There Is Only ONE You!

Building a green team for a garden is one step in my goal for our school. I just came back from a Green Schools conference this week and am truly inspired to make a difference myself. Our green team started with our school garden, but a green team could also be a group that wants to make a difference in the world. A way to do that is to connect our kiddos to that fact that one person can make a difference. This is my way of getting my green team on board to recycle, upcycle, compost... the sky is the limit! I found this book on a blog hop.

 “There’s only one you in this great big world, make it a better place.” 
http://www.lindakranz.com/books_only-one-you.php



I am inspired...check back to see what Thomas Jefferson students can do to make a difference!

Cranberries...Thanks For Giving

Here is Wisconsin, we have cranberry bogs all around us. My son even went to a cranberry bog on a field trip. He brought me back a heaping bag. So....what did we do?  We decorated with cranberries, made cranberry muffins, made cranberry sauce, and even made a  yummy jello using our cranberries. I almost felt like Bubba on Forest Gump. I used these lessons last year...tested them out for you. Enjoy the fun!

Here is the Teacher Pay Teacher link: Cranberry Fun!

Here is a quick video that you can use to show some of the steps in the harvesting of cranberries. We have an Ocean Spray factory about a forty minutes from our house. If it isn't cows we see its...

Are you cravin' the craisin? Or the cranberry yet? What better way to tie in science, reading, writing...

To top it all off... our teachers read this book and use the recipe in it to make something with cranberries. This year is busy, we may use it at our monthly family night. Here our kiddos were looking at the cranberries to see why they float...they are hollow! Happy Fall!

Rock On!

It is that time of year, when our units are ending and new ones begin. I want to share a quick site with my science friends to help make our Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Silt Unit ...ROCK! Last year, I found this great site for sheets to enhance our FOSS kit. http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/rocks-and-soil/  Thanks to Kathryn at Kindergarten, Kindergarten... these pictures and sheets, and even books help the unit!
Love this book for an opener! I even give the kiddos a rock to keep in their pocket to take the worries away! Don't forget to set up a rock museum. They will bring you treasures!

Planting a Seed...

We met today as a farm to school group and we came up with a great idea to connect our farm to school sites...planting a seed. This is a way for people to leave comments and ideas for us to share. Each week, I will plant a seed of an activity or recipe we used in our after school or classroom curriculum that ties in our garden to life lessons. So here it goes, friends.

My first plant a seed...  comes to us through our need to include our high schools into our farm to school initiative. Today, we met with our high school Ag teachers and the food nutrition coordinator at our high schools.  The idea...We are growing cherry tomatoes this winter in our green houses. The tomatoes that we grow will be given to our lunchrooms as featured veggies and the Consumer Ed departments. The students will be using recipes to make things with tomatoes. Ideas were salsa and pasta salad. Our "woods" class could make raised beds, and our marketing classes could promote the products. Ag can promote that their club isn't just about cows or living on a farm, it is about gardening and more. Just some ideas for you as the cold weather brings us no fresh veggies, but time to plan for the spring.

Tomato Inspiration!

A Peek At My Week

Tomorrow morning, I am meeting with our high school Ag. teacher and Farm to School representatives to see if our high schools will be willing to grow veggies next spring for our lunchrooms. School Gardens rock.

Thursday, brings me to Neenah so that we can become a "Green School" that is nationally recognized for our school garden and healthy school. Have to say I am double dipping...my daughter's team made it to state for volleyball and they play Neenah in Green Bay on Thursday night. Go Lumberjacks! I am such a proud mama!


As for school, our state testing takes our classrooms out of science a bit, but kindergartners are building bridges for the billys instead of dealing with the troll, first graders are working on bird research projects, second graders are working on weather and are learning about clouds... I will post my ideas later this week, fourth graders are working on their Holiday light factory, creating parallel and series circuits, and our fifth graders are using their flippers from FOSS to scale the walls of the castle walls of their classmates. Fun stuff in Science with Mrs. H.

Cloudy With A Chance Of...

This week, I started my cloud lesson for our 2nd grade meteorologists. I used this video to start us off with. I then created an cotton ball activity to give them a visual aid. I made word cards to them. I used the cloud ideas from The First Grade Parade to help me make a visual for the kiddos, too. 

We will wrap up with this book and our song to The Farmer in The Dell found on Super Teachers.

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/songs/cloud-song.pdf

                                                                    Cloud Flip Book

I will post pictures this week. Have a great Monday!

The Three Billies Build a Bridge

My dear science teacher friends, I tried out our Three Billy Goats Gruff lesson last week. I read one of the versions of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. I stressed our power words OVER, UNDER, AROUND, NEXT TO...I then had the blocks, plates, cardboard, whatever you got people, to have them build a bridge as a team. I put the three billys, I called them, to work. I made groups of three, slick stuff. Then they worked together to build that bridge. It took them awhile to work together, but I had a goat puppet that I used to see if I could get up the bridge, across the bridge, over the bridge, and then down the bridge. All of the little billys forgot to build a slope or ramp, so I gave them each a car to try it themselves. They started to figure out that they needed something to help them get up, over, down. By the end of our time we had all of our billys able to make it safe across the bridge to greener pastures. Next week, the word slope and our next lesson. Also, push and pull...working on building the perfect playground equipment for a playground for our bears from last week. Push and pull...stay tuned.

                              Up, Over, Down. Up, Over, Down. Let's get the Billys to the other side of town.