Polinators for the Apiary: US Students Science Students Plant Lemon Queen Sunflowers

polinators for the apiary

Families and Friends Gather at Annual Preserve Day Celebration

Nature Program and The Parent’s Committee of Germantown Academy welcomed visitors to their annual Preserve Day celebration designed to acquaint the community with the splendor of GA’s campus and our rich variety of outdoor spaces.  There were many creative and fun events planned cat-tailing and restoration of the butterfly garden, to sitting around a campfire and making a s’mores.  Art Across the Academy hosted a miniature bridge building activity modeled after actual foot bridges made by uppers school sculpture students.  for Visitors also sampled GA’s home grown salsa in the Academic Courtyard Garden, rode the Zip Line at our new Adventure Course and made beeswax candles on our green roof. Lower, middle, and upper school Green Ambassadors were on hand to help tour visitors through our outdoor spaces, and patriot Ambassadors manned information kiosks to help guests plan their day.

Garden to Table Salsa

Just in time for Preserve Day 2016, Maura Saurman, MS science teacher and Divisional Coordinator of the Nature Program has delivered up another amazing batch of GA salsa with produce grown by middle school students, harvested by student Green Ambassadors, as part of the science curriculum.  Fro the second year in a row, visitors to the Academic Courtyard gardens on preserve Day will get samples of the salsa to enjoy with chips!

MS Science Use iPads for Observational Studies in the Academic Courtyard

Here are some photos of my seventh graders using the academic courtyard and iPads to practice observing and creating questions.  They will use these observations and questions to begin working through the scientific method. 

Lower and Upper School Artists Collaborate at The Schyukill Center for Environmental Education

The entire Fourth Grade and Upper School Honors Sculpture visited the Pine Grove at The Schyukill Center for Environmental Education. While there, together with almost 90 student artists, we talked about the power of collaboration, using natural, found materials to create art, and the HUGE thrill of building something bigger then ourselves. 

 

The student artists were also asked to think about the idea of making art that is site specific, and would remain in the grove after we left. We discussed the fact that the work is like our lives, it will naturally change over time, and the memory of the piece, and the experience, will live on in our hearts, minds and in photos-- much like life itself.

Each student group had about an hour to build a fort-like structure out of wood found on site. The structure was to house their entire group of about 6-8 students. They were all up for the challenge, and all found great success! The results are diverse, dramatic and glorious...just like the  young artists themselves!