Earth Day!

7th Grade Green Tech Academy student, Josephine Montminy took a couple of beautiful photos to celebrate Earth Day! Enjoy and happy Earth Day from Small Green Tech Academy! 

Thanksgiving Trees Year Two

With the wind chill near freezing, Native Plants and Animals students planted it forward. They added three trees to our Small Forest. Between the six environmental science classes I teach, we are planting 18 trees on our campus. Last Friday's inch of rain made our task much easier.

Last year Small students planted a dozen trees at Westcave Preserve and thus initiated Thanksgiving Trees, a tradition we hope will adopted by others. The idea is simple. Plant a tree or few around the end of November, reflect on gratitude, and do something positive for the environment.

By 5th period it had warmed up, and we had more trees to plant. This time we added three retamas to the southern end of the Small Forest.

One prominent characteristic of retamas is the long thorns along the trunk and branches. These spikes are perfect for a sated bird to stash a tasty dragonfly for a later meal.

Towards Tree Literacy

Are you tree literate?

Ever spend time up in a tree, been in a real treehouse?
Have you ever planted a tree, taken care of it?
Are you up on your tree anatomy?
Could you explain to someone else the value of native trees?
Do you know the common names of 20 or more local trees?
Could you use a dichotomous key to figure out the names of the ones you don't?

By the time my Taste of Science students have completed the course, they should be able to answer yes to most of these questions. As far as the treehouse goes, they are on their own.

Thanksgiving Trees: An Act of Environmental Kindness

Our school has been participating in a food and coat drive in an effort coordinated by Legacy of Giving. During our advisory periods we have been discussing acts of kindness. We talked about how their efforts are a way to "pay it forward" and translate our thankfulness into action.

Why not include the environment in our endeavors? On Saturday, November 20th, a group of students, family members, teachers, and Westcave Preserve staff members added a dozen native trees to the Ahrns Tree Grove.

Just as it is common for many folks purchase cut trees at Christmas, we can plant trees at Thanksgiving.

What we planted:

Western Soapberry

Mexican Buckeye

Yellow buckeye

2 Mountain laurels

2 Madrones

Possumhaw

Texas redbud

Texas Ash

Evergreen Sumac

Roughleaf dogwood

American Beautyberry (shrub)

Special thanks to the participants:

Emily and her Mom

Jyoti and her Dad

Faye, Allie, David, Patty, Ian, Thomas, and Mandy

Amber, Dad, and Sister

Mr. Rosenberg

David, Stephen, and John from the Westcave staff.