Rain Barrels save you money 4d: Participating in a Community

-

This blog post was written by Madison (Mady) MacPeek, a 9th grade Living Environment student at Lancaster High School, Lancaster NY.

     The students and teacher in S11 have been getting very green
lately. For the 2013 Erie County Department of Environment and Planning Earth Day Rain Barrel Painting Contest they have done just that. The Coca - Cola Bottling Company of Buffalo provided the blank barrels, but the students in Mrs. Balling's Biology class gave it personality. The rain barrel was first sanded and primed with Glidden Gripper.

Rain Barrel primed with Glidden Gripper.

     The design concept centered around the idea that water is necessary for all life on Earth, and the students painted the barrel during 5 minute class breaks between periods. 
The design sketched out on the barrel


The paints that we used.

The parts of the design were color coded to match paint colors that we had available.
















     The Erie County Department of Environment and Planning chose the theme "Rainwater is a resource, not just a runoff!"  The rain barrel features a beautiful scene, decorated with rhinestone raindrops, colorful flowers and complete with a river with fish and frogs.  


     



     After the contest, the finished barrel will be placed in a public area in Lancaster (still to be determined). The water the rain barrel collects will be used to do things like water plants, saving money, and saving drinking water. The contest was open to all middle schools and high schools around Western New York, and shows how even little steps can help our environment. We wish them good luck in the contest!

Update on April 24th, 2013 We won 3rd place!
There was a press conference at the Rath Building in Downtown Buffalo, NY. 
our certificate of participation

Mark Poloncarz
Top three (first place is bottom left, second place is bottom right, ours was third place)

 Here are pictures of all of the rain barrels... http://www2.erie.gov/environment/sites/www2.erie.gov.environment/files/uploads/pdfs/ECS_2013%20Rain%20Barrel%20Painting%20Contest%20photographs%20with%20school%20names.pdf

 There will be more pictures coming!

originally posted on www.ballinwithballing.blogspot.com
 
Location: 1 Forton Drive, Lancaster, NY 14086, USA

Comments

  1. Mrs. ClemensApril 14, 2013 at 12:12 PM

    I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying your blog! I especially like how you are approaching your district's APPR plan. I've shared your blog with a few of my friends and actually just wrote a post on my own blog referencing your blog! http://www.clemensclassroom.com/1/post/2013/04/charlotte-danielson-and-me.html

    Thanks again for writing such a helpful and inspiring blog!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Modeling Mitosis with Oreo Cookies 1e: Designing Coherent Instruction

-
Image
Oreo Cookie Mitosis The problem was: What do I do with the students the day before Winter Recess? We were about to finish the Reproduction and Development Unit but needed one or two days of review before the test.  I know a lot of teachers like to show a video but the way I see it you are essentially telling the students that "today isn't an important day, you aren't important to me, let's just take it easy." I was looking for a fun activity that would help the students review and would entertain them and keep them out of trouble for 40 minutes.  For whatever reason I ended up googling: Mitosis Cookies and found resources and ideas on the following websites: www.paec.org www.alopategui.com www.teacherweb.com www.amphi.com I then took parts from each site and created this handout for my 9th grade Biology students:  Click here for the handout oreo cookies provided by students They brought in plenty of c
Read more

Interactive Notebook in the high school biology classroom

-
Image
I know it's summer "vacation" but teachers never stop working or thinking about their classrooms. Every school year is a fresh start and a chance to revamp the way you have done things in the past. I love that I have that opportunity every year. For the past couple years we have used some "Brain Breaks" interactive notebook activities that I had created. They worked really well to help the students review what they were learning in class and I've wanted to expand on that this year. Back in the spring I came across Lee Ferguson and I was inspired by the Interactive notebooks that her AP Bio students create. I highly recommend that at some point this summer you go to her website and check it out. There are some amazing resources and ideas on her site . Lee Ferguson interactive notebooks in AP Bio Before you go to her site, let me show you what I have been doing. I have a belief that as a teacher if I am going to expect my students to do something
Read more

Ugly Sweaters and Vocabulary Review

-
Image
So I was reading this blog yesterday http://www.meandmyinklings.com/index.php/2014/11/24/ugly-sweater-garland-with-free-printable/ and saw this cute holiday decoration where you cut out and color paper decorations of ugly sweaters (like the ugly Christmas sweaters that my mom used to wear in the 1980's) and thought it would be fun to do with my students..with a twist.          ​ So each student gets a handout that asks them to design and color an ugly sweater that is based on a vocabulary term that we have used in class this year. Can you guess the Vocabulary word I used for the example?       yep...photosynthesis. You can get the FREE handout at my Teachers Pay Teachers page... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amy-Balling/Order:Most-Recently-Posted#seller_details_tabs Enjoy! and Happy Holidays!
Read more