We are looking at samples of composting materials that include worms, "rolly pollies",vegetable peels and old newspaper. In just a few week we are expecting to see our first crop of summer vegetables, so perhaps we'll want to borrow a supply of prepared compost, if someone could spare us a few tubs. Not enough time to wait for the rot. I think.
Today we went to the water waste treatment plant, and boy can I say "me and my little group of students have really learned a lot." As soon as we got there we went to a building that takes sand and rocks out of the water (this is the first level of cleaning.) Then we went to a huge tank of the horrible smelling gas that comes from the waste water, it travels under ground underneath about 7' of wood. The bacteria in the wood mixes with the bacteria in the gas causing it to end up smelling like wood. After that we went to another tank that reminds me of a big mixer, but this one gets big chunks of trash out of the water (level two.) The last tank we went to showed us the nearly clean water all that needed to be done was boil it. I would like to thank the tour guide for showing us the steps used to turn waste water into drinking water.
This is Shamaria's mother again. I wanted to give an update. We had our first family meeting about recycling yesterday,and I was Wowed by Shamaria's knowledge of recycling. As parents we are always the ones teaching our children, and not too many times our kids are teaching us . But the tables turned yesterday, because she did all the teaching and I listened. I was so proud of her. When I asked Shamaria how does she feel about recycling she said " It makes me feel happy b/c you can help save the planet. She also said "I feel like recycling today". The meeting was about 25 minutes long. The meeting also included Shamaria's 3 year old sister Mariyah that has her own topic which was plants. Following the meeting we went outside where me and the girls plant 2 different types of flowers from some seeds I purchased a few months ago, we also used some soil that was previously in a pot of flowers that had died, so we were able to reuse the soil we already had., It was fun but extremely hot. Will let you know how that goes : )
Frito-Lay
Mondays are new and exciting experiences to all of us. Last week we went to Frito-Lay. Where we learned about their means of transportation.The kids got the opportunity to get on every truck, van and trailer that there was.The favorite part for most was honking the horn and taking pictures.
At Frito-Lay I learned that they have big and small trucks.The small trucks go to little stores; and the big trucks are for grocery stores.
Beyonce Hart
At Frito-Lay a few weeks ago I learned that they make different kinds of chips.In Japan they have shrimp flavored chips.
Ishmael Ellington
Water Treatment Center
must admit the smell got to us all,but we managed.The kids learned where our drinking water comes from and the process it goes through.
They took us on a tour. Thye told us how the water is cleaned and how it gets dirty.
Hayzul Powell
Today i went to the water plant.When we first got in it, it was really nice they had a pretty demonstration of what it looked like outside.Then it was time to go outside were some places stank. So we went across the street and went up the stairs were they had a bad stench.
Then we had to go inside were the smell was coming from ,so i went inside of the stinky
building and I almost passed out.After that we walked around to places were they showed us
dirty water that they clean.And this man showed us that if you throw a penny in the dirty water it will come back up .And this is what i learned and saw by. ~Tahjonae
today I went to the water plant to learn how water is recycled ~Randy
The water stinks I'm surprised that our drinking water comes from this same water.
I learned the water goes through many different levels of cleaning before it is clean enough for us to actually drink. (I'm not drinking any anytime soon.) There was a foul smell it burnt my nose but I got over it. In the end I did have some fun learning how our drinking water gets clean. It was fun and I learned alot.
~Lewis
The last two weeks have been wonderful.These kids are really learning and are anxious to learn more. Last week recycling triggered their minds. They wanted to let the whole world know that they recycle and that recycling is something for everyone.
This week is a bit more challenging for we are learning about air. The main focus is air pollution. We are conducting experiments and taking pictures. Kwame...wow! He walked up to an apartment, greeted the people, and asked to take a picture. As we walked away the lady said, "That was cute."
I felt happy that they are not only learning the things we are teaching, but are applying them to daily life. ~Nazareth, 2nd and 3rd grade teacher
Chairs, tables, buildings, cars, airplanes, jets, boats--all these things pollute our air.
Jordan Hart
Last week we learned about recycling. We did a recycle race. You can recycle anywhere you go. Please recycle.
Hayzul Powell
Today the tech class did some before and after pictures of how the enivonment would look like if people continued to go about polluting the world as they currently do.
In the beginning picture we have clean water, happy people, clear (clean skies), and over all health. But in the after picture we have oil slicks everywhere, dead or dying animals, dirty water, dying plants, and dark some-filled skys that try and block out the sun.
The tech students are very creative and had some really good ideas on how the enivronment should look "before and after." With the help of Charleston Harris (CJ), Randy Chambers, and Tahjonae Williams, the teachers (Ms. Lenice, Ms. Deanna and Mr. Uchenna) have a better understanding of how they think.
We are winners!
We’ve learned so much about recycling and air pollution. We’ve experimented and tried a lot of different things that have helped us understand both of these new concepts.
"We don’t put paper in the trash because it goes in the recycling bin. I’ve learned about air pollution and what dirty and clean air is." Monteyvion
"We pollute our air when we let smoke come out of our engines for a long period of time." Niemen
"Acid rain that comes from volcanoes pollute our air." Kyleon
"If a place is dirty the air can get dirty and if the whole air is dirty you could get sick and possibly die." Joshua
"I can see our recreation center from my house." Kyleon.
"We eat lunch there and its also where we play and we also hung our 'dust catchers'.”
Monteyvion, Josh, Kyleon, and Niemen
"The dust catchers catch dust and the things that pollute our air." Kyleon and Josh
"Its also used to see if our air is clean or dirty." Monteyvion
Niemen took the awesome picture of Mr. Cliff helping us hang up our dust catchers on the recreation building and Ms. Brandie took the picture of the Earth Team as we stood under our dust catcher.
As I left my office last night, I noticed something hanging outside the door.
Odd.
My first thought was to wonder why maintenance put that there. Then I remembered seeing these strange strips earlier in the day in Ms. Bert and Ms. Brandie's classroom.
The kids are studying Air Quality as a part of their Environment/Recycling program this week. I'm guessing it has something to do with figuring out how clean/dirty our air is. I believe Ms. Lauren and Ms. Nazareth's class did something similar because I saw them setting jars outside earlier this week.
Maybe Monteyvion, Niemen, Hayzul, Ishmael, or someone from one of those classes can explain to us what they are doing and what they find out. I would love to know!
These are some pictures of our most recent field trip to the Frito Lay Plant. The students learned about the was to cut down on air pollution and why it is important to keep you car in good condition. I would like to thank the Frito Lay group that gave us the tour and allowing us to temporally leaving them hard of hearing.
Last night, thanks to their Seats for Kids program, we were able to choose eight kids to attend Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Dallas Summer Musicals. A couple of weeks ago, the kids saw Wizard of Oz.
The University of Values and After-School Academy is committed to providing new and unique experiences to kids in our after-school and summer programs to help them gain a broader perspective about the opportunities available to them...whether it's attending plays and musicals or becoming an engineer who can help reduce emissions at a Frito Lay plant.
We believe all of our kids have the potential to do great things if they are exposed to the right opportunities that help them "dream and envision who they can and will one day become."
So, it's always exciting to me to hear kids excited about these new experiences.
When I asked the kids how they liked Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jailyn excitedly said, "I never knew what a musical was!" Then, as we exited the freeway to Roseland, the kids got excited all over again, "Look! That's where we went!!" Sure enough, a huge billboard by Roseland advertises Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
All eight kids said they liked the musical and would go back. They especially liked the flying car and when the man caught the kids.
Stay tuned...we will continue to have more wonderful opportunities to come!
One of the main objectives of the After-School Academy/University of Values is to prepare kids for their future. We do this by exposing them to new and different experiences, teaching them to greet, and focusing on other social skills.
The kids are impressive. If you walk in the summer program, you will often have 18 little hands stuck out, ready to greet you. This summer we are also focusing on caring and manners with the kids.
Mondays are field trip days. In the spirit of exposing them to new places and new ideas...and in keeping with our focus on Environment and Recycling, they went to the Frito Lay plant. Matt and Steve have been absolutely wonderful in their willingness to take on a group of kids and figure out a way to break down "emissions" to the kids. They brought out their big "rigs" so the kids could explore, honk the horns, and then learn how Frito Lay is trying to keep the big rigs from polluting the air so much.
The kids had a great time. All of the field trip surveys came back saying they enjoyed the field trip and wanted to go back.
What was even better for us was the email we received from Steve the very next day:
Janet - I just wanted to take a moment to commend your group. The Frito team had a lot of fun, however, our hearing may never be the same after all of the horn blowing on the trucks.We truly appreciate Steve and his team. It's always nice to know how our kids make an impression on people.
Sylvia and all of her helpers did a great job and your students were well behaved, courteous and curious. It is very interesting for us to work with a group of that age. I think we all left thinking it was fun, but don't have the energy to do it everyday. You and your team are doing great work.
Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it. I hope the kids enjoyed it as much as we did.
Best of luck. Let us know if there is anything else we can do.
Thanks, Steve
In our tech class we have a practice of having every student take their memory cards our of their cameras at the end of each day. Today after all of the field trip excitement is seems that ever student forgot the rules. Every student, that is, except for Lewis. This is a blog post to give him recognition for being the only student in the class to remember to take out his memory card and put it in its case. Good job kid, keep it up.
I heard the funniest story today from one of our parents. Her daughter Trinity attends our University of Values Summer Program. She is in our Kindergarten class.
I was chatting with her and I asked her how does Trinity like the summer program, and she looked at me with excitement and tiredness. She told me about how Trinity keeps her up until 1am in the morning talking about the program. She said that she wakes up throughout the night saying, "Is it time yet?", "Is it time yet?", and her mom would say, "No Trinity not Yet", and if you could see the look on her mom face, it would make you laugh!
She told me that Trinity showed her a bag filled with white stuff, she is not sure what they made, but all she knows is that Trinity said, "Now momma you can't eat this, but you can smell it", and she replied, OK! and she smelled it. It was a project that they made with UNT Biology Department Assistant Professor, Dr. Rudi Thompson and staff.
They were making all kinds of stuff, like a miniature landfill, homemade paper, a recycling poster and plants. They even gave them neat recycling bags to take home to store or carry items in.
They are learning so much. I am also proud of my staff for their efforts, they work really hard and diligent everyday to make sure the kids learn and have fun at the same time.
I really did enjoy their recycle relay that they had today, it was hilarious seeing the kids run and pick up trash, you hardly ever see them pick it up, they are usually throwing it on the ground. How funny!!!
I am looking forward to the days ahead. I can't wait to see what Trinity has to say next. Her mom told me she says everyday, I am ready to see Ms. Silver and Ms. Berp. Our names are actually Ms. Sylvia and Ms. Bert.
Excitement is in the air! The kids can not hardly wait to start on projects for the enviromental fair at the summer. The kids in the second and third grade class have great ideas.
Today two of the kids were helping with chores when Ms. Janet came by. They were telling her all about our cool word journals which we created out of recyclable materials. They were so excited to tell her about how they had so many words in their journals they were running out of room.
One child also was telling all about a very creative scavenger hunt project that she wanted to do for the fair.
I am so excited to see how involved the children are becoming and I can not wait to see their creations come to life.
We are up and running! Already we are making progress building our social and behavioral skills while striking some new notes with our science and technology based summer program.
Our ecology demonstration today was off the wall. There was hardly a moment to breath from building a simulated landfill, and playing recycle bingo with all kinds of plastics and paper products. I even learned that paper towels are not recycled after use because they have been soiled and are no longer considered to be "neutral". Also the landfills are loaded with paper that could be recycled to produce other paper items and other products. What a waste to put any unsoiled paper in the trash. Our kids got the message loud a clear.
We even had a break through today on a smaller scale when one young fellow saw how difficult it was to keep up his "fashionable saggy pants" and work on the hands on projects we had. With only a mild suggestion (no criticism is appropriate) he came in today and proudly announced that he had borrowed a belt just so he wouldn't be preoccupied with holding up his pants. It only took two days of struggle and just a mild prodding for him to "choose" another option. Why the big deal?
Well I have heard that we see much older young men participating in our CDM Skills Path job training programs where they are instructed on how to present themselves for employment, and some have been reluctant to accept the fact that having to adjust their saggy pants so often tells an employer that they are going to loose hours of time on the job while hoisting their pants.
This shows real social intelligence developing from natural consequences at an earlier age which is part of our behavioral coaching program this summer.
What do you know about technology? This summer the kids will be learning about taking pictures and videos, putting them on the computer, playing computer games about recycling, using voice recorders, doing interviews, and much more.
We have a great group of ExxonMobil Green Team ambassadors who teach the classes.
This is the Tech Geniuses class. Expect great things out of them! They will be documenting the program and creating awesome videos for us to watch by the end of the summer.
One-on-one attention. The University of Values provides opportunities for kids to get to know their teachers and the teachers to get to know their kids.
This summer the kids will engage in active learning. Today they went into the aparment complex to pick up "trash." When they came back, they separated it into trash and things that could be recycled. We had full bags of recycled items by the end of the day.
Welcome, Aviant, Angel, Jailyn, Niemen, Kwane, Jordan, Joshua, Monteyvion, Hayzul, C.J., Lewis, and Justice. We are excited you are here!!
Resources...they're what our kids need to prepare in life.
I had access to resources growing up. One of my friends reminds me that my "resources" are a direct result of my White privilege. She's right. So many kids don't have the same access I did. But it's not *just* about being White. It's a culture...a mindset. It's the way the entire community values and facilitates learning. Unfortunately, many of our communities are not nurturing education hubs. I would like to think that our After-School Academy and University of Values summer program plays a part in changing that tide in Roseland.
Last week I trained our University of Values (UV) summer staff. I asked them to imagine some times they spent outside of school and what they did.
I told them about a chemistry set my mom purchased at a garage sale. I was intrigued by the carmel "recipe" and was convinced that this chemistry set was going to allow me to make Kraft caramels. I spent a number of days outside (mom wouldn't allow the chemistry set in the house) with my test tubes and potions trying to create carmel that I could eat. (I never managed to produce edible carmel)
Brandie told about watching Super Size Me! then trying her own experiment with french fries to see how they held up over time. She was appalled at how "preserved" the french fries stayed day after day.
Other staff told about observing animals on the farm or disecting/torturing frogs when they visited relatives in the country.
Yet, as they told me these stories, they quickly added, "Nothing educational, though." Nothing educational?!?!?!?! When did "education" become synonymous with "boring"??
This summer our theme is Environment and Recycling. We have high school juniors and seniors from the ExxonMobil Green Team; we have a Mayor Intern; we have Americorps members. All are teaching kids in hopes of inspiring them to think differently about the role they play in helping/hurting our environment.
I keep encouraging them to give the kids a little information, let them ask questions, and encourage them to research and explore. We have a "Tech Genius" class that will be documenting everything this summer. I am hopeful that they will create innovative audio and visual products throughout the summer.
As we went through training, I saw lightbulbs going on as the UV Teachers figured out that learning is exciting and that learning is everywhere! However, I'm concerned that teachers have done such a great job of realizing how exciting learning can be that they're going to end up wanting to do all of the exploration instead of facilitating it with the kids!
We have great staff and a great program. The kids will be taking trips to the Landfill, the Waste Water Treatment Plant, the Museum of Science and History, University of Texas at Dallas to see how the sciences provide careers in this area, and many others. If you want to keep up with what's going on, check out their blog throughout this summer: http://www.ourasafamily.blogspot.com/.
We hope to begin updating it soon!
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