Edina
CURRENT
Nov. 24, 2011 • V41.47
minnlocal.com
In the Community, With the Community, For the Community
Hornets take state swim titles. Page 34A
Edina students gobble up ‘Tom
Two Centennial Lakes fireplaces to burn gas
the Turkey’ visit District’s Curriculum Resources and Programs connects learning with real world experiences BY KATIE MINTZ – SUN NEWSPAPERS Creek Valley Elementary School in Edina had two special guests Tuesday, Nov. 15. “Let’s pretend today that you are a turkey farmer for just a few minutes,” Don Nelson, owner of Nelson’s Farm in Litchfield, said to a first-grade classroom. Nelson told the students all about turkeys and turkey farming. And then he unveiled “Tom the Turkey,” a live domestic large white turkey, whose gobbles elicited giggles and rapt attention from the students. The visit was arranged through Edina Community Education’s Curriculum Resources and Programs division. Offered by the Edina School District since 1974, it helps teachers find guest speakers and field trip opportunities that tie into course curriculum. It provides the hook that gets students excited about learning and helps them connect what’s happening in the classroom to the real world, said Creek Valley Elementary School Curriculum Resources and Programs Supervisor first-grader Noah Reetman, 7, meets “Tom the Turkey,” and Marcia Friedman, who also heads up the district’s handler Don Nelson of Nelson’s Farm in Litchfield Tuesday, Nov. 15, at the Edina school. (Photo by Katie Mintz – Sun Newspapers) Community Volunteer Programs. “The kids and teachers love it,” said first-grade the perfect tie in.” teacher Dorren Erny, who helps organize the visit to Creek For some students, it’s the first time they have seen a live Valley each year. “Farmer Nelson models a career that many turkey. Nelson, who has been going to classrooms across the kids are no longer familiar with.” metro since 1988, when he visited a St. Paul school where his The lesson ties in with social studies units in citizenship and daughter was a student teacher, said his favorite thing is seeing communities, as well as science, she said. “We are currently studying the Wampanoag tribe and the TURKEY TOM: TO PAGE 14A first Thanksgiving,” Erny said. “Turkeys and Thanksgiving are
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Edina City Council also bans use of coal-tar sealant, updates refuse and recycling code Tuesday, Nov. 15 BY KATIE MINTZ – SUN NEWSPAPERS Centennial Lakes Park will be a little less smoky this winter. The Edina City Council voted Tuesday, Nov. 15, to convert two of three wood-burning fireplaces at the park to natural gas units. The two interior fireplaces in Hughes Pavilion will make the change sometime after Thanksgiving, City Manager Scott Neal said. The exterior fireplace will remain woodburning. The move follows an Edina Energy and Environment Commission recommendation FIREPLACES: TO PAGE 30A
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