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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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Wednesday, April 10, 2013
| Filed under
Educators
This week, two of our educators have traveled to San Antonio to give a presentation to the National Science Teachers Association's annual conference. In addition to sharing our outdoor teaching tips and techniques with 2,000 of the nations' coolest Science teachers, we'll be giving away six of our standards-based STEM lesson plans, courtesy of our partners at Texas Instruments. Download them now for free! AND, because it's Spring and we want to get outside as much as we can,
we've also got three "Life Sciences Come Alive" lessons to help you get
students exploring the organisms living in their own schoolyard.
Explorations ...
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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, February 05, 2013
| Filed under
Educators
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Community
Our ancestors were tough, tenacious and smart, if they were not we wouldn’t be here today, the genetic transfer would not have taken place and we wouldn’t have all the modern miracles’ that surround our life today. We would not have cars and airplanes whose metal components come from rocks, how did they figure that out? And imagine the most modern technological device (computers) are made from dead and decaying plants and animals in that plastic comes from oil and oil is dead and decaying plants and animals, include too, that some computer parts also come from rocks, (the ...
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Tuesday, January 15, 2013
| Filed under
Volunteering
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Student Behavior
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School Garden Installation
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Educators
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Community
Saturday was my first “Big Dig” with REAL School Gardens. Those are the days where we join our partners to create a learning garden at a low income school. It was cold. It was rainy. It was muddy. And I loved it. 
As the new marketing and communications director, I was there to get a sense of how these community-powered events work. I was also getting some fresh photos for the website. To get these pictures, I asked one of our educators, Eric Vanderbeck (a.k.a. Mr. V), to do some of his hands-on lessons with 12 kids whose ...
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Friday, July 13, 2012
| Filed under
Educators
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Science
,
Math
It’s not exactly news that students in the United States don’t measure up to students in other countries when it comes to math and science. 
But why is this important? According to a report by the National Governors Association, students who get degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and who get jobs in STEM fields not only get paid significantly more, but also experience lower unemployment rates than workers who enter other fields. Something in that NGA report was of particular interest to us. One of the six steps they decided would help accomplish STEM reform was “using informal ...
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
| Filed under
Environmental Stewardship
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Health and Nutrition
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Educators
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Community
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Social Studies
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Science
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Math
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Smart Potatoes
Kindergarten teacher, Lester Sipma, at George Clarke Elementary (Fort Worth, TX) has participated in the past two years of the Smart Potatoes Program. He shared his experience this year with us below: 
Participating
in the Smart Potato program has impacted me, my students, our George C. Clarke
staff, faculty and families in many ways. Some of the ways in which the program
has impacted our campus were expected and others were wonderful surprises.
I
used the Smart Potato project as a platform to teach a variety of science
lessons such as plant life cycles, soil types, problems and solutions to
gardening, identifying insects, determining ...
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Wednesday, May 30, 2012
| Filed under
Volunteering
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Environmental Stewardship
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Educators
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Community
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Family Activities
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REAL Supporters
Volunteers are found at the core of every successful nonprofit organization, and REAL School Gardens is no exception to that. Without the dedicated service offered by our community volunteers, we would be much further away from accomplishing our mission of creating learning gardens that grow successful students. REAL School Gardens would like to send out a well-deserved, special “Thank You” to each individual who has generously donated their time and service to help install and sustain beautiful, dynamic school gardens, provide garden support for North Texas elementary schools and administrative and special event support to REAL School Gardens. Our ...
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012
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Volunteering
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Educators
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Community
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REAL Supporters
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Smart Potatoes
REAL School Gardens' community members in both Tarrant and Dallas counties came together recently for two community-building extravaganzas highlighting the learning gardens of two REAL School Gardens’ partner schools. Both of these events celebrated the successes experienced in REAL school gardens during the 2011-2012 school year. Educators as well as other community members including volunteers, partners and contributors were recognized with certificates of appreciation for their dedication to helping REAL School Gardens fulfill its mission of creating learning gardens that grow successful students. 
Student-created sign in the garden at REAL People - Tarrant County On May ...
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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
| Filed under
Student Behavior
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Educators
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Science
,
Smart Potatoes
Our guest blogger, Angela Buffington, had the chance to spend part of a cloudy April morning with Ms. Porter's second graders at Fitzgerald Elementary School's learning garden in Arlington:  Holes in the potato plant leaves We observed potato plants and pieced together clues to solve a mystery. First, all the students' eyes surveyed the potato plants, quick to notice some stems were missing leaves! Students began to chatter as they noticed leaves with ragged edged holes. Several had figured out what must have happened and were eager to share. Hands shot up, and students exclaimed, "The leaves were ...
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