Science: Growing Grass Seed for "Photo Hair"

Simple Science for Springtime!

This spring has been a superlative season of dashing about the countryside, making my author-illustrator school visits and sharing my work at Early Childhood Conferences. A week ago I got to spend some QUALITY time with the two genius hearts and minds behind the blog, "Kindergarten Rocks." Here we are about to head out into the c-o-l-d! We were all presenting up in Menominee, WI for UWI-Stout's ECE conference. BTW: Amber was given an award for her contributions to the conference! They really do r-o-c-k! 

Last year about this same time, I was able to schedule visits to each of their schools. I went to Amber first and after my presentation was able to take scads of pictures. This next series of photos have been my most popular 'pins' of the year! Thank you Amber for allowing me to share your awesomeness and bring new eyeballs here to me in the process. LUV me some Pinterest people!

To make a long story short, I just found the photos from the day that I presented my songs and picture books at LuAnn's school! EXACTLY 366 days ago! It is a VERY big deal to me, when I make the 'morning message!' We posed this next photo, just for you, and as an attempt to contain their excitement before I started. Her kinder-kids were so eager to have me tour their room!

I thought you'd want to see LuAnn's 'tweak' on the growing 'hair-as-grass' theme. She, too, took photos of the kids heads. The main difference in her presentation, over Amber's above, is in the use of TWO plastic cups for each student. Look closely at this upcoming photo {which I realize has terrible focus, but it is apparently the only one I took} to see what I mean. VOILA! A 'cross section' of roots! Up close and personal!

Cup A has the dirt and the growing grass seed. 

By nesting Cup A into Cup B where the photo is adhered, 

the students can see all of the root activity and growth from their seeds, 

when they slide Cub A 'out' to take a peak. And believe me. EVERY student wanted to show me THEIR root colony to get the day started! 

Why. Yes. It does seem that their grass is quite literally on FIRE with greenness. I'll have to ask LuAnn what seeds you uses to get that EXTREME green look.

This project combines two of my favorite things! Delayed gratification {which I have written about earlier in this spring growing article and this science article} and NOVELTY! This is the perfect time of the school year to be introducing elements of 'novelty.' 

Everyone is into the various rhythms of classroom routine. Things are humming right along toward the finish line. Now? MIX it up! This project gets funnier and funnier and more and more 'novel' with each day's growth of grass/hair. You could even have the kids act as barbers and have them 'trim' the hair/grass! Too funny! 

I KNOW that you enjoy looking over my shoulder and seeing how other teachers organize their rooms. This little 'mini-tour' is certain to put a smile on your face. Again. I took these pictures with your curiosity in mind. Here's a couple of snaps to see the kind of excellence in early education that I have become accustomed to documenting.  

Are you getting ready for some serious shopping at Teachers Pay Teachers? 

I will be participating in the BIG Teacher Appreciation  sale! 

My little store will be reduced by 20% add the code and save a total of 28%! 

My two biggest sellers for the End-of-Year festivities are:

"Red, White and Blue"

and 

"You're Wonderful" 

as both are suitable for 'performance' using sign language. 

Which will be performed for Memorial Day Observations. 

It is the perfect addition to your program. 

Many schools across the country will incorporate my song (and book) "You're Wonderful" in their EOY/graduation festivities. 

Look at this sweet email I just received. 

"We met at the RMECA conference; I am a pre-kindergarten teacher at The Fisher Center at DU.  We spoke a bit and I purchased two of your books.  Just have to tell you that we have been learning "You're Wonderful" and are using it as our song for our parents at our graduation ceremony on May 30!  Graduation for pre-kindergarten?, you may ask.  Oh yes, this is DU; we have gowns and diplomas and the whole 9 yards.  We'll record the ceremony and thought you might find it a useful endorsement.  The kids are already very proficient with the song and hand signs; many parents are already commenting on the wonderful lyrics.

So glad I found your wonderful books!"

Regards,

Tracy 

Rainbow Fish Teacher

I'm a huge fan of Pinterest! 

Would you be kind and help my grassroots campaign to share my work? 

Every pin is an enormous asset. 

Thank you!

I now have 150,000+ followers on Pinterest! Join us!

We're getting ready to hit the road again in the morning for another 'tour'. I have an all-school visit in Indiana and then on to give another installment in my on-going series of annual visits to St. Paul in Westerville to visit their kindergarten classrooms. We will be spending time with our WonderPeeps in central Ohio over NEXT weekend. I promise to attempt to keep my Instagram feed from going awash with their antics 24/7. 

Then I am going to attempt something brand new! I have FOUR school buildings scheduled in ONE school day! Rural Indiana. Whooooop! Whoooooop! It looks 'do-able' on paper. My dear hubby will be with me to do the driving and the four set-up/tear downs. Hopefully it won't take me a year to share all of this wonderment.