Past projects 5
Please Help Us Save Our Veggies!
Funded Jun 4, 2023Thank you so much for helping add the Medusa lights to our hydroponic tower!
The students were inspired by the brightness of the new lights and the new futuristic look of our tower.
I've included 3 pictures to show you what the tower looked like when we first built it, what it looked like when the plants were first put in, and what the tower looks like now. The biggest change that you can see in the front are the tomato plants on the bottom, bok choy above that, and rainbow chard higher up. On the side you can see the pea shoots. We have already started eating the bok choy and pea shoots!
You see how big the tomato plants are getting, but they will grow even bigger before they produce any tomatoes. With these new lights, all we have to do is move the lights outward and none of the tomato plant will burn. This way the plant will not have any stress and can grow happily and produce lots of tomatoes for the students to enjoy!
Thanks again for helping us to get the new lighting system.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Fine
Coming Back from COVID!
Funded Oct 29, 2021Thank you so much for helping us replace the missing cleaning equipment! The children now experience cleaning as cooperative, satisfying, and fun.
I'm sorry the pictures aren't more exciting, but they show the story of the materials.
First, harvesting is messy business! The Hydros (that's what the children who work with me call themselves) used trial and error to put together the broom and now the broom is used every time that we harvest food from the hydroponic tower. We are currently eating bok choy, arugula, lettuce, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, basil, Thai basil, sage and dill! The Hydros eat it all and then get busy cleaning up with the broom.
As for the mop, every time the Hydros siphon water out of the trout tank (which is once or twice a week), water ends up on the floor: either they siphon too much and overflow the bucket or the parts of the siphon weren't tightened enough before they started and it broke open. The mop is used every time and as the last picture shows, they are still mesmerized by the spinning mechanism of the mop!
Having these cleaning materials handy have shown the Hydros that messes happen, no reason to hide or ignore it. We just clean it up and move on. I love that cleaning has now just become a part of the process, which it is!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Fine
This classroom project was brought to life by Con Edison and 2 other donors.Hydroponic Growing in a Harlem Elementary School
Funded Feb 10, 2020I'm sorry it has taken me this long to send a thank you! First I was sick, then I was immediately thrown into Remote Learning. I am only now able to catch-up with things that I wanted to do, like thank you!
As you can imagine we didn't get to use all of the materials, which because of your generosity, we now have in the classroom. I made sure to safely pack away the lights and microscope before the school closed.
But as you can see from the photos, my students right away were so excited about the cleaning equipment (as I knew they would be)! They instructed me to take the pictures to show you how we used those new materials right away.
So, thanks again! We appreciate all the materials we now have and I know we will be using them when ever school reopens!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Fine
Help Keep 4th and 5th Graders Interested in Science
Funded Jun 3, 2019Thank you again for helping me fill the buckets in my Science Lending Library!!
The pictures are of the 3rd grade class that I was thinking of when I put together this project. The majority of this class signed up to borrow books from the library and they were faithful borrowers all year. I was concerned that they would feel that they had read all the books and then not sign up for the library when they entered 4th grade. This has been the pattern in past years.
I am happy to announce that the 3rd graders that were a part of the library last year have signed on again for this year!!! They each took and returned a permission slip the next day and are eager to borrow! The best story, however, is about another girl in this class that is very quiet (I hardly know her voice). She wasn't part of the lending library last year, but this year she took and returned a permission slip right away. The first day she could she went right to the book, The 100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet, and borrowed it. Who knew this is what she is interested in? I love it!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Fine
Science Lending Library
Funded Jan 25, 2018I want to thank you so much for helping us get the Max Axiom books into our Science Lending Library! I use these books to encourage my students to read and realize that there is a whole world out there to learn about. The Max Axiom books are on so many varied subjects. Some books cover subjects that I need to teach, such as force and motion, electricity, magnetism, photosynthesis, and ecosystems. But some are about other subjects of interest to the students, such as cell phones, drones, and basketball.
My students are free to borrow any books from the Lending Library and take them home. Sometimes they take books about a subject they already know something about in order to learn more. Other times they take books that introduce them to new things. It is completely up to them.
When my students bring the books back, they often tell me some interesting facts that they read or they tell me how they shared a book with their families and taught them something new. Also, many times before a student puts the book back in the library, another classmate takes it to take out because they keep hearing their friend talk about the the book and now they want it.
I'm sorry that you're not able to see my students' faces in the pictures. (I don't have the permission that a classroom teacher would have.) Please know that this was just an added little bonus to the experience. I asked the children how they could portray to you their excitement at receiving these books without showing their faces. They had so much fun coming up with different ways! Some children said I should take pictures of their hands excitedly opening the packages. Other children said that we need to show the variety of books that we now have. I also thought to show how the Max Axiom bucket which has been empty since the beginning of the school year is now full of books!
I know that these books will be part of our Science Lending Library for years to come. Again, thank you so much for doing for my students what I wanted to do, but I could not afford to do myself!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Fine
This classroom project was brought to life by The First Million Fund and 5 other donors.