Hello everyone!
What a pretty week we had! On Tuesday we learned about the bp oil spill that occurred in April 2010 on the Gulf coast. We talked about how the spill affected so many birds, especially brown pelicans, seagulls, gannets, and ospreys. Please look up these bird species with your child so they can see what they look like! We did an activity where we found oiled pelican and seagull feathers and tried to clean them with Dawn dish detergent.
Also on Tuesday, Bear, Cooper, and Brolin helped me monitor the water quality on Little Noonday Creek. Our school has monitored the creek once a month since September and it is amazingly clean. It has an average pH of 7 (perfectly neutral) and an average oxygen level of 9 parts per thousand (very healthly).
Thursday morning, we placed frog markers from Cobb County Watershed on the storm drains in a neighborhood behind the school. It’s a way of reminding residents that only rainwater should go down our storm drains. That means no leaves, grass clippings, trash, pet waste, cigarette butts, leftover grease, motor oil, rocks, or coals from the BBQ grill!
A HUGE thank you to Ki Debbie and Ki Heather for adding the collector app to their phones and helping us cover three large sections of the subdivision. We cleaned, marked, and recorded 34 storm drains. In addition, we hung 82 bags of educational materials on the mailboxes of the homes along the way. All of these storm drains lead into the Little Noonday Creek watershed.
The HomeSchool students were VERY excited to do a project that helps protect Little Noonday. They would like to go back and mark storm drains along the roads that we missed. We could do more storm drain marking Thursday, April 18th, either 9:00 to 11:00am or 3:15 to 5:15pm. Which is better for each of you? I would need two parents to be with us again to serve as small group leaders so we can split into three groups.
I hope you had a relaxing and adventurous spring break. I flew to Dallas to help my little sister Stacey. She had surgery on her foot and will be in a boot for 5 weeks. I am her nurse, chauffeur, and egg collector (she raises chickens) for the first week!
This week, we will begin our study of mammals. We'll have our last Creature Feature on Thursday: a Cobb County bomb dog!
Mark your calendar with these special events:
Saturday, March 30th, 8:30-9:30pm: Earth Hour
Tuesday, April 9th, 3:30-5:00pm: Girl Scouts storm drain marking, in the neighborhood the school
Thursday, April 11th, 10:15-11:00am: Cobb County bomb dog Creature Feature
Saturday, April 13th, 10:00am-2:00pm: Springtide Festival (I'll need some older kids help me teach younger kids how to build fairy houses, near the retention pond black fence.)
Thursday, April 18th, 9:00-11:00am OR 3:15-5:15pm: Storm Drain Marking, Part II for HomeSchool students
Tuesday, April 23rd, 6:00-9:00pm: Girl Scouts frog monitoring on Noonday Creek Trail, near Cobb Parkway (Sunset is at 8:15pm.)
Tuesday, April 30th: Receive take-home project on mammals
Tursday, May 2nd, 9:00am-3:00pm: HomeSchool field trip to TELLUS Museum and Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville
Friday, May 3rd: Grand Friends Tea and Maypole Dance
Tuesday, May 7th, 3:30-5:00pm: Girl Scouts caving basics, at the school
Thursday, May 9th: Birthday celebration for Ollie
Saturday, May 11th, 10:30am-12:30pm: Hiking with Prancer at Pettit Environmental Preserve
Tuesday, May 14th: Mammal take-home project due, class presentations
Tuesday, May 14th: Water quality monitoring of Little Noonday Creek, Elsu, Helene, & Ollie
Thursday, May 16th: Last day of school
Thursday, May 23rd, 8:00-9:15pm: Older Girl Scouts sunset frog walk on Noonday Creek Trail, near Cobb Parkway
Monday, May 27th-Friday, May 31st: 1st week of Summer Camp at The Garden School
Tuesday, May 28th-Thursday, May 30th: Girl Scouts camping and caving trip, Nickajack Lake and Cumberland Caverns
Monday, June 3rd-Friday, June 7th: 2nd week of Summer Camp at The Garden School
Quote from a child: "I didn't stat crying because I knew I could do it. I'm a lot stronger than I look!"
Quote from Stacia Tauscher: "We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."
See you after the break,
Ki Sonya
