Progressive Ag Safety Day

We got lost. We all got lost. Half an hour - half-a-mile-away-from-the-host-site-lost. But we made it in time to take silly selfies with our friends. This guy is getting married in three weeks, not to me, but I am in the wedding. I think this picture is going to be used for something at the wedding... Hmm.

I was in charge of leading a small group of students around. One activity we did was called a Hazard Board. Directed by two AmeriCorps members, students were trained to spot dangers [hazards that existed on the board. Can you spot at least two hazards in this picture?

Our next stop was a square dancing demo by the team that took first at the PA Ag days back in January. The high school students danced for the second graders, then the students took turns entering the square and dancing them selves. At the very end, the girls had a chance to try on the skirts that the girls wore. Fun was had by all. 

We had a station that was all about good bugs and bad bugs and pollination, and then that switched gears to talk about bees and how pollination worked. The containers of cheese puffs are supposed to be flowers; the cheese comes off on your fingers much the same way pollen comes off on a bee. Pretty neat.

Easily the favorite station of the students was the pedal carts. As you can see, they are all wearing green helmets. That is because [and I'm not sure exactly how this worked out] the students were appropriately fitted for a helmet that they were then sent home with to keep. The helmets were ordered, color coded, by size. Red, small; green, medium; blue, large. That way the fitting volunteers didn't need to hunt down a size when a child asked for a specific color, and there wasn't a whole lot of fuss.


After lunch, my group went to a station called Drink your Veggies. Choosing from celery, cucumber, apple, carrot and spinach, students could create their own juice. Most of them thought this was rather a strange idea, but there were, happily some brave sports who gave it a shot.

 

Moving along, we met a group of therapy dogs who taught us about how to approach a strange dog, and what to do if we are being chased by an unfriendly dog. on the left, the students are practicing being boulders, which is what you are supposed to do if being chased by a very unfriendly dog, because the dog will undoubtedly outrun you. 

We went to another station about tractor safety and learned about roll bars, how many people are supposed to ride in a tractor, and not to ask for a ride in a tractor, or riding lawn mower, as well as how to get someone's attention when they are using heavy machinery like a tractor [they probably can't see you from the side, and they probably can't hear you].

This calf is two days old. It is a Holstein.

These AmeriCorps members taught students about water safety, and what to use if there wasn't a life jacket around. Ideas included a long branch - trying not to hit the person drowning in the head, or a piece of rope that's tied around the handle of a milk jug [hopefully it has the cap on it, but if not, not a big deal] The jug will float, allowing the end of the rope to make it to the person when tossed, and then the person in the water can hold onto the jug when being pulled in. 

One of our last stations was about chickens, the different kinds, why they lay different colored eggs,  and how you can tell what color eggs your chicken will lay. I can't remember how to tell that. It has something to do with the skin near their eyes.

Week seven: settling in... Again

Last week was the big news that we were going to have two full time people joining us which meant that we [Erica and I] would be placed full time at one of the two elementary buildings and mentor the other in coming class members. The following Monday we had an inservice - the teachers were writing Student Learning Objectives - which I wish I could explain but after an hour and a half of information and a powerpoint I'm not sure I fully understand it all. The teachers then broke up after the SLO explanations and began writing them and I began breaking down my half of the classroom. [Of which I think there are pictures of in last week's installment] If there aren't, imagine it looking even more bare.

I also talked with teachers from my permanent home and discovered they had come up with a schedule! YAY! Scheduling is so not one of my gifts and talents! At lunch I loaded up my car and drove to my school with all the things from the first place [plus a few boxes of books] and poof.

I've been tutoring a first grader and I kept telling her I'd get my books into the room, so she made me a Halloween book because it took me so long to get my own books in.

Then we had first aid training on Thursday. I named my dummy Fred. Or maybe it was George...
And that pencil isn't actually stuck in my arm, but it is amazing the number of friends I have that commented that it looked like something I would actually do.

And finally, we had out swearing in ceremony on Friday at McKeever Environmental Center in Sandy Lake. I know it's hard to read, but it says:

I will get things done for America

To make our people safer,

smarter and healthier.

I will bring Americans together to strengthen our communities.

Faced with apathy, I will take action.

Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground.

Faced with adversity, I will persevere. 

I will carry this commitment with me this year an beyond.

I am an AmeriCorps member and I will get things done. 

 

And because I found out the new guy likes coffee and the teachers have been running around mugging each other [get it, 'mug'ing eacg other? yeah, I thought it was funny myself], I got got him a mug and some note papers that says make today awesome.