we will consider what is underground and also in the air above the soil surface.

See Donald Silver's book One Small Square - Backyard for inspiration.

Each team of four students builds a one-meter square with ½ inch plastic pipes.

Each student team locates their meter square within a general area of the courtyard garden. Here are the 6 areas identified on a googlemap

The students observe their plots using senses: look closely, listen, smell and feel too...(We're not tasting things in the garden today though!)

• Can you draw a bird's eye view of your one-meter plot?
• What would a cross-section look like?
• What do you consider to be factors influencing the "health" of your plot?
• Factors include: sun, light, soil, rock, water, air, human interactions, wildlife, plants (abiotic and biotic factors)
• Can you find and identify the plants in the plot?
• Are there any insects and wildlife in your plot today?
• Can you name them?
• Observe the insects and wildlife and describe what they are doing.
• Can you make a hypothesis or an inference about what might be under the soil surface using some of the information on the surface or by exploring carefully?

The students discuss together and diagram and write notes in their science journals, using pencil and colors.

After making observations, students begin to formulate a "health assessment" of the plot and propose design improvements.

• What do we mean by “health” of the garden? We discuss ecosystems, biodiversity, wellness...
• What would you do to measure and improve the health your plot? Consider potential signs of health.
• The students begin to think about introducing plants or other ways they could increase the biodiversity and improve the health of their plot.

Here are some results and ideas for improvement: Plot Name of Plot Observations of Plot Ideas for Improvement of "Health" of Plot 1 Sensory Garden Not much growing yet Daffodils are out Sage (smells) silvery leaves Thyme (smells) Strawberries Sign saying second grade are going to be planting a garden here with a QR Code links to a planting list Could add many more plants with different textures, feel and smell to appeal to the senses and for students to study Needs pathway 2 End Wall Name of this area is not very poetic! Smells of drains from toilet inside Looks like a plant died and left a big “gap” After rain hear rainwater in the downpipe Crocuses in flower but behind big shrubs so you can’t see them Need to report potential drain leak to Principal and Custodians - it smells unhealthy in this area Need to select and plant a shrub to fill the “gap” Can anyone think of better name for this area? Could dig up and replant crocuses in front of the big bushes so they are visible and we can enjoy them in the spring 3 Weather Station Christmas Rose, Hellebore in flower just outside the plot The weather station has a thermometer that might work, a rain gauge and an anemometer to measure wind speed. The anemometer is broken. There is a birdhouse Some plants here are Coneflowers, Echinacea that have seeds that provide food for birds such as goldfinches A weather station is an asset to the student’s use of the courtyard. But this one is broken. Perhaps it’s time to think about getting a new one? There is also room to plant more plants here 3 Pyramidal Frame Decide the frame is for a climbing plant there’s a label but no plant in sight There might be a plant waiting to come up? Plant a climbing plant here if one doesn’t regrow in the spring? 4 K Tulip/Milkweed Garden Several students remember planting tulips here when they were in Kindergarten and see lots of tulip leaves In addition to tulips there are crocuses and lots of other plants identified as wild garlic, mugwort, chickweed It might be a good idea to weed this bed of wild garlic and mugwort so that the plants intended to be here such as the tulips and milkweed can thrive more. Also the milkweed likely will overcome some of the smaller plants here. If milkweed is to be here - it might be more healthy for the plot to move the other plants to where they can more easily thrive? 5 Second Grade Garden This garden lacks a poetic name! Last week it was called the bed of the “decomposing pumpkin” There are a lot of plants here that look interesting including lambs ear, asters, honeysuckle, buddleia and boxwoods We discuss relative impacts of the various plants. Buddleia although a nectar provider for insects can now be invasive in this area, perhaps it should be taken out and replaced with native plant? The students like the lambs ears - it could also be divided to plant in the Sensory Garden. It needs to be managed to not overgrow its plot. 6 3 B’s Bird, Bees and Butterflies, Pollinators and Milkweed Garden This garden has a name - although it is long. Students find a rhizome of milkweed There are a lot of hairy bittercress in flower, mugwort and other plants such as mint and lavender growing here May need to move lavender out of this bed as it will be overcome by mint Could weed out Could plant other plants to increase biodiversity and increase flowers from spring to summer for pollinators

This lesson was 45 minutes long and gave students a quick overview and idea of what they could do for stewardship projects to help create a more healthy environment in the courtyard: to increase biodiversity. The students are excited today by observing their selected small square plots, and feel empowered by suggesting ways they could contribute to the overall well-being of the courtyard. Students offer to be included in the stewardship and maintenance process of the courtyard, and I note proposals include: to plant seeds and plants, and to weed and water. Students begin to discuss health of the ecosystem in terms of increasing biodiversity.

Credits and Resources

One Small Square is inspired by "Magic Spots" in The Growing Classroom, p. 238.

Donald Silver: One Small Square - Backyard

One Small Square adaptations

The One Small Square lesson can be adapted for working over several class periods, and for elementary, middle school and high school students to assess for example: the health of a tree and an ecosystem, and to form an introduction to more extensive civic engagement stewardship projects.

For example:

• At Gunston Middle School, I developed materials in Spanish and English for 6th grade students to observe tree health, do site assessments and catalyze stewardship projects.
• At Arlington Traditional School, second grade and fifth grade classes observed their Small Squares over a year (Sept/Oct 2011) and implemented design projects.
• The iSchool for the Future blogs One Small Square as a family activity.
• Use the One Small Square lesson as an introduction for more extensive site assessments and audits of your schoolyard and school such as required for the Eco-Schools USA program.