Insects

School Gardens = Natural Playgrounds

Submitted by cynthiad on Mon, 08/13/2012 - 15:07

By:

Cynthia Domenghini, NGA Staff

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Teachers at the K-State Center for Child Development use the produce from the garden to prepare simple dishes with their students. Here’s a recipe for Caprese Salad that is easy to make in a classroom.

Ingredients:

Thick slices of a Ripe Tomato (enough for each child to have at least one)
An equal number of slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
Twice as many leaves of fresh basil
A pinch of salt and pepper
Olive oil

Make sure everyone washes their hands and the work surface prior to touching the food.

Starting at the edge of a serving platter, place a slice of tomato, a basil leaf, a slice of mozzarella and another basil leaf. Continue in that pattern, forming a spiral from the outside in, until all the ingredients have been arranged. The salad should end in the center of the platter. Drizzle the salad with olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper and salt.

Upon arriving at the Center for Child Development (CCD) on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, visitors quickly recognize the uniqueness of the facility.

Outdoor Living in the School Garden

By:

Candace Clavin Rein with Cynthia Domenghini, NGA Staff

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Learning in the Outdoors

Here are two lessons created by our staff at NGA to get your students learning in the garden.

Give your Cabbage a Story (PDF) (Grades 3-5)
What Lives in the Garden (PDF) (Grades K-8)

Image taken from: Adirondack ArtA footprint map is a visual of animal footprints used to identify animals. Guides showing local animal tracks are a great way to help your students identify garden visitors. Tiny identification guides can be downloaded online and tucked into garden journals. Posters are also available for display in the classroom. Do a search of animal footprint maps to locate a guide for your area.

Visitors to the NGA headquarters at Vermont Garden Park sitting comfortably outdoorsMany times, as gardeners, we think of the garden as “ours”. The garden exists to fulfill our purposes whether to provide food for our family, education for our students, or a beautiful setting for family and friends to enjoy.

Learning Takes Flight: A Passionate Pursuit of Monarchs

Submitted by sarahp on Sun, 07/18/2010 - 09:52

“I always look for interesting and relevant themes to hook students,” says fourth grade teacher Ruth Pinson from Armuchee Elementary School. But, she admits, she never imagined she’d cast her lot with insects, much less have their young crawling all over the classroom! Inspired by a workshop on raising monarchs, Ruth became hooked. “The idea of working with monarchs gave me such a shot of enthusiasm that I figured it would surely do the same for my students.”

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Join the Journey!

Learn more about Journey North and register to participate in one of its exciting migration studies or other seasonal adventures.

Ladybugs Lost and Found

A Tale of Schoolyard Citizen Science

Noelle Kramer hadn’t planned to delve into citizen science, but her students were rather persuasive. As her third and fourth graders in Dixon, California read aloud from Time for Kids, something sparked their interest. “An article on a citizen science program called The Lost Ladybug Project asked kids to become ladybug spotters in order to help scientists find a native species that had nearly disappeared,” says Noelle.

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The Tale of the Lost Ladybugs

Once the state insect of New York, the nine-spotted ladybug population diminished until it all but disappeared from the radar. In fact when some youngsters spotted one of them near their Virginia home in 2006, it was the first of that species seen in the Eastern United States in 14 years! John Losey and other scientists at Cornell University figured that if lots of eyes scoured the country, they might help find more of them along with some other native lady beetles that were also disappearing. And so, the Lost Ladybug Project was born. But it wasn’t just about documenting locals. Scientists – and many homeowners – noticed that populations of other ladybugs were exploding. This included the orangey Asian lady beetle, which was introduced in this country to control pests. Have these imports excluded the native species from their habitats? This is one of the questions that scientists are exploring, thanks to a growing team of citizen scientists.

How to Find a Ladybug

Submitted by sarahp on Sun, 07/18/2010 - 09:32

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The Tale of the Lost Ladybugs

Once the state insect of New York, the nine-spotted ladybug population diminished until it all but disappeared from the radar. In fact when some youngsters spotted one of them near their Virginia home in 2006, it was the first of that species seen in the Eastern United States in 14 years! John Losey and other scientists at Cornell University figured that if lots of eyes scoured the country, they might help find more of them along with some other native lady beetles that were also disappearing. And so, The Lost Ladybug Project was born. But it wasn’t just about documenting locals. Scientists – and many homeowners – noticed that populations of other ladybugs were exploding. This included the orangey Asian lady beetle, which was introduced in this country to control pests. Have these imports excluded the native species from their habitats? This is one of the questions that scientists are exploring, thanks to a growing team of citizen scientists.

When Lila Higgins, an educator from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, first takes her teenage summer camp students out in search of lost ladybugs, they look a bit lost themselves. “I start by talking about ladybugs and other insects and asking students to notice what they see,” says Lila. She instructs them to put their “nature eyes” on. After all, scientists need to hone their observation skills. In many cases, they don’t see much.

Honeybees: Powerhouse Pollinators

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 17:23

By:

NGA Staff

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When we have breakfast each day, we can thank honeybees for making our meal possible by pollinating the blueberries on our cereal, oranges for our juice, or almonds in our muffins.

Introducing Bees

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 17:13

Bees are both fascinating and critical pollinators, offering rich material for lessons in animal behavior, the process of pollination, ecology, and habitat. Try out some of these lesson ideas:

We Get By with a Little Help from Our Friends

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 17:00

We can all use a little help in the garden. And the garden has an army of tiny helpers eager to lend a hand. They are the beneficial insects, ones that behave in ways that are helpful to the crops we grow. These “good bugs” help out in a variety of ways—by hunting and eating (or using as food for their young) insects that are harmful to our crops, by parasitizing insects we consider pests, or by pollinating the fruiting plants we grow.

Meet the Lady Beetles

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 16:33

Although we know them as ladybugs, these familiar garden denizens, which inevitably inspire curiosity and questions, are not actually bugs, but beetles, and they are not all ladies! (True bugs constitute a different group, or order, of insects, characterized by broad, flat bodies with triangular designs that are formed by overlapping wings.)

Buddy Plants, Beer, and Blenders

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 10:53

Testing Pest Control Wisdom

Ask gardeners about homegrown pest control and you'll get a slew of creative responses: beer-filled dishes to attract slugs, a spray of juiced bugs to deter insect relatives, marigolds planted to repel nematodes, and so on. Will these strategies work in your school garden? Which are most effective for which pests? What is the scientific explanation, if any, for the effectiveness of each approach? Might any techniques be harmful to plants or beneficial insects? Such questions are rife with possibilities for student inquiry.