Update on the Worm Farm/Garden

The worms have been busy eating and making compost. Once in a while the kids have to mix up the stuff in the box. They love discovering and finding the worms which tend to be somewhere in the middle and lower portion of the box.

Finding a worm.

They are growing and multiplying. We started with 50 or so and now there are lots more.

This one was a beauty!

This worm shows the bands around the middle.

Here is a picture of some worms and the rich black soil they are producing.

This picture shows the worms working as the newspaper and other foods we've added decomposes.

We planted some tomato plants early in April. We added some of the worm compost around each plant.

Here is a picture of our garden in early April. Since this picture we've planted potatoes which are up and also some garlic and herbs.

This is a brocolli plant from our fall garden.

This pretty cabbage ended up in the worm farm. It will help to make new soil for new plants.

A view inside the worm box.

A close up of the worms and the rich black soil. The first time we harvested the soil we got about 2 cups. On April 21 we took out 60 cups of rich composted soil. We added alot of that to our garden. Those pictures will be posted later and our worm farm will be on display at the WOW Showcase on May 10th at Azle Hight School. Hope to see everyone there!

Pioneer Life Up Close

My grandson Jackson and I visited a place in Dallas this weekend and had a great chance to view some interesting displays on pioneer and Indian life.

Inside the teepe were these different animal skins. Can you identify any of them?

I had Jackson stand near this wagon wheel so we could see just how big a wagon wheel is.

This is a "dug-out" house or a 'sod house'. We talked about this in class. The walls are made of sections of dug up earth. Then is it stacked all together. The roof is made of sections of grass.

Inside the sod house you can see the wall of dirt. It was cool inside the house even though it was hot outside.

This picture shows the door frame set in against the sod and grass roof.

Can you imagine taking a bath in big tub?

This picture was taken inside one of the log houses. All the furniture was made from wood. There were small windows to let in some light.

Here is Jackson outside the log house. He thought it was a great place to explore.

I found this study desk and chair which was built agaainst a wall inside the cabin. Kids had to do their homework back then too.

Jackson found this big book with lots of words and no pictures. We are lucky we have such a good library at school with lots and lots of books for children.

Jackson and I had a fun time together. In the video you can see him plowing the garden. We talked about this in class also. The pioneers had to use a plow before tractors were invented.

Transportation in Our Classroom

We recently studied about different kinds of transportation. We learned about the first attempts at flying by the Wright Brothers. Each student decided on their favorite mode of transportation and we have pictures ranging from skateboard to jet pack. Enjoy their creative designs.

We Listened to an Astronaut

On Monday, March 29, 2010 our school took part in a radio contact with the Space Station when it passed over Azle at about 10:00 A.M. Mrs. Tyler's Fourth Grade class had prepared questions for Astronaut Soichi Noguchi . We all sat in the gym and waited to hear the words, "This is the Space Station, are you there?" It was very exciting to hear the astronaut report back his answers to the questions the fourth graders had prepared.They had about 13 minutes
of time avaliable while the space station was reachable by satellite radio.






This is a picture of Solchl Noguchi who spoke to us. He is a Japanese astronaut and flight engineeer for Expedition 22. He told us he has been in space for 100 days.

This is the map we viewed. The blue circle surrounds the white arrow which shows the flight path. The Space Station was about 6000 miles out when we began tracking it. It travels at about 17,500 MPH, so fast it was over Azle in about 10 minutes.

This is a picture of the Space Station we found on the internet when we went to the computer lab afterwards. We went to nasa.gov and nasa for kids off the school site. Some students found an actual tour of the space station. We also saw pictures the astronauts had taken from space.

Here is the antenna that was installed by the Radio Club of Tri-County over the weekend on the top of Walnut Creek. We were told that the space station astronauts have talked to about 528 schools from all around the world. We are one of the few schools in the United States. We took part in this tremendous experience because Mrs. Tyler made the necessary contacts needed to make this take place. She told us she had tried for two years for this to happen. She was very excited and we appreciate everyone who helped make this happen. Watch the videos below and see if you can hear the astronaut speaking.

Pioneer Day Fun

Second Grade held a Pioneer Day on March 14. We had lots of fun in our classroom. View some of our activities in the pictures below.

Mrs. Quick, our librarian came into our classroom and brought a quilt she had made. She called in The Laura Ingles Quilt. Each square matched a story from one of Laura's books. She told us how the pioneers used to make quilts.

We talked about the clothing and hats pioneer children might wear.

This is a real pioneer bonnet.

More pioneer clothing. Pioneer children had to work hard. We did some "work" in our classroom that day.

We gathered wood and made fires.

We played marbles.

Here is some wheat that has been ground into flour by hand and rock.

Some students built pioneer buildings.

Log home construction.

Building a bridge for the train to cross over.

We even had to make our snack. We took real cream and poured some into each container. Then every student had to take turns shaking the container until the butter set up. Then we got to eat the butter on crackers.

Here is Our Class Quilt. Look for your page. It takes everyone's help to make a quilt. We decided that working and playing like a pioneer was fun for the day, but doing the real stuff was probably pretty hard to do.