The Start of a New Growing Year

Welcome to Environmental Wellness for the 2013-2014 school year!  First we had to prepare the soil by pulling weeds and adding compost.  Our classes measured out the square feet and attached string to the raised beds.  Then came the fun part...we planted seeds.  We planted lima beans, carrots, radish, lettuce, tomatoes, Bok Choy, and sugar cane.  Now we are watering and waiting for them to grow so we can eat them!

Pigeon Encounter

     Early in the morning, a teacher brought a pigeon that couldn't fly to Ms. Dietz.  She did not know what was wrong with it.  Miss Dietz examined the bird and proclaimed that it is a fledgling pigeon.  Fledgling means that it is ready to leave the nest and it is learning to fly and live on its own.  Its parents were probably still close by, keeping an eye on it.  The teacher did the right thing by bringing it to Miss Dietz.  The area where the teacher found the bird was not safe, it had many cars and human traffic.  Miss Dietz said we could take pictures of it if we were quiet and gentle.  The class behaved very well around our avian visitor, and we released it in the butterfly garden near a pigeon nesting area.  We saved a fledgling pigeon. 

4H Health Rocks!

      Many people around the world consume fast foods everyday.  What they don't know is they consume more than 1000 calories per burger with greasy fries - that can clog arteries.  This leads to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes type II.

      Luckily, there is a helpful program called 4H Health Rocks that informs students about eating healthy and staying physically active.  The way this works is that members of 4H Health Rocks visit schools to teach students fun activities that will help the students choose healthy habits at home.  For example, teaching students how to set up their plate in healthy ways, such as make half their plate veggies.  They taught us that when eating fruits and vegetables, not only are you eating less calories, but you are consuming many nutrients into your body. 

       One fun day in class, Mrs. LaRosa told us that eating healthy is easy if we remember 10 eating healthy tips.  To remember these tips, we played a game which consisted of studying the 10 tips, then playing pictionary in class to see if our team can remember which tip the player is drawing.  We also  incorporated physical activities (such as running in place, calf raises, lunges, and squats) into class participation.  That tested our lungs!  These class activities will help us be healthy in the future. It was an exciting and educational experience.

Happy New Year!

Here are some New Year Resolutions from a seventh grade perspective:
1. Make better grades (H.T.)
2. Work my hardest. (A.A.)
3. Wake up and go to sleep earlier. (S.G.)
4. Don't sag my pants. (A.S.)
5. Become Cheer Captain. (H.T.)
6. Get the award for Highest Basket Tossed. (T.M.)
7. To be myself. (A.A.)
8. To be nice to my mom. (J.V.)
9. To get more than 329 followers on Instagram. (S.O.)
10. To sell my shoes.  (D.M.)
11. To get more active. (J.B.)
12. No throwing things in class. (R.H.)
13. Work in the garden more. (J.L.)
14. Being more interactive with our environment. (W.A.)
15. Exercise.  Be active an hour a day. (5th hour)
16. Be nicer to others. (J.L.)
17. To spend more time outdoors.  (D.C.)
18. Read more. (D.S.)
19. Keep my room clean. (J.S.)
20. Get straight A's. (H.D.)
21. Save money. (B.W.)
22. Eat healthy. (T.M.)