On Thursday, March 18, 2010 I had the wonderful opportunity to join in the NY Agriculture Literacy Week 2010 celebrations with three participating second grade classrooms at PS 205Q in Bayside, Queens. With one day left of NY Agriculture Literacy Week, PS 205Q was still celebrating- full swing! I had so much fun and couldn't believe what all of the second graders had learned throughout the week! They knew so much about apples and couldn't wait to taste three different types of apples during the special apple tasting led by Program Leader and Science Teacher Ms. Bosi and the three participating teachers, Ms. Chin, Ms. Gartner, and Ms. Tsimis!
Here is a little bit about how each classroom celebrated on Thursday:
When I entered Ms. Chin's classroom, the first thing that I saw was a long row of bulletin boards covered with apple facts, an apple web, a list of apple sayings, and apple vocabulary words. All of the students wanted to tell me all about what they learned throughout the week, but couldn't wait to taste the three types of apples that Ms. Bosi brought into the classroom. After reading Apples and How They Grow by Laura Driscoll, tasting the Fuji, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith Apples, the students in Ms. Chin's class made apple prints by dipping apple slices in paint colors corresponding to the color of the apple they were using. They then folded their paintings in half in order to show and learn about symmetry! Here is Deanna's apple print:
Ms. Gartner's students were all so knowledgeable about the different parts of apples and became experienced taste-testers, nibble by nibble. During the apple tasting they made great observations about the skin, the flesh, the seeds, and some students even got a piece of the core! After each student tasted each of the three apple choices and took his/her own notes, the class voted to determine the favorite class apple. Granny Smith apples won the vote followed by Fuji and finally Golden Delicious apples which only got one vote. Here is a picture captured of Ms. Gartner's students experienced taste-testers in action:
When I walked into my last classroom for the day, Ms. Tsimis's class, I met 11 student-scientists all ready to make scientific observations and participate in a detailed observation-based apple tasting. Ms. Tsimis's students made picture graphs to determine their classmates favorite kind of apple. Here is a picture of Andrew, with his picture graph who found Fuji apples to be his classmates overall favorite:
Thank you PS 205Q Principal Ms. Scott-Piazza, Science Teacher and Program Leader Ms. Bosi, and Second Grade Teachers, Ms. Chin, Ms. Gartner, and Ms. Tsimis. Also, a very special Thank You to all second grade students at PS 205Q for inviting me to celebrate with you!
-Alix
Spoons Across America - Volunteer Coordinator
NY Agriculture Literacy Week 2010 Program Coordinator
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