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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
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Student Behavior
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Science
The wonderful thing about being an intern here at REAL School Gardens is that I get to see some of the amazing things students discover in our gardens every day. Sometimes it’s bugs and plants, and sometimes it’s their true selves. 
Each spring, REAL School Gardens partners with Botanical Research Institute of Texas for our Smart Potatoes program in which schools can plant potatoes, chart and graph their growth, then donate the potatoes to local food pantries. I got an opportunity to visit one of our partner schools to check out a lesson and take pictures last week. In ...
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
| Filed under
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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Tuesday, January 15, 2013
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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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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
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Environmental Stewardship
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Student Behavior
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Health and Nutrition
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Family Activities
I had an epiphany when an acquaintance described himself as the “green sheep” of his family. “Wow,” I thought,” that’s what I am!” It wasn’t until they read an article recently published in Dallas Child magazine that my family seemed to finally understand what it is that REAL School Gardens does and why we do it. They seemed to think I spend my days digging in dirt, trying to convince elementary students to eat their veggies. Of course, the vegetables are an important part, but a small part, of our efforts to increase student engagement ...
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Wednesday, May 09, 2012
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Student Behavior
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Science
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Smart Potatoes
On a warm May morning, Ms. Koop's kindergarten class at Bonnie Brae Elementary became an observation train and baby potatoes as we learned to observe potato plant parts and learn about what plants need to grow and thrive.  The school garden potato bed at Bonnie Brae Elementary As we drove around the Brae Elementary garden, our train cars used their senses to observe the plants. "I see a potato leaf." "I hear the birds." "Choo choo! I feel the air on my face." Together under the arbor we pieced together the parts of a potato plant: the stem ...
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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
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Student Behavior
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Educators
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Science
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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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Friday, January 20, 2012
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Student Behavior
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Social Engineering
…said by a 3rd grade student after being told by me that the FBI eats all the dead birds and squirrels on the roads and highways - of course I was thinking of the fungus, bacteria and invertebraes as the decomposers, he was thinking of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; nothing like cognitive dissonance to bring attention to what one is facilitating with students. There were quizzical looks by other students as they devoured (so to speak) the context of what was being disseminated. And so it is fun science facts shared with students that seems to instill ...
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Wednesday, January 04, 2012
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Student Behavior
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Science
A fine day was recently had outdoors at Holiday Heights Elementary School, instructing 2nd grade students in the ways of mechanical energy by using a hand trowel to remove weeds. A hand trowel is the combination of two simple machines, a wedge and lever working together to make the work of weeding easier. The beauty of the trowels mechanics is in the ease of the use of force to perform a push or a pull to accomplish the needed task of weeding. Often students ask “What is a weed?” I think that Ralph Waldo Emerson answered ...
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Monday, October 24, 2011
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Environmental Stewardship
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Student Behavior
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Health and Nutrition
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Language Arts
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Community
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Social Studies
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Science
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Math
Students at T.A. Sims Elementary (Fort Worth ISD) hear the calling
Nature has information she wants to share with you about the world and your place in it; she wants to offer you awe and wonder; she has things to share. We need to know that nature is the foundation of the arts and sciences; she offers exploratory learning through observation, inquiry, discovery and investigation. Nature will direct us to rigorous thinking, real world relevance and relationships between all her bounties and creations. Author Clifford Knapp offers these principles of indigenous (natural) wisdom to be enveloped by nature: 1. ...
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011
| Filed under
Sustainability and Funding
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Student Behavior
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Educators
Growing up I remember spending countless hours playing outdoors. Whether it was making mud pies or helping my grandmother pick pecans in her backyard, I was always outside. It seems rare to see such behavior for kids in this electronic age. Left to their own devices (literally), many children are stuck indoors playing with the latest technology and have long forgotten the happiness that comes with being exposed to nature. 
But every day there is an opportunity to get kids outside during school hours. Their schoolyard can be used for the same type of outdoor explorations I used ...
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