Rock Prairie boys and girls, oooohhh, we know that school is cool!

Howdy,

Well I have officially completed my first and second week as an intern and it was busy, but amazing! I am sorry it took so long for me to update everyone. Working 8-5 for TEEX on Mondays, Thursday and Fridays then working on internship activities for Tuesdays and Wednesday was an adjustment but I am loving it! 

Week One

On my first day of my internship I had the privilege of traveling back to the place where it all began, Rock Prairie Elementary! 

It's funny how much can change in almost 12 years, I almost didn't recognize the inside of the school at all. We visited Mrs. Gardener's 4th grade class and recorded a lesson plan about following directions when planting a seed. It was very interesting to watch the kids try to write down all the steps to planting a seed then sharing them with their fellow students. The students then demonstrated their directions and the kids were so great at following exactly what the other student said! The lesson we recorded will be part of a online educational moodle (same as eCampus or Blackboard) that JMG is creating for teachers! I hope that the videos and lessons they create in the moodle will provide good examples of the proper way to teach children about gardening!

After we finished in class I got to take a walk down memory lane, one of the cool things about Rock Prairie is the indoor courtyards they have between the hallways. These courtyards were designed into gardens where JMG classes could grow different plants and vegetables! Randy informed me that after my JMG instructor Mr. Cain left, the gardening program dwindled and the schools garden ended up being ripped out and replaced with stone pavers. This news hit me pretty hard, I remember my mother buying me a rosemary plant to plant in one of the courtyards and how proud I was that I planted it all by myself. When I traveled back to the school a few years ago that rosemary plant was still there, along with the rest of the garden. However, now it's just a flat piece of ground with a picnic table on it. This was a truly saddening things to hear about, and witness.

Most people don't realize the importance of programs such as JMG or Horticulture in general. The creator of JMG, Mrs. Lisa Whittlesey worked for a prison creating a horticulture program for the inmates. These programs provide not only education but a respect for other living things. The gears are turning in my head on how I can contribute to gaining more involvement from other teachers at the school. It's sad to think that the younger generations may not get to experience a gardening program because of possible lack of participation by the teachers. 

Online Programs 

Part of completion of the JMG handbook are the web activities that prompt children to do gardening at home. So far I have created ideas for Chapters 1 & 2 of the JMG Level One online activities. These activities include lessons on Propagation and Classification of plants for Chapter 1 and lessons on soil structure and soil improvement for Chapter 2. Randy and Lisa have been super helpful in the creations of these programs and I am excited to see what else we come up with for the other online lessons we have to create. I am also learning how to use Word Press which is a webpage software that can be a little confusing. I am learning lots of html coding thanks to the IT guy, which could come in handy some day!

FRIDAY

I also had the privilege of going to Greens Prairie Elementary to record my JMG instructor Mr. Cain in his last sing-a-long. Mr. Cain used to do the sing-a-longs at Rock Prairie and my favorite was "Rock Prairie boys and girls, ooohhh, we know that school is cool!" (Hence the title of this post) Mr. Cain retired this year so this was a wonderful opportunity to see him bringing music to students even after 12 years. I am currently learning how to use a video editing software called Camtasia and once I figure it out I will post the video of the kids singing the most adorable garden song ever!!!


Also, look out for a super awesome Father's Day gift for to help the kiddos with this week, Ill be posting it tomorrow!

PLANT CARE TIP

I recently gave my boss an Ivy plant I grew in my HORT 202 lab and it got infested with mealybugs! Mealybugs are a soft-bodied insect with a fuzzy white residue, they are very common in house plants! Mealy bugs cause Chlorosis(yellowing) and leaf drop of plants by sucking out their juices. In the case that your house plant does in fact have Mealybugs, give your plant a good shower with a water hose to knock them off! Its best to use pesticides as a last resort, some have chemicals in them that clog the stoma(breathing holes) of a plant and they will die!

I hope that helps:) Thanks so much for reading, your guys are so RAD(ish) that I found garden joke for you! 

 
Q: What do you call the worm that ate Mozart? 
             (Guess a while before you go searching for the answer!)



Thanks & Dig' Em, 

Hallie





QUIZ ANSWER
A: A decomposer!