Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Keep PA Beautiful

A beautiful sunny day is a great day to take some students out to clean up the school grounds. It was a bit like a treasure hunt, looking along the grass line for litter.
 And then, when students started finding paper money, it really was a treasure hunt.



Friday, May 20, 2016

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.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

SeaWolves Game

For the beginning of May, our game day was preeeeeeety chilly.  
My school takes a day to take in a game in celebration of successfully completing the PSSA's [and doing a good job. The results for this year won't be in until the following school year, but the students did work hard preparing and, for example, using skill strategies for good writing communication in their responses, which in turn we hope means better results.]

We were sitting in the upper deck of the foul section, and with the wind coming off the lake, many of our students took home foul balls.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Spring into Action

This quarter, our volunteer Spring into Action event was scheduled for April 9th. Due to weather concerns, the event was pushed back to the end of the month and held April 30th. We hosted an out door clean up of a local park, and little league baseball field, as well as indoor activities and crafts that would be donated to a local non-profit, the SunShine Group. Despite losing momentum, we had a good turn out thanks to a local Girl Scout troop helping out at the rain date out door event.

As a Senior level Girl Scout myself [because a Girl Scout is always a Girl Scout], I was able to encourage the girls in the fact that they can always volunteer no matter what age, no matter what the activity. Their scout leader arranged to take some of the indoor craft activities for their final meeting so that the projects could be finished and sent to the SunShine group. The Sunshine Group is an organization that can pair volunteers with activities to make things - knit and crochet hats, scarves, sewn soft toys and bags - that they then help distribute to other local agencies who put these gifts in the hands of shut-ins, nursing home patients, veterans at the VA, and others in need of some sunshine. The items that we made were note pads with decorated covers, books marks, braided friendship bracelets, a fleece tie blanket, but as mentioned, they can be somewhat more complex. The girls, ranging in ages from 6 to 12, were encouraged to know that volunteering could look like so many different things.


 

Friday, April 22, 2016

The Lion King

The fourth graders at school put on a production of The Lion King, Jr. Mostly by themselves. It was incredible. They received instruction from their teachers and the music teacher, but they did most of the work on the sets, props and lights by them selves.

One kid announced he wanted to be a giraffe, and could I help him make a costume? please? Please...?

Yeah, sure.  Awesome.

So we made a giraffe.


That internship at Kent State really paid off. Best looking giraffe on the stage.