Field+Trips+&+Tours

=Field Trips & Tours =

Goal: Learn about our community and consider how to enlarge what our students know about the world, how it works, and how we live in it.
==If you seek to know more about our campus, Deanna Moss is willing to take you on a tour and/or help you develop ways to get students involved. After Deanna's suggestions you'll find ideas for off-campus visits.==

=**Offerings from Deanna Moss related to our sustainability initiative -** =


 * Here are some things that I can offer to any who are interested.**

Presentations on Summit’s garden spaces in 3 categories: standing gardens, on-hold-during-construction gardens, garden spaces currently on the planning table. Printed Garden Profiles all spaces listed, defined, and numbered to coordinate w/new Summit map Power Point garden photos to accompany Garden Profiles w/”a visual” Suggested activities to relate your studies to gardens
 * 1) GARDEN PROFILES**

Would like to cooperate w/interested parties (kitchen staff, maintenance, Garden Guardians, teachers, and division heads) to coordinate student involvement in: a) gathering and sorting garden waste into appropriate brush piles b) tending of brush piles according to specific needs: breaking up limbs into pieces that stay on stacks till ready for chipper/shredder sorting through material that winds up in wrong piles c) deciding on one of several methods for using our 4-bin composting area d) collecting kitchen waste and transporting to active compost bins e) “feeding” compost bins according to method agreed on, e.g., stacked layers of green, brown, etc/ f) tending – turning, watering, shifting – compost acc. to agreed method
 * 2) COMPOSTING**

Currently blueberries, figs, and a WIDE variety of herbs, both medicinal and Culinary, in the Kitchen Herb Garden (to be restored in the TLC location or to be relocated in the spot/spots of our choosing to serve: the new dining room, the Anne Coggan Johnston Dining Room for Young Children, and miscellaneous cooking activities by individual classes or the “cooking curriculum” Possible reinstallation: raspberry bed that got lost to construction Probable replanting: Prunus mume (flowering AND fruiting apricot w/possibilities for using apricots in a summer class
 * 3) GUIDE TO “FOOD ON CAMPUS”**

We can certainly use the “grassroots” model, letting students investigate and find the appropriate site OR… I can point out RIGHT NOW a great spot suitable for this endeavor: Karl’s raised Xeriscape bed behind the greenhouse is perfect in most every way I can think of: Suitable microclimate Easy access to water Area protected (by elevation) from student traffic Broad enough space for digging and working IN THE BED Area of high visibility for Middle School & Upper Primary and older Afterschool students from their playground area Proximity to Compost Bins This seems to me a VERY INTEGRATED site for anyone wishing to pursue this //CHALLENGES:// Selection of plants that can be brought to fruition within the school year OR Making arrangements for summer tending Through volunteer efforts (hard to secure, from my past experience) Or Through incorporation into summer programs
 * 4) SUPPORT FOR NEW “FOOD TO TABLE” PROJECTS**


 * 5) SUPPORT FOR PROJECTS ENGAGING STUDENTS IN MAINTAINING** existing beds and projects: weeding, trash collecting, etc. This is nitty gritty stuff that does not immediately engage the imagination in the way that some more obviously generative projects do but is ESSENTIAL to sustaining our efforts! I would be glad to be available for afterschool efforts or for any blocks of time after 1:30 pm Tuesday, Thurs., or Fri.

Most of this may best be coordinated by Libba Reynolds in her Science blocks, but I am happy to lend support in any way possible (same hours as above). I have long promised Libba to create signage that would facilitate her efforts and have yet to do so. It’s still a probability!
 * 6) POND EXPLORATIONS**

A team consisting of Camille Townsend, Eileen Frost, duWayne Amen, Dane Perry and I - in collaboration with the teachers in the new Upper Primary Building and those in the Lower Primary area – have been working on a plan for the new spaces before and aft of the new building. In devising this plan, we have looked toward plants that relate to various curricular threads, provide shade and greenery for the new sunny areas, and that are drought and heat tolerant and otherwise stress tolerant. We have also sought plants that are low-maintenance in terms of pruning, shearing, and other such needs. We have sought to include a good number of native plants while still including some that relate to the study of China, Japan, and prehistoric times.
 * FYI:**

=Miscellaneous Tours and Experiences =


 * • Summit solar/wind tour:** Learn how Summit’s solar panels and small wind turbine power a few library computers; see Chris


 * • Salem Lake:** Learn about our watershed as you explore by canoe/kayak or walk/bicycle all or part of the 7 mile trail around our local watershed


 * • Reynolda House:** Why are “places” important? Explore one or two pieces of Reynolda House’s landscape collection. See suggested ideas to explore.


 * • Pilot Mtn. and/or Hanging Rock State Park:** Explore what is special about our nearby state parks.

• **Biodiesel Plant Tour:** Visit Gortman Biofuel Plant on Waughtown.


 * • Belews Creek Power Plant Tour:** See firsthand where most of our electricity is made.


 * • Transportation possibilities:** ride the bus downtown and visit a few art and historical sites


 * • Garbage:** “If you’re not recycling, you’re throwing it all away.” Tour our landfill and local recycling facilities to find out what happens to our trash and “stuff.”


 * • Green Building Tour:** Visit local buildings with green features.

**You'll find links to these idea pages in the left frame:** Problem-Solving Groups Individual & Small Group Projects Whole School or Division Projects Reading & Discussion Film & Discussion