Potatoes - Presidents -Print Making

In North Texas, Presidents Day reminds us that it is time to plant potatoes. So, our school farmers were busy this week. They dug holes, spaced chunks of seed potatoes just right, covered them, watered them and wished for big harvests. 

Since we were honoring our American Presidents, we added a lesson on Presidents who had farming roots. Did you know that there were 17?
Here is a list in the order of their Presidency:
1st       George Washington
2nd     John Adams
3rd      Thomas Jefferson
5th       James Monroe
6th       John Quincy Adams
9th      William Henry Harrison
10th     John Tyler
11th     James K. Polk
16th     Abraham Lincoln
18th     Ulysses S. Grant
26th     Theodore Roosevelt
33rd     Harry S. Truman
36th     Lyndon B. Johnson
39th     Jimmy Carter
40th     Ronald Reagan
42nd    Bill Clinton
43rd     George W. Bush

We also worked in some potato print making and taught the kids how to create art using potato stamps and reclaimed wood.

Perhaps one day one of our farmers will become President or a Print Maker. E I E I O.., Growing Goodness in the know.

We Are Stronger Together

This week reminded us about the importance of working together. Since our irrigation system has been installed, we needed to re-string our square foot gardening grids. It would have taken this farmer forever to complete that task, so I took this opportunity to have my student farmers help out. Of course we didn't miss a beat in applying their lessons in class to this project. Kinder friends counted squares, Primary friends found arrays and skip counted (the precursor to multiplication) and Intermediate and Upper friends figured out perimeter, area and volume. Many hands make light work and I was really impressed by the kids and the way that they all pitched in and helped out to get the job done.

Our recently formed 4H Club was invited to the Dallas Zoo to help out in the Savanna. We made enrichment toys for the elephants, buried food for them to dig up, and help make some upgrades in their indoor pens. I think that we all want to be zookeepers now!

                                       

Building community and working together, helps us all get the job done and have a lot of fun along the way. We are stronger together!

The Last Week in January

 In Texas, we have amazing weather in the winter! It makes living through the blazing heat of August worth the wait. Fifth grade is studying Life Science, so what better way to learn about that topic than being outdoors on the farm. When I walked out to see what they were doing, there was so much focus, concentration and engagement. See for yourself.

We recently added drip irrigation lines to our garden beds, so we had to dig everything up. This week, we got the green light to start working in the garden again. The 1st and 2nd grade friends learned about square foot gardening, grids and multiplication. They worked together to tie off the grids and did a great job. Stop by the farm and see our progress.

Primary Lesson

5th grade Lesson