Service Learning

We enjoyed our Service Learning with 3rd grade friends from Mrs. Stockmoe's Crew.  As we have been working on our learning expedition, The World is our Garden, we noticed that we did not have enough soil in our garden beds for our planting.

From there, we reached out to Mrs. Stockmoe's 3rd grade crew for help.  Third grade calculated how much soil needed to be ordered by using their math skills.

We paired up with a buddy and got to work.  Students worked on pulling weeds, cleaning up trash, moving dirt and mixing compost.  

Our work was hard, but we were so proud of our accomplishments.  As we reflected on our stars and steps, students liked having an older student to help and enjoyed being to do the work themselves.  Next steps, the students hope we can build some benches and add more plants by the fence.

What a great opportunity of learning!

Bee Expert

We were excited to welcome our Bee Expert, Jessica Goldstrohm, from The Bees Waggle.

Ms. Bee, as the kids chose to call her, will visit with us every Wednesday.  We will meet her in the outdoor classroom for the next 5 weeks to study bees. 



We are so excited for this hands on expert to continue to help us become bee experts!

 This week, we learned about pollination and how it helps our garden thrive.  We also learned that bees are the most efficient of the pollinators.  Students each got their own bee to put in glitter filled flowers to understand how bees pollinate.

Students closely observed different kinds of flowers to learn about the parts of the flower.  Students identified where nectar and pollen are found in a flower.

We have already been building our schema of native bees through close reading, so students enjoyed seeing real live Mason Bees up close.

Case Study #2 - Tops and Bottoms - A Study of Plants

We are finishing up our 2nd Case Study of our Learning Expedition, The World is our Garden.  After studying all about the rocks and dirt that go into our soil and compost, we have now been learning all about plants.  Students have really enjoyed becoming botanists. 


We learned about what the parts of plants are and what each part's function is.  We also learned about what plants need to thrive.

Students enjoyed eating parts of plants and then researching about plants that grow well in our short garden cycle of Colorado.  A master gardener from Douglas County came to help us learn about which cold weather and warm weather plants grow best in Colorado.

From there, we researched a particular garden plant and wrote a persuasive piece to help us decide what will go in the garden.



Long Term Learning Target:
I can explain how plants and organisms work together to help our garden thrive.

Learning Targets:
I can identify the parts of a plant and their function.
I can identify what plants need to thrive.
I can determine what plants grow best in Colorado.
I can write a persuasive piece about a garden plant to plant in our garden.

Case Study #1 - The Dirt on Dirt

Our guiding question:
How do plants and organisms interact to help our garden thrive?

We are deep into our 2nd learning expedition, The World is Our Garden.  We spent our first case study getting to know earth's materials. 

Students used tools that scientist use, such as:
~magnifying glass
~viles
~screens
~science journals to record observations.

 Students enjoyed being geologist and experimenting with rocks, pebbles, sand, silt and clay.

From all of the observations, questions and experiments, we have a better understanding of soil and compost.  We ended our case study with an in depth study of earthworms.  Being a helminthologist was exciting and engaging.  Be sure to ask your child about his/her learning about this very important garden organism.  Students are excited to fill our garden beds with compost and rich, organic soil along with our helpful earthworms. 

Long Term Learning Target:
I can explain how plants and organisms interact to help our garden thrive.
I can identify what plants and organisms need to thrive.