What's Goin' on at the Farm in May

Students in the K/1 science classes on the farm have been learning about spiders and insects. They have been making models of their body parts to notice the differences. Thank you to parent Ken Dias for bringing a live tarantula for the students to touch and see up close!

The 2nd/3rd grade classes continue to study insects as well. They are watching painted ladies as they hatch in the butterfly garden. They are also participating in the Bay Area Ant Survey (see www.antweb.org/bayarea.jsp), a project sponsored by the California Academy of Sciences. The survey involves collecting and identifying ants. We hope to see our data on this website soon. So far 34 different species have been identified in the Bay Area (out of an estimated 12, 000 species worldwide). The students have been observing ants in the garden and classifying their behavior. Much is still not known about ants' complex social system. 

As the 4th and 5th graders prepare for their Colonial Simulation, they have been learning the 18th Century medicinal purposes of herbs that we grown in the garden. In science, the students tested various herbs for their antibiotic properties. Students grew bacteria on petri plates and exposed the bacteria to plant extracts they had prepared. Garlic and lemon balm were slightly antibacterial! Some students will participate in the Colonial Simulation as apothecaries with their new found knowledge.

 

 

March '10

What's Goin' On At the Farm In the science on the farm classes in March, the Kindergarten/1st classes did experiments with plants and observed signs of spring with their five senses. They talked about the requirements for plants to
grow, and then tried leaving out water, light, space, soil and air in
individual experiments to see what would happen. They learned the
importance of a control (the plant that received everything). It is
finally spring, so the students felt such things as willow catkins and
soft petals, saw blooms and new buds, tasted peas, nasturtiums and
miner's lettuce, smelled lilac and clematis, and heard the birds
singing and the bees buzzing in our Ohlone hive.

The 2nd/3rd grade classes have been studying plant life cycles using
fast growing Brassica (mustard) plants and doing many projects with
insects. The Brassica plants completed a complete life cycle from
seed to seed in just one month producing many more seeds than we
started with! They also listened as crickets chirped at different
rates depending on the temperature. Then they graphed the results in
order to guess the temperature based on a given chirping rate.
Watching termites follow a scented trail was a big hit this week! The
pheromone (scent) that termites use to communicate is very similar to
a chemical in ball point pens. The students experimented with which
pen brand and which color were the best to attract termites. Some
termites even followed a figure eight or a name in cursive!

 

The 4th and 5th graders have continued learning about different
environments. They looked through microscopes to discover the many
microorganisms in our Ohlone pond water (many paramecium, euglena and
algae) . It is amazing to identify such small creatures that are not
seen with the naked eye, but so important to the food web.
These students also put brine shrimp eggs in various salinities to
find the optimum environment for hatching. They preferred the 10%
salt solution which is comparable to their natural habitat. In Mono
Lake, changes in salinity due to human intervention has affected
their population and the entire food web. They discussed about the
delicate balance of nature.

That's what's been goin' on at the farm!

January '10

Due to the wet weather the science on the farm lessons have been meeting indoors this month.
However, all the classes have been studying the weather! The K/1 classes have been learning about air and how that affects the weather patterns. They made kites and observed the new digital anemometer (wind speed monitor). The 2/3 classes made their own frost and dew and learned about humidity using the hygrometer and air pressure using the barometer.
The 4/5 classes continue to study various habitats. Using the scientific method and their lab notebooks to record, they designed and set up experiments to test the best habitats for darkling beetles (which come from the meal worm larvae). They are also building terrariums to see what is necessary to maintain a habitat and to learn about food webs, the water cycle and gas exchange.  

November/December

In the science classes on the farm, the K/1 classes have been learning about the change in seasons. They have been finding out when certain crops are planted and when they are harvested by looking in the garden and tasting our produce!

The 2/3 classes ended their soil studies by growing soil bacteria on petri plates. They learned about the importance of decomposers in the soil. They also studied seed germination and looked at the many differences in sprouting corn and bean plants.

The 4/5 classes continued their studies of our local ecosystems and focused on the mammals that make up the food chain in various habitats. Tanya borrowed skulls from the California Academy of Sciences for these mammals. The kids studied the eye structure to determine which animals were predators and which were prey. They also observed the teeth to learn about the diet of the animals.

 

October

During science time, the K/1 classes have been learning about the compost and vermiculture (worm composting). They built mini-compost piles to watch over time and observed the red compost worms and cocoons with magnifying glasses. They have also been studying about seed dispersal. They invented their own seed dispersal contraptions and sorted seeds in our garden by methods of dispersal (for example: wind, animal fur, animal digestion, fire, "exploding").

The 2/3 classes have been studying what makes up soil (pebbles, sand, silt, clay and humus). They sifted soil into its parts from local ecosystems and looked at soil layers in jars. In addition, they used balances to measure the amount of water absorbed by different kinds of soil.

The 4/5 classes are learning about adaptations in plants that allow them to survive in various ecosystems (including the mini-"ecoplots" set up around our farm). They are experts at the names of the plants grown in our native habitat! They are also testing the soil for pH (acid/base levels) and nitrogen levels and learning which plants prefer different soil conditions.

September

The K/1 classes learned about recycling and composting. The 2/3 classes participated in a citizen science project called the Great Sunflower Project (www.greatsunflower.org) recently featured in Sunset Magazine. The students learned the usefulness of bees as pollinators and then counted and identified bees in the garden. The data will be given to the study which is focused on understanding the decline of bees and the colony collapse disorder. The 4/5 classes had both gardening and science lessons about the tools. They tried gears (a barrel composter), levers (shovels), pulleys (a hoist), wheels (wheelbarrow), a ramp and a wedge to better understand the physics of the tools as simple machines.

Upcoming lessons will focus on California ecosystems and the zones created around the farm. Did you know we have a native habitat with areas planted as a grassland, a chaparral, an oak woodland, a redwood forest and a wetland (pond)? Students will be mapping these areas and doing plant, soil and insect studies in these zones.

That's what's goin' on at the farm!

Updated 12/4/09