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Thursday, May 09, 2013
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Educators
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Instructional Aids
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Science
We recently attended a great workshop at the NSTA conference in San Antonio where we acquired a simple and synthesized list of some of the best iPad apps to use in the outdoor classroom. For many of the apps, students took pictures of things outside and used the pictures in the apps to create diagrams, sequences, webs, etc. We thank Judi Kur and Kimber Hershberger, two elementary teachers from Pennsylvania, for sharing this list with us. Looking for ways to integrate outdoor teaching and technology? These apps are kid tested, teacher approved!  Popplet This app allows students ...
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
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Volunteering
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Student Behavior
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Community
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Instructional Aids
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Science
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REAL Supporters
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Smart Potatoes
REAL School Gardens, Surgical Care Affiliates, The United Way and Richardson Bike Mart were part of an amazing occasion held on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at the Gaylord Texan Resort for the children of the organization, Bea’s Kids. This event was created to increase interest in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as STEM. This event not only reached out to the areas of STEM, but it also gave the kids confidence and a feeling of accomplishment after creating each project. With around 200 volunteers and about eighty children involved, ...
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Sunday, February 10, 2013
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Educators
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Instructional Aids
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Science
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Math
My fourth grade students at Holiday Heights Elementary noticed while measuring circumference and diameter on our broccoli plants that the plants next door in the third grade bed were much smaller. They measured these too and wrote the results down in their journals. On fourth grade broccoli C=56cm and D=21cm. On the third grade broccoli C=31cm and D=11cm. The students wanted to know why there was nearly double the difference in both measurements. 
We put our heads together back in the classroom to try finding a variable that could account for the difference. After discussion they ruled out sunshine, ...
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Tuesday, July 31, 2012
| Filed under
Environmental Stewardship
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Health and Nutrition
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Instructional Aids
 themiloproject.wordpress.com
Noun: garbage - food that is discarded (as from a kitchen), food waste, refuse, scraps. And so it is that by cooking fresh produce in my kitchen (most often from the garden, less often from the market) I find there is an amount of less desirous plant parts that no one wishes to eat, unless of course as an example, you take a liking to sweet potato peel soup. There was a time that dish was actually served to me and that is when I discovered composting. The alchemy of composting whereby garbage from ...
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012
| Filed under
School Garden Design
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Community
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Instructional Aids
I’ve been thinking a lot about chickens. My recent trip to Babe’s Chicken Dinner House in Burleson could have something to do with it—or I suppose it could be the other way around. Like most great American ideas of the past quarter century, though, I think it has its real origin in Martha Stewart. Back when I was in high school, I remember watching her show and being in awe of all the cool animals she seemed to have around. The really cute Chow puppies, the big crow that her pet guru always carried on his shoulder, and of course ...
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Thursday, April 12, 2012
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Environmental Stewardship
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Health and Nutrition
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Instructional Aids
Most of us have caught wind of the "farm-to-table" concept. Farmer's markets are abuzz with locavores, and many restaurants are now noting the noble, local origins of their ingredients with detailed menu descriptions. 
Students at Harry C. Withers E.S. hold a farmer's market on campus with produce from the garden and the Dallas Farmer's Market. In North Texas, you can take advantage of farm-to-table opportunities by checking out any number of local markets like Cowtown Market, Dallas Farmer's Market, or White Rock Local Market and by visiting restaurants that source local food like Smoke, Blue Mesa ...
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Tuesday, April 10, 2012
| Filed under
Environmental Stewardship
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Educators
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Community
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Instructional Aids
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Smart Potatoes
"Ideas are not fixed and immutable elements of thought but are formed and re-formed through experiences...No two thoughts are ever the same, since experience always intervenes." - D.A. Kolb  At a recent BRIT Book Study an elementary school educator asked, "how do we talk to our students about the need for cradle to cradle products when their families can barely afford to purchase cradle to grave products? How do we talk about sustainable choices like this without making them feel hopeless?" I consider myself to be an avid and critical reader; however, I probably wouldn't ...
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Monday, February 13, 2012
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Educators
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Instructional Aids
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Science
4th grade educators from across Fort Worth ISD recently joined us for another science module training that utilizes the schoolyard as a resource for rigorous and relevant learning. Yes, another teacher training after school! We know the educators we work with are exhausted—how can we possibly engage them after a long day of teaching after a long week of before, during, and after school meetings, deadlines, and commitments? Well, the same way we engage students after days of worksheets, videos, textbooks, and testing pressure. Take them outside! 
The module written for the district’s curriculum framework is ...
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Friday, November 11, 2011
| Filed under
Environmental Stewardship
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Instructional Aids
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Science
 This is a story of a day’s teaching in one of Real School Gardens 81 elementary schools. The school and characters are real and the situation is authentic but the students’ identities must be protected lest this faux pas (false step) follow them through the years and cause angst forevermore. The following story is a perfect example of why we are in need of getting our young students outside to understand and recognize nature’s beauty, majesty and wonder and the science intertwined in all of it. The teaching day started out well, beautiful weather and happy students ...
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
| Filed under
Engineering
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Sustainability and Funding
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Instructional Aids
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Science
Our friends at First Choice Power wanted us to share with all of you that they have a $2,000 energy grant opportunity available for schools. The focus of these grants is energy efficiency, and First Choice Power is encouraging projects that provide opportunities for students to learn about different types of energy and how to conserve energy.  Solar energy is being harvested in the garden at Hobbs Williams Elementary in Grand Prairie! So, if you've been thinking about getting a solar-powered water pump for your school's pond or if you have other ideas about how to incorporate energy (or ...
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