Farm-Based and Place-Based Curriculum

North Country School

Farm-Based and Place-Based Curriculum Fall 2009 Updated, Winter 2011

Introduction North Country School sits among mountain peaks in upstate New York’s six-million acre Adirondack Park, the largest park in the contiguous U.S. Our 200-acre campus features a working farm, organic gardens, alpine ski hill, fresh water lake free of motorboats, and miles of trails from which to explore the surrounding alpine wilderness. Our teachers appreciate and value these unique natural resources—and feature them in meaningful class work and “real world” place-based projects.

Place-based education promotes learning about what is local—the community, ecology, history, environment, arts, and more. Students typically are more engaged in their learning if they have an actual connection to the material. They become rooted in their place, more attached to their own community, and better able to advocate for its best interests.

And so in North Country School classrooms, eighth graders learn the physical properties of snow pack in their study of avalanches. Fourth and fifth graders discover vermiculture by creating their own worm bins. Seventh grade math students determine whether raising our own pork is cost-efficient. In arts electives, students take nature photographs, plan barn murals, build stools from a tree, dye wool from our own sheep.

One of the founders of the place-based education movement, David Sobel, visited NCS this fall. He attended classes, led an all-school exercise in team building, and gave us pointers on curriculum documentation—the initial results of which are enclosed in this collection. These curriculum write-ups reflect what current NCS faculty are doing in their academic classes and provide brief highlights of the core academic components involved in each place-based project. We share them not to be held up as exemplars or models but with the hope of sparking ideas for others. We also see this document as an ongoing process, with many more place-based projects under way on campus than we have time to get down on paper (or into html). So check back often (www.nct.org) for new additions in the near future.

Katherine Tholen, Farm Educator Lake Placid, New York November 2009

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November 2009

Preface

By David “Hock” Hochschartner, Head of School and Camp Please note: The following article first appeared in the Fall 2009/Winter 2010 issue of Organic Roots, the School and Camp alumni bulletin.

In preparation for David Sobel’s visit to campus this fall, I ordered several copies of his latest book, Childhood and Nature. In it, the Antioch University professor of education and leading proponent of placebased education advocates for “an approach to education that simultaneously honors developing a child’s love of the earth and developing a child’s academic and social competence.” Rather than forcing on young children an environmental curriculum or ecological imperative, say, to save the rain forests, Sobel argues that powerful experiences with nature during childhood can be linked to subsequent adult environmental stewardship and behavior. As he puts it, “Talking to trees and playing in trees precedes saving trees.”

So much of what we do at School and Camp—in formal and informal ways—cultivates the kind of love for the natural world that Sobel sites as prerequisite for later environmental stewardship.

Children of all ages create their own small worlds of enchantment in the nooks and crannies of our rocks, trees, meadows, and streams.

Every summer Junior campers construct miniature gnome dwellings near the red pine forest from bits of bark, twigs, and pine needles.

(Due to construction of the new building, this year’s gnome village had to be relocated—a move, in campers’ made-up narrative, occasioned by a deadly hurricane that decimated the earlier village).

Over the summer, they may sew clothes, make tiny dishes in the pot shop, add a swing, slide or bench—whatever strikes their fancy.

Similarly, on a recent Sunday, a group of seventh and eighth graders continued work on an elaborate fort started previously by others in a magical spot beyond the ski hill near the climbing crag; among their self-appointed tasks was building a bridge over the natural chasm using timbers they had hauled through the woods and pulled up the face of the 12-foot cliff—all the while discussing who held what position in the newly formed fort government and what the logo on the flag should be.

Our own experience suggests that developing affection for the natural world does translate into responsible behavior that begins well before adulthood. For this past summer’s Treetops Fund lunch donations, Junior Camp sent half of its $900 (generated from savings of Monday lunches of soup and crackers) to the Tri-Lakes Humane Society, an explicit expression of their bond with animals. Showing environmental leadership beyond their years, Senior campers North Country School Curriculum

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designated their funds for the purchase of photovoltaic panels to generate electricity for the currently power-less Science House.

On the School side, we frequently engage children in place-based projects that connect their learning to real problem-solving or real contributions to the community: math students conduct a cost analysis of raising our own pigs to produce pork; a community project elective class repairs the tow house on the ski hill; students dye wool and fleece from our own sheep and alpacas in eye-popping colors. For last spring’s Green Cup challenge, Level I led a community-wide effort to reduce energy consumption after Level III science students had collected data to measure our monthly use of electricity and heating fuel.

All these kinds of work, play, and discovery help create lovers of nature who may well become tomorrow’s environmental leaders and problem-solvers. Let’s hear it for talking to trees.

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November 2009

Five Guiding Principles for the NCS/Treetops Farm Program 1. Children should learn to care for an animal and know what it means to nurture another being.

2. Children will begin to understand where their food comes from and be a part of the physical process of growing and harvesting food.

3. By doing actual farm labor, children will recognize the importance of their contributions in making our community work.

4. Children will gain a sense of the life cycle of plants and animals, and the interconnectedness of all organisms.

5. Spending time at the farm will allow children to develop a strong connection to the environment, and a future interest in protecting it.

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November 2009

From Tree to Stool

By Peter Rowley

What kind of a tree is that? I think it’s a yellow birch.

How are we going to make a stool from that?

Once our birch—tall, straight, and fat—lay on the ground, we limbed it, cut it to length, then headed back inside. It had taken us about three and a half hours; the temperature was 12 degrees below zero.

On the second day we split the twelve feet of straight trunk into two halves, using hand tools. Then we cut it into lengths and rived our chair legs and tops. We spent the rest of the week in the shop, draw knifing the legs, shaping the seat tops, then cutting joints to fasten the legs to the seats.

From Tree to Stool helps students see the connection between the natural world and everyday objects like a simple stool. They grapple with properties of wood like grain direction and its condition as it moves from wet to dry. Students also take one small step in the movement to revive interest in hand tools. The whir of the drawknife through wet wood and the sweet smell of yellow birch fill the shop. Years later when students see their finished stool—built using properties of wood to last for generations—sitting in a corner of their house, they’ll also see, perhaps, the original tree in the forest and be reminded of the smell of the birch worked with a draw knife.

“My grandmother put my stool where you see it first thing when you walk in her front door—and she wants me to make her more.”

— Student stool maker

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November 2009

Problem Solving Woodworking

By Peter Rowley

I would love it you could build us safer ladders in the barn... Can you build a wall with a door so we can lock up our camping gear?… It would be so helpful if you all could add some height and length to the built-ins in the art room so we can store our pottery.

Each semester a small group of students takes on repair or improvement projects around campus.

We have had requests for barn ladders, bluebird houses, cabinets in the pottery shop, walls and doors for the Hike House, desk organizers and card holders for the dining room.

Initially students talk to the community member who requested the project. They visit the site and in many cases discuss design elements, including any inherent flaws or strong points. Students take copious measurements that are checked, then double-checked. Once they have all the necessary information, students sketch out a design and develop from their drawing a list of materials. In most cases we try to use framing material, mostly red pine that has been harvested on campus.

Hardware may require a trip to the lumberyard, where they must communicate exactly what they need. Once they’ve developed an order of operations, students cut their material and assemble it either in the shop or on site.

Students learn a multitude of real world lessons beyond the woodworking skills they also are mastering. They learn, for instance, how to deal with clients, how to assess a design so it will function and hold up in the real world, how to work their way through a project in an efficient way. Students also learn that a project does not always (or ever!) go according to plan. When we went to the barn to install ladders, the farrier had come that day to shoe our horses; as a result we had to work on a ladder that we hadn’t intended to put up that day. Flexibility and preparation always come into play. Once the ladders, in this case, have been installed and used every day, students gain confidence in their skills, knowing they’ve made something they can point to with pride.

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November 2009

Grade 7 Math: Pasture Management

By Hannah Mensing A child spins in circles, scattering an arc of seeds across the grass. Each student in the seventh grade math class was busy seeding the pasture, the last step of our pasture management project. We had spent the last four weeks measuring fence lines and the density of the pasture’s grass, weighing sheep, observing them while they ate, discussing sheep nutrition, and calculating just how much grass it would take to feed our school’s flock of sheep through the summer.

Our small herd of a dozen sheep, three goats, and a llama formed the inspiration for our spring term math lesson. After learning about area, rate, ratio, proportion, and percentage earlier in the year, we combined these skills to map out a rotational management plan to provide fodder for our herd and improve an area of pasture on our campus.

The students first analyzed a survey map of the area, then measured several areas in the actual pasture.

They used those numbers and their knowledge of ratios and proportions to calculate the total acreage of the pasture. Next we read a great deal about sheep nutrition and debated the rate of consumption for different sheep considering age, pregnancy, and time of year and how those factors caused percentage changes in food being consumed. Once we knew how much each sheep was eating daily, we calculated grass density and the daily area needed to sustain the herd. Our final assignment was to map the pasture into actual-scale daily paddocks and create a rotation schedule.

In many cases, students worked to about how to proceed and they worked to creatively solve a problem. They tackled everything from figuring out how to measure available fodder to determining how much each sheep ate. Not only did they employ concrete mathematical principles from the 7th grade math curriculum, but they also expanded the depth and breadth of their understanding of those principles by asking questions, solving real world problems, and getting excited about learning math.

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November 2009

Grade 8 Earth Science: Avalanche Study

By Larry Robjent “AVALANCHE!!”

“Go, go! You only have two minutes to find the victim!”

The eighth graders have been studying avalanches for two weeks, digging snow pits, analyzing the layers in the pack, and tracking weather temperatures and snowfall. Yesterday they learned how to use avalanche transceivers (devices that can locate avalanche victims) and today they are putting their knowledge to the test.

“Work quickly, but take your time! Don’t overrun your signal.”

The kids are trying to locate a stuff sack “victim” buried in the snow. A package of M&Ms inside heightens the motivation to locate the bag. The winter section of earth science is mostly experiential. Students are outside learning the science of snow while trudging around in it.

Students also create Power Point presentations describing avalanches that have happened elsewhere, or detail their own scientific observations from different aspects and elevations here on campus. These projects cover what happened before, during and after the avalanche, detailing the snow conditions, weather, and snow layer development.

“Thirty seconds left!” Snow shovels are whirling in all directions.

“Wait, wait! The signal is getting weaker!” a student yells.

“Ten seconds!”

“Dig here, dig here!” More snow flies.

“Four, three, two….”

“Here it is, here it is!”

As the kids revel in their find, we go over what went well and what didn’t. It was “easy” yesterday; inside, no time limit, no reward, easier conditions. Out here the slightest error adds valuable time to the search. The next group with the transceiver is already planning strategies. One group that has already gone is offering advice, and another is thinking about where to hide the victim for the next wouldbe rescuers. As the class period ends one student remarks, “It was stressful just trying to find M&Ms. Imagine how hard it would be to find a real person!”

Good point.

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November 2009

Grade 7 Math: Potato Tally

By Libby Doan The students have gathered in the dining room, waiting excitedly for the results. Someone starts a spontaneous drum roll, pounding the table with her hands, and the rest of the room joins in. At the front of the room, Mike holds up an envelope with an embossed wax seal and the drum roll dies down.

“And the house that collected the most potatoes AND rocks per student is…”

Two days earlier, the faculty and students gathered in the potato field to harvest the crop. Organized by house, each group worked to gather as many potatoes as possible from its assigned rows. The search for the “golden potato” hidden in each row, as well as bragging rights for the house harvesting the most potatoes, sustained everyone’s energy and excitement.

This annual, friendly competition is also the basis for a 7th grade math unit. The 7th graders collect the raw data from the harvest, then perform the statistical analysis that yields the official results.

Everyone eagerly awaits the results, which are kept secret until the winners are announced 48 hours later. This purpose, combined with the act of collecting the potatoes themselves, fosters student engagement and gives the data work meaning. In addition, the math students help the Farm Manager, because the data is kept as part of the farm records.

North Country School Curriculum

As the “Official Accounting Firm for the NCS Potato Harvest,” the students begin their mathematical training before the harvest, so the event is a culminating project. The raw numbers are about 300 pieces of data in the form of pounds of potatoes per bucket gathered. The first task is learning to manage and add large groups of data. Then, as the students determine the “typical weight of a bucket of potatoes”, heated discussions ensue about the more relative accuracy of mean, median, or mode. In their effort to determine a winning house, students come to realize that raw totals “aren’t fair” and “per student” is a better measure.

Given the nature of the soil in the Adirondacks, the students also gather rocks from the field. This set of data adds a new twist to the range of possible awards categories, which include: “Most Pounds of Potatoes Gathered by a House”, “Top Three Rock Gathering Houses” and “House That Gathered the Most Rocks and Potatoes per Student”. The class also calculates the cost of a pound of our harvested potatoes to determine its cost efficiency.

This year it proved to be very cost effective, as our potatoes cost 3 cents per pound!

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November 2009

Grade 6: Lettuce Learn Math

By Colette Wilson Kids and dirt naturally go together. Take a sixth grade class, add seeds, and ask students to plant a garden, and you have an instant math class.

Lettuce Learn Math is a program that incorporates math concepts and skills and taught in a "real world" setting. Students set goals their own for growing and selling a lettuce crop and create a plan of action.

Students willingly design equations, manipulate numbers, and calculate strings of figures in order to grow and harvest a crop of lettuce that they can sell for a profit. In addition to math skills, students learn respect for relationships, both with nature and other members of their community. They are faced with natural consequences for not fulfilling obligations and see first hand how a simple chain of events can affect the outcome of their crop—and profit!

We reference the 6th grade NY state standards when choosing the specific skills needed to meet curriculum requirements. Lessons in the garden or greenhouse provide review or practice of skills for some students and enrichment opportunities for others. Farm and garden staff attend math classes to ensure the consistency of the curriculum and terminology between the math class and the garden. Classroom teachers reciprocate by learning and using appropriate agricultural terminology while in the garden. This consistency provides the repetition necessary for students to retain information and master skills.

Children learn math skills by preparing planting areas, planting seeds and recording data as the lettuce crop grows to maturity. While the profit motive is never the main focus of the project, the prospect of spending any surplus on themselves is never far from students' minds.

Over the course of the project, however, harvesting and proudly selling their own lettuce to local restaurants becomes its own reward. What started out as the ultimate reason to grow lettuce—to make a profit— becomes just the icing on the cake, or perhaps in this case, the dressing on the salad.

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November 2009

Grade 7 Math: Pig Cost Benefit Analysis

By Dave Steckler How much does it cost to raise our own pigs? Are we really saving any money by raising pigs here at NCS? This fall Level III decided to find out.

Our Level III Pig Project began with a visit to the farm early in the fall term. Students scribbled notes and asked the farmers questions as they sought to get a more complete picture of the costs associated with raising pigs. It quickly became clear that there would be no easy answer to our original question.

Back in the classroom, we looked at the known data and brainstormed questions that still needed to be answered.

Because we had to determine the grain costs for the pigs, we would have to wait until the pigs were harvested to find out the actual grain consumption per pig. However, since we were beginning a unit on graphing, I chose to look at data that we had clear records of: slaughter records.

We visited Paulette in the kitchen and Brandy in the business office to get as much information as possible. Students secured copies of the slaughterhouse bills, and began making sense of them. Students learned formulas (such as Price x Quantity = Amount), and how a formula can be utilized to find pieces of data that are missing.

Students also worked on their graphing skills by depicting a variety of information that they found particularly interesting.

They also worked on interpolating data and projecting trend lines on their graphs in order to predict where they thought slaughter prices might be in five or ten years.

“It’s been interesting to learn more about what happens on the farm. I never knew that raising pigs had so much math involved!”

— Seventh grader

This is an ongoing project, and one of our next pieces will be to weigh the various cuts of meat. We plan on determining the cost per pound for rearing our pigs, but also look at what alternatives cost at the supermarket or from organic suppliers.

This way, we can see how we compare to other farmers.

This unit relies on historical documents, involves multiple school staff, and teaches numerous math skills. The process has deepened students’ understanding of some of the complex decisions that must be made regarding institutional resources.

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November 2009

North Country School Farm-Based and Place-Based Curriculum Winter 2011 Supplement

As Richard Louv, David Sobel, Bill McKibben, and others have noted, in order for children to grow up to be responsible environmental stewards, they must have opportunities to explore nature at an early age. At NCS and Camp Treetops, we have long provided unparalleled nature experiences for children, by immersing them in a working farm, outdoor adventures, and a community of adults who enjoy the outdoors. Our abundant natural resources are also the perfect tools for enhancing the academic curriculum and further grounding children in their place. Whether it’s called place‐based, farm‐based, or sustainability education, adults here are doing it, in the hopes of creating both meaningful educational experiences for children now and sustainable citizens of the future.

The following digest, grouped loosely by subject area, presents a sampling from the past three years.

ARTS Trail Markers and Mapping of Campus ‐ 4th‐9th Grade Arts Students learned how to use the slab machine to make ceramic arrow markers to mark the 4 1/2 mile long Perimeter Loop Trail that is used for skiing, horseback riding, walking, and running on campus. The students got a better sense of the campus as they walked the trails and decided where to place each marker.

They also worked on a detailed map of the entire campus.

I Love Wool‐ 7th‐9th Grade Arts Elective Students learned about every aspect of working with wool, from herding sheep to dyeing, felting, spinning, lambing, carding, and shearing. Each student dyed a pallet of colors to work with using natural and synthetic dyes. This wool was used for a variety of projects, including making a felted bracelet and needle felting animals. page 1

“Just a Dream” Play ‐ 4th‐9th Grade Theater Interested theater students put on a play based on the book, Just a Dream, in conjunction with a 350.org demonstration and awareness week. The students rehearsed in six different locations on campus, while discussing what was important about each site. The purpose of the play was to increase awareness in our community about reducing our carbon emissions through a dramatic theater production.

Barnyard Murals ‐ 7th‐9th Grade Arts Elective Students worked on large, kid‐friendly murals to hang in the barnyard. First they visited the barnyard and sketched chickens, completed blind contours, and took pictures of chickens to work from before sketching out a scene. They then worked together to paint a large, colorful chicken mural to hang on the outside of the coop. Another group is now working on a sheep mural.

Environmental/Farm Studies Green Cup Challenge ‐ 4th and 5th Grades Fourth and fifth grade students initiated a school‐wide effort to reduce carbon emissions for the entire month of April. They researched global warming, and then chose to focus on what individuals here on campus could do to help. The group made informational posters, and acted out amusing public service announcements throughout the month to encourage the community to turn off lights, turn down heat, and take shorter showers. They also worked with our facilities manager to find out typical April fossil fuel consumption, and then compared it to the Green Cup Challenge month. The culminating project was a Town Meeting presentation by the class of the results of the Challenge.

Children’s Garden Design ‐ 4th and 5th Grade Math Students in fourth and fifth grade helped the farm managers to come up with a design for the new children’s garden. Their first task was to visit the garden and talk to the farmers about page 2

their ideas for the garden, and to measure the available space. Next they determined what shape garden would work best, and came up with a unique design that would be both whimsical and functional.

Worm Bin ‐ 4th and 5th Grades Students in fourth and fifth grade cared for a large worm bin outside of their classroom for the duration of the school year. They not only fed the worms, but also charted how much they ate, what they were fed, the size of the worms, and even what foods they preferred. The class made informational posters about the worms, researched worms, and enjoyed learning more about vermiculture while caring for their sustainable class pets.

Where Does our Food Come From? ‐ 8th grade ESL Eighth grade non‐native English speaking students went on a quest to find out where our food comes from, starting right in the school’s root cellar. They found out what we grow on campus, what needs to be bought in, and how food is grown. They discussed why it’s important to grow our own food, or buy it locally, in terms of the environmental impact.

The students eventually made a large colorful map for the hallway showing where many of the things we eat come from in order to help educate our community.

Interpretive Barnyard Signs ‐ 8th grade ESL Students began this project imagining that they were visitors to our farm who knew nothing about animals. They searched the barnyard for information about who lived there, and realized there was a need for well‐designed informational posters about each type of animal. The class split up into groups to interview the farmers and conduct research on the different animals.

The class worked regularly with the farm staff to create posters with interesting facts and photographs of each animal.

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Math Units Barn Animal Pictographs ‐ 4th Grade Math Fourth graders visited the barn and recorded data about the numbers of various types of animals living there. They then went back to the classroom to organize the data into visual representations for a math project. This was one of a series of lessons on ways to represent data in chart and graph form.

Vegetable Price Comparison ‐ 4th and 5th Grade Math Students in fourth and fifth grade attempted to determine harvest totals for all of our vegetables produced on campus, and to figure out how that compared to buying the same amounts of organic vegetables at the store. For this project students had to interview our farm manager to access harvest records and visit the local Price Chopper to speak with the produce manager. They then used their math skills to sort out whether the school saved money by growing a lot of its own vegetables, and if so, exactly how much. They also discussed the in’s and out’s of organic and conventional agriculture, as well as buying locally.

Pumpkinology ‐ 4th‐ 6th Grade Math Students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade used pumpkins grown on the farm to explore the concepts of circumference, radius, diameter, symmetry, ratios, estimates, and the metric system. Through this hands‐on unit, students gained insight into many different ways to measure including using string, shadows made with a flashlight, and actual metric measurements. They then completed a poster presentation as a culminating activity to show what they learned.

Cloth or Paper Napkins? ‐ 8th Grade Math Eighth graders conducted a cost analysis regarding cloth versus paper napkins. They wanted to know which were greener, more efficient, or economically viable for our community. This project spanned a two month time period, and covered everything from defining the problem, researching background information, and collecting data to synthesizing and analyzing results and making a final presentation. page 4

Bales in the Barn ‐ 9th Grade Geometry Students helped the farm managers determine how many hay bales would fit in the hayloft of one of the barns. They visited the space, measured the angled roof and floor space, and measured a typical hay bale. Then the students used their geometry skills to figure out the actual number of bales that could fit in the allotted space.

Language Arts/Social Studies Scavenger Hunt ‐ 4th and 5th Grade ESL In order for students to learn English vocabulary and become more familiar with the campus, students participated in a scavenger hunt. They had to follow instructions to find specific things, such as two things that move, two things with legs, etc.) As they walked through campus, they discussed what they were finding, as well as other things they discovered.

Shackleton Unit ‐ 6th Grade During the winter term, sixth graders studied Sir Ernest Shackleton, as well as animal habitats, the human body, and survival skills. Students read accounts of Shackleton and wrote narrative essays about his trip. The highlight of the unit was when students replicated Shackleton’s journey by dragging canoes across our frozen lake and up a large hill. They spent the night outside in quinzee huts they constructed, and cooked over a fire.

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NCS Geography Brochure ‐ 6th Grade The class worked on an interdisciplinary project that incorporated elements of Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, and Science in order to map the campus and make a school brochure.

Students had to work together to make sure the brochure included information about all five areas of geography‐ place, regions, movement, human and environmental interaction, and location. The students spent time exploring the campus and talking to community members to become familiar with this place as they worked on their project. The brochure included photo essays, and descriptions about important locations on campus.

Community Member Interview ‐ 8th Grade ESL English language learners worked with their teacher to develop interview questions to ask various staff members like the farm manager, cooks, and maintenance staff. The idea was to get to know people and the place better, as well as developing their English speaking skills.

The students conducted the interview while their teacher videotaped them. The class put together an interesting video with voiceover by the students for parents to watch at Thanksgiving.

Miscellaneous Fund Lunch‐ 4th and 5th Grades Fourth and fifth graders visited the local food bank to drop off extra squash grown in our school garden. They discussed the needs of the local community with the food bank directors, as part of a larger “Fund Lunch” project, a meal of soup and crackers the school community eats once a week to save money. The money is then donated to an organization of choice, and this year the fourth and fifth graders are thinking about the importance of local needs as well as farther afield.

Senior Project‐ 9th Grade Ninth grade students pick a different service project each year with the intention of giving back to the community. This year, seniors are constructing a timber framed cabin at the top of the ski hill (near the climbing crag). They worked together to clear trees from the site and hauled all of the beams up the hill by hand. They page 6

assembled and raised the cabin together and are now in the process of putting the roof on.

From Tree to Stool‐ 4th‐8th Grade Intersession Project Students felled a yellow birch tree, cut it to length, and used hand tools to shape a seat and legs for a stool.

Walking into the Wild in 1650‐ 6th‐8th Grade Intersession Project Students in this class worked on making deerskin boots and maple snow shoes.

They first had to locate soft maple saplings on our property, cut them down, and then create usable snowshoes.

Science Units Adirondack Animal Unit‐ 4th and 5th Grade Science During a fall term unit on animals, students learned everything from animal classification to food webs to habitats, before focusing in depth on Adirondack species. A local DEC ranger visited the class to talk about the animals in the area, and the class went on a field trip to the Wild Center. Each student chose an Adirondack mammal to research, wrote a detailed research paper, then shared their reports with their families at Thanksgiving.

Adirondack Tree Unit‐ 4th and 5th Grade Science Students began learning about trees as the maple trees were changing color. They conducted observations, labs, and nature journaled in an attempt to figure out why leaves change color. The students played tree games, had a tree identification quiz, and researched a particular type of tree. The students presented their reports to their families at Thanksgiving. The class also went on a field trip to a local trail system for their tree identification walk.

Cabbage pH Lab‐ 7th Grade Science Seventh graders harvested cabbages from the garden and got a lesson from the farmers about cabbages before using them for a science lab. The class was learning about how to measure pH and completed a lab to determine where cabbage falls on the pH scale, in terms of acids and bases. page 7

Chicken Re‐articulation‐ 7th Grade Science The seventh grade class capitalized on a tragic farm incident when wild animals killed many chickens by burying the birds to later dig up and use the bones.

After many months had passed, the class conducted an archeological dig and unearthed the bones, and then attempted to put the skeletons back together. They not only figured out the correct placement of the bones, but also posed the chickens in elegant dancing positions.

Stream of Consciousness‐ 8th Grade Earth Science During the spring term, students regularly visited the stream on campus to discuss stream morphology, hydrodynamics, and sedimentology. They diagramed specific stream features such as eddies, point bars, and cut banks at three different stream sites, before comparing and contrasting the sites. In addition to actual science, the students read passages from Siddhartha, wrote stream poetry, meditated, and did watercolor paintings at each site they visited.

Chicken Harvest Biology Lab‐ 9th Grade Biology Students conducted a biology lab during Chicken Harvest in September. They worked at the evisceration station during the harvest and discussed each part of the chicken’ anatomy as they dissected it. Lab reports were written up after the lab was completed.

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