November - Smith

     This month has gone pretty well for the Think Green house. We have been to the Green Team meeting at Boyd and even had in class presentations. We have had a couple snags here and there but everything ended up working out in the end.
     At our first meeting with Boyd's Green Team we made recycled crafts with the students. We had two separate crafts, newspaper monsters and plastic bag bracelets. For the monsters, we folded up a strip of newspaper and then the kids drew half of a monster on it. After that the monster is cut out and when unfolded should make a string of identical monsters. Jared was the only one who got it on the first try, for some reason it was difficult for the rest of us to figure out. The bracelets were made by twisting plastic bags around little pieces of newspaper, making the bracelet look similar to pearls. Towards the end we made a couple of paper planes out of the leftover newspaper and had fun throwing them around with the kids.
     Last week we also did two in class presentations about the nitrogen cycle. First we talked about each step in the cycle, drawing what occurs so that the class could better visualize the cycle. We also had a toy cow head that we used to represent animals eating plants that contain nitrogen, and the kids got a kick out of it. They all laughed when a plastic cow head was taped to the board, and then in each class someone asked why we were using a cow head. After explaining the cycle we split the kids into four groups; clouds, soil, plants, and animals. Each group told us about what happens in the step of the nitrogen cycle they were in and we answered any questions they had. Then we checked off their "nitrogen passport" and they would go to the next station. At the end we passed out organic snacks and told them what happens when pollution gets into the cycle.
     When it comes to interacting with the Summit community, I have been unable to attend any of the events. Unfortunately most of them have been on Thursday nights, and on Thursdays I have class from 5:20-9:00pm. I was hoping to make it to the November social that happened on Wednesday night, but I was studying for a test. I have mixed feelings about the wellness program. I really enjoy Yoga and Tai Chi, and am looking forward to acupuncture (though I don't know if I feel like getting poked with needles yet). The rest of the wellness program doesn't really make sense to me. I feel like a wellness program shouldn't be something taught online, but something that should be experienced. I thought the speakers we had in September were interesting, and hope the rest of the speakers are equally so.