Bees!

How sweet it is to bee a Small Middle School Green student right now. The school is buzzing about our new honey bees! Check out the picture below of our students learning to care for the hive.

 

Birds of Prey Flight Demonstration

Yesterday, all of our Green Academy 6th graders attended a birds of prey flight demonstration performed by the falconers of Last Chance Forever. Last Chance Forever rescues, rehabilitates, and releases abandoned and injured birds of prey back into the wild. The presentation was amazing including owls, hawks, eagles, and vultures. If you would like to learn more about this fantastic San Antonio based organization click HERE to view Last Chance Forever's website. Check out the slide show of the presentation below!

Thank you again to this wonderful organization for giving our students such a transformative experience.

Knife Skills: "What's on your plate?"

Mr. Brooks' What's on your plate class is in the process of preparing for their final project (a three course meal made from whole foods) by learning some knife skills. Check out the pictures below!

7th Grade Trip to the Wildflower Center

Mr. Brooks' and Mr. Rosenberg's 7th grade students visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last week and braved the heat... and the cold to learn about watersheds and native plants. They even did a bit of spelunking and got nice and muddy! Enjoy the slideshow of pictures from the trip below! 

Seeding with our Student Teacher Mrs. Allie Anderson

This past week, Green students were spotted in the greenhouse with Allie Anderson, our Green Tech apprentice teacher, starting vegetable seeds for our aquaponics system (more on that in a future post). Their seed trays are already starting to sprout!! Check out the pictures! 

From the classroom: Using Jenga to learn the parts of a habitat!

Last week in Mr. Brooks' The World Outside class, students demonstrated how habitats must have a balance of resources (food, water, shelter, and space) by playing Jenga. Check out the slideshow and video of the game below!

Bucket Race

Mr. Brooks' 6th grade "The World Outside" class was outdoors today learning about watersheds and water conservation. They discussed the ways in which they use water every day. Did you know that every flush of your toilet uses about 5 gallons of water? In order for the students to understand how much 5 gallons is, they carried a 5 gallon bucket once around the entire school with a team! It was great exercise and great fun!

Capstone Project of the Week: Grow Towers

Exciting news! For her 8th grade Green Academy capstone project, Sabella Jaroszewski seeded and maintained our school grow towers. The grow towers use aeroponics, the process of growing plants without dirt, to produce vegetables for our school cafeteria. Check out the pictures of the fruits of her labor being harvested for use in our salad bar!

Austin Oaks Church Volunteer Day

Some wonderful volunteers from Austin Oaks Church came out to work in the Small Middle School gardens on Sunday. They planted countless trees in the blink of an eye. Thank you Austin Oaks Church for your support of Green Academy!

Green Academy Trip to Whole Foods

Mr. Brooks' "What's on your plate?" class visited Whole Foods on November 2nd and 3rd to explore the store and learn more about the food choices they make. Students completed a scavenger hunt throughout the store that tested the limits of their food and nutrition knowledge. The parents, teachers, and students then settled down on the Whole Foods patio to enjoy lunch together.

Check out the slideshow below!

Mulch and Compost Order Form Now Available!!!

Pre-order for the mulch and compost sale is open until October 28th!! You can order online by clicking HERE. Pick up your orders from the Small Middle School greenhouse on October 30th!

For more information click HERE or email elizabeth.grenadier@austinisd.org.

Hope to see you there!

Bag Mulch and Bulk Compost Sale!

Green Tech Academy is hosting a mulch and "bag your own" compost sale! Keep your garden healthy this fall and support your community at the same time! Pre-order is available starting October 26th through October 28th. Pre-order form coming soon! Come pick up your fantastic mulch and compost from Small Middle School on October 30th. Check out the schedule below! 

• 7:00 AM-8:00 AM - pick up available (no appointment)

• 8:00 AM-3:30 PM - Appointment needed!! (email elizabeth.grenadier@austinisd.org)

• 3:30 PM-5:00 PM - pick up available (no appointment)

Hope to see you there! 

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE!

The Green Academy and the Art Department have been working together to transform a barren section of the school into a piece of environmentally inspired art. Energized by the street art around Austin, students and teachers sought to produce a piece of work that would connect our diverse student interests and backgrounds. Students wanted to create a bright, vivid, simple, motivational, and "Selfie-worthy" piece of work that any could find enjoyment in,

After scouting locations on campus that would provide a large enough canvas to encapsulate the artistic vision, students worked to find the most environmentally conscience paint. Once paint was located and purchased, the long process began of taping, painting, drying and repeat.

We are very close to completing this project that began in the Fall semester of 2014. Here are the photographs of our progress so far.

Priming and sealing the porous brick 

Measuring and staking the center of the wall to allow the sun and its rays to be drawn symmetrically and easier

Penciling out our design

Penciled design

Taping over the pencil

Begin of  yellow paint application

YELLOW PAINT!

Sun?

Finishing the sun and its rays.

Clean up, clean up, everybody cleans up!

Orange background.

What's next? COMING SOON!

Posers posing for a selfie demonstration.

Adding some finishing touches, the Green Academy and Art Department finished our mural collaboration. Here is Mr. Tabares adding our street art graffiti.

Poser with added glowing accent color.

Flare

Bold font

FIN!

We are so proud of our kids and the work they do in these great Small Middle School and Austin ISD courses! If you come and take photos or share any of their work, please add the hashtag #AISDProud and #youaremysunshine. We want everyone to know how great our kids are and to showcase all their wonderful projects.

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