Love the Worms

So when you love the worms, moles are enemy #1. I was adding food scraps for the worms in the worm pavilion when I discovered a baby mole. Cute maybe, but they grow up to eat up to their weight everyday. What do they eat? WORMS. This was a baby. My google search showed that moles can have 5 babies at once. Though they are solitary in their living, this was a family thinking that the worm pavilion was an all-you-can-eat buffet. We cannot have that when our worms are composting waste to make fertile soil for our garden. It just wouldn't work. So what to do? Solve the problem! I still wanted the worms to be able to enter or exit as they chose, but I didn't want the moles or mice to have that choice. With the help of my daughter and granddaughter, I emptied the pavilion, stapled a wire screen to the bottom, and problem solved. The worms were very happy and plentiful. My granddaughter found lots of baby worms to excite her and a baby toad that was entertaining for at least 15 minutes. It was a marvelous Monday!!!

April is for Nature

We educated 4th grade on the importance of worms in the garden. They explained square foot gardening to us. We worked together to plant our experiment gardens. Which soil will produce the best fruits and vegetables?...bagged raised bed soil, soil with worm tea, compost, or miracle grow. We cannot wait to see. For Earth Day, we tested earth surfaces to determine the most protective surface. We discovered that soil absorbs twice as much water as sand and pebbles. We know this because we had to dump in twice as much water to observe half as much come out the bottle. The soil with the grass growing kept the soil from eroding. Evidence of this was seen in the cleaner water. We love science.

garden day

Garden Day was a big success. We got the raised beds in and surrounded them with mulch. We used cardboard under the mulch to prevent weeds. After some time the cardboard will decompose and just become part of the soil. I like that sustainable idea. With a freeze expected, we didn't plant anything except pumpkin seeds. For the pumpkin bed, we added the compost created by the pumpkins from pumpkin exploration in the fall. When we pulled the compost out of the spinning composter, we found some seeds sprouting and some worms had found their way into the composter. Surprise. It was a wonderful day.

Worm Pavilion

The worm pavilion was designed, built, and delivered. The classroom worms moved into their new home on St. Patrick's Day. We layered their new habitat just the way they like it, so they should continue to be happy worms. There were lots of eggs moved too. The students sounded like they were on an Easter egg hunt. My favorite part is the window. You can see the layers now, but in a couple weeks, we will be able to see the progress the worms have made at decomposing the food waste and creating soil for next year's raised bed. Then we will be able to see the roots growing in the soil through the window. I'm thinking carrots, potatoes, or peanuts would be fun to watch. With diligence and grit, dreams do come true.

Conservation Chief Update

We started Conservation Chiefs in January. The meeting was about recycling and collecting Capri Sun Drink Pouches and Lays Chip Bags for Terracycle repurposing. February we looked at the worms in the vermicomposter and talked about collecting food waste from lunches in the cafeteria for composting. I didn't think it could get better than that...the worms are so much fun. But today...we looked at a slideshow of pictures from the Lynnhaven River NOW Trashion show. The local high school students created fashions from what would be trash or recyclables. It impressed and inspired me. So I asked and the Kellam Science National Honor Society students if they would like to do some collaboration. Three of them (past Creeds students) joined us for today's meeting and we discussed creating new ways to use old items. The students conferred and left the meeting with some great ideas that I look forward to seeing come to fruition. So stay tuned.

A Feast Without Waste

To celebrate Thanksgiving, this 1st grade class had a literature feast and shared foods related to their stories. The challenge was to enjoy the feast without creating a lot of waste. In the end we had one trash can 1/2 full of trash, 1 can of recyclables, 1 tub of reusable dishes and cloth napkins, one bucket of food for composting, and a ton of fun. That's when the real fun began. We started a new experiment to watch some of the food waste decompose. We have a control container, a container that won't get any air, a container that had some soil added, and we buried some in the garden under a layer of soil. (Shhh...Don't tell the principal.) We plan to wait and watch patiently. The students are excited that they get to shake the containers, too, for mixing purposes. Which will decompose fastest? Will the remains be as good as the class worms create? Stay tuned...this is not mold growing in the refrigerator.

Frog Bog Stones

Have you seen the frog bog stones were given a makeover? Mrs. Bivens repainted them in nice vibrant colors. They look awesome at the entrance to the frog bog path with the little stones the students painted last spring. Their arrangement is like an invitation to enjoy a relaxing stroll along the path. Enjoy!

1st grade enjoyed going outside to the Frog Bog today to make observations like a scientist. We heard crickets, wind, airplanes, children's voices at walk-n-talk, and a whistle. We saw trees, bushes, flowers, rocks, and seats. We smelled fresh air. We felt rocks and wood, but didn't get to touch any frogs...maybe next time. It was good to be outside before the rain.

Clean-up Day at the Frog Bog

We will be cleaning up the Frog Bog Friday, August 14th, from 9 to 12 to get ready for the new school year. If you can help, even for an hour, please come. There will be weeding, trimming, and general gardening work to do to prepare it for classroom visits. Just bring your tools and gloves and be ready to enjoy nature.

Earth Day 2012

Earth Day is just around corner. We are preparing to share our learning at our Earth Day celebration. It is going to be lots of fun hearing about what other grade levels have be doing to learn about conservation and sustainability. I hope you are all as excited as I am to see the presentations. I hope you are also giving thought to celebrating in your own way at your house as you pass on to your friends and family what you have learned about taking care of the earth.

Students Enjoy the Frog Bog

The Frog Bog
By Mahayla H.
Last week, my class went to the frog bog behind my school. I saw big, round, brown stumps that looked like seats. I sat on one of them to make my observations. I saw a baby blue bird. He was sitting up in a tree branch. There was a green frog under the water. I also saw little fish swimming around in the water. I heard lots of things. I heard crickets. They sounded like tires squeaking.
I heard animals walking behind the trees. They sounded like leaves crunching. I heard the wind blowing through the trees. It sounded like a big wave crashing as the leaves hit the branches and each other. I felt the nice cool breeze blowing on me. I also felt the itchy grass brushing against my legs. I smelled flowers that smelled like strawberries. The frog bog was a beautiful place that day. I can’t wait to visit it again.

More Capris

We have mailed off another box of Capri Suns. It weighed almost 20 pounds. I wonder what they will become in their next life. At least they won't be sitting at the landfill rotting. I want to thank everyone for getting them ready to mail to Terracycle. Your dedication is heartwarming because I know it will benefit future generations...friends, family, and people we don't even know. But don't forget, our efforts to be more sustainable also help the animals...like the dwindling number of polar bears. What else have you done recently to help Mother Earth?

Conservation Scouts

Have you heard? We have 1st Grade Conservation Scouts this year monitoring our use of recycle bins and trash cans. They go with the custodians to each classroom and staff desk to make sure that only trash is in the trash can and only recyclables are in the blue recycle bins. They really have helped alot of people to realize mistakes that were being made. So far Mrs. Sass's Kindergarten class has had their waste sorted correctly on every check. Mrs. Haws and Mrs. Cikatco have always been correct, too. Remeber to think before you throw it away. Keep on sorting.

Drink Pouches

Thanks to Eliza and Meighan for helping to empty, and straighten up the drink pouches from lunch. We boxed up 15.5 pounds of empty pouches to send to Terracycle. That means that they will become something useful instead of going to the dump. The girls were very helpful, but it was interesting to listen to them talk about the messy bag of pouches. Some people didn't empty the pouches completely, didn't remove their straws, and didn't flatten the pouches. If these things are done, it makes it much easier to pack the box. Please help us out by emptying, flattening, and removing the straw when you drink from a juice pouch. Thanks for your continued support.

New Composter

We want to thank Mrs. Sawyer for donating our new composter. We put it next to the garden close to the primary hall so that it would be convenient to the garden and easy for us to use. We checked out the vegetables growing in the garden...cabbage and brussel sprouts. Then we added the pumpkins that had begun to rot from our pumpkin exploration in October as our "green" ingredient. We added some shredded paper as our "brown" ingredient. It will make for some great soil in the spring. And we get to watch it break down through the winter. I wonder if we will get any worms moving in to help out in the process. What do you think? Do you have a composter or a compost pile at your house?

Recycling in the Past

We studed the American Patriotic Symbols this past week in first grade. We discovered that the original Liberty Bell was recycled when it cracked the first time it was rung. It was too much to send it back to England for repair, so it was melted down here in America and reformed. Because it then sounded strange it was melted down again and reformed to become the bell that we all know. I bring this up because we need to think everyday about how we can work to reduce our waste by recycling and reusing things in stead of throwing them away. CELEBRATE with us National Recycling Day Tuesday, November 15th, by wearing your green. I'll be looking for you.

Back at the Keyboard

Sorry it has been so long. Know that it is not due to a lack of conservation going on here at Creeds ES. We have enjoyed another fabulous school-wide Earth Day celebration. We had pumpkin sprouts growing in the vermicomposter. Some staff members took an outdoors classroom habitat class over the summer so we could embed learning about nature in our outdoor classroom better this year. Terracycle collections did well. One of our parents was inspired to make jewelry from empty gift cards as a way of reusing the card materials instead of letting them rot at the dump. The Conservation Chiefs decided that we needed recycle bins at our baseball fields so people would have a place to put empty bottles and cans. Sweet potatoes were harvested in the 1st grade garden in September during our Day of Caring. Two more rainbarrels were installed. Preschool PowWow hosted another amazing conservation evening where children learned about recycling, reusing, reducing, and composting. Tadpoles were rescued when the Frog Bog went dry in the spring and the students had the opportunity to watch the lifecycle of real frogs in the classroom before releasing them to a wetter habitat. The path through the Frog Bog area was improved by a boy scout project and the placement of stump seating thanks to Mr. Andy and the hurricane that blew over a large tree. There is bench seating by the pier enough for an entire class. We have been busy, but I will try to stay on top of it again. I hope you too have been diligent about making conservation efforts. Let us know what YOU have been doing.

Another Terracycle Shipment

We sent in 42 pounds to Terracycle. That's Drink pouches, gluesticks, and zipper bags that won't be found at the landfill. Give yourselves a pat on the back for collecting so diligently. Keep sending in your collectible waste items. Terracycle will put them to good use and pay us for collecting them. We have all ready recieved a check for $192 for our efforts. I cannot wait to see what the Conservation Chiefs decide to purchase with the earnings. Oh, if you haven't been out to the Frog Bog recently, stop by and check it out. 1st Grade toured it last week, identifying living and non-living things and hunting for evidence of seeds. There may not be a lot of new growth yet, but it is still worth the visit.

Down and Dirty

The worms are back at work eating through food waste, coffee grounds, and shredded newspaper. They have all ready started making castings, which will act like fertilizer in the garden. They seemed very happy to be inside where it is warmer, though the compost pile from which they were retreive seemed pretty warm. At least in their new home they won't have as many friends to compete with for food. Well, not for the time being anyway. If they are as happy as the worms last year, then we'll have babies again before the end of the year.

Collection Totals

AWESOME! In January, Towels for Terriers collected 100 towels, 103 washclothes, 90 hand towels, and 33 blankets. Those numbers are great for one month of collecting. We want to thank everyone who particapated in January by sending in their old linens. Did you know Towels for Terriers was the idea of a 7th grader at Princess Anne MS? She came up the plan to collect and deliver the linens to the SPCA to help the be more eco-friendly. So don't ever let anyone tell you that one person can't make a difference. Here's proof that it only takes one person with a desire to make a difference.
Speaking of collections, our check for our Terracycle collections came in this month. We added 192 dollars to our account to be use here at Creeds ES to help us with our GREEN movement. The Conservation Chiefs and the Frog Boggers will be deciding what to spend it on this spring. I can't wait to find out what it goes toward. Until then: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink everyday!