Composting

This afternoon the Gardening Club will have a visitor from the Lower East Side Ecology Center coming in to teach us how to compost. According to the E.P.A.'s website, compost is organic material that can be used as a medium to grow plants. It is created by: combining organic wastes (e.g., yard trimmings, food wastes, manures) in proper ratios into piles, rows, or vessels; adding bulking agents (e.g., wood chips) as necessary to accelerate the breakdown of organic materials; and allowing the finished material to fully stabilize and mature through a curing process. Parents, you can support the learning process by asking your children what they have learned about composting, and giving your children materials they may bring to school to compost. Here is a list of materials that are able to be composted:
Animal manure
Cardboard rolls
Clean paper
Coffee grounds and filters
Cotton rags
Dryer and vacuum cleaner lint
Eggshells
Fireplace ashes
Fruits and vegetables
Grass clippings
Hair and fur
Hay and straw
Houseplants
Leaves
Nut shells
Sawdust
Shredded newspaper
Tea bags
Wood chips
Wool rags
Yard trimmings

The Gardening Club

So the gardening club is underway! We have been meeting every Friday afternoon from 2:40pm until 4:40pm. The mission of the club is to learn about global stewardship. Thus far, 20 students from grades 4 and 5 have joined the club. We have been joined by graduate students from Columbia University. These grad students are engaging our students with hands-on, inquiry based science experiments for the first hour of the program. After the first hour, our club applies what we have learned to the garden at The Bloomingdale School. So far, we have learned that we can create electricity from citrus fruit, and that buying locally gown foods can help us protect the environment. Therefore we have begun to plant the seeds of citrus fruits, and are thinking of ways to grow foods so that we can save energy and reduce pollution. It seems that all of the students in the gardening club are enjoying themselves as well as learning important information about how to better care for our planet. I'm thinking of having the club expand their service detail to include a recycling program that we could implement at PS 145M.

Trouties

As I sit here at my computer, I can't help but admire how well the students in the Trout in the Classroom are doing. My 'trouties', as I call them, come up once a week during their lunch to test the water quality of the tank, feed the fish, and to make quantitative observations about the trout. They have become completely independant! They no longer need me to help. They come up to my room, eat their lunch, and then begin testing the water quality, checking amonia, pH, and nitrate/nitrites levels. Some of my 'trouties' love changing the water and cleaning the filter. All have taken stewardship over the fish, and refer to them as their 'babies'. The fish have grown tremendously, now measuring over 2 cm. I can't wait until they are grown enough where we can return them to their natural environment. Until next time!

Happy Halloween

It is October 30th, 2009, 1 day before my favorite holiday; Halloween! There is something about this time of year that I just love. It could be the color of the leaves as they change, or the brisk autumn air. Whatever it is, it makes me want to be outside. Therefore, I call on all parents and guardians of PS 145 students. Take your children outside. Get them out there before the snow falls and its too cold to enjoy the day. Ask them to show you what they've been learning in science. Ask them to "show off" their inquiry skills. Have them make observations, inferences, and classify objects. Your children have been making great strides in science, and any support they receive at home will help reinforce the learning process. Again, please feel free to leave any questions or comments. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

My first blog....ever!!

After viewing Mr. Luongo's blog, I felt envious. I thought what a cool way to connect ourselves, the educators, to our students and their families. I then thought, I want a blog. So I got one. The point of this blog is so that we may stay in contact with eachother with any concerns or questions that may arise in the subject of science. Did you see a leaf and are wondering what it is? Did you have a question about something you might have seen on the discovery channel? Did you visit one of the museums and want to share what you experienced? Or do you simply want to say hi? All of these are valid reasons to stop by the blog. I encourage students as well as parents to start posting comments on this page. I will be attempting to post blogs daily, a task that will prove difficult considering my schedule, and answering any questions daily. PARENTS- ANY ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE POSTED ON THIS SIGHT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. I would like to say that I am extremely happy with the progress of all our upper grades mad sciencists(3-5). Let us keep moving forward, and keep searching. To quote Joan Baez, whose father was a mad scientist, "As long as one keeps searching, the answers will come."