Tag: Glenside Elementary

The Happy Little Trees had fun with Southwest Middle School!

Arial CharlesFall 2022 Project Teams

The Happy Little Trees

Hello, we are the Happy Little Trees! Our group is composed of four first-year students named Fay, Arial, Maddie, and Molly. We all enjoy shopping, hanging out with friends, and painting! Fay is doing a double major in Risk Management and Entrepreneurship. She loves to play volleyball, cook, and play with her dog. Maddie is majoring in Business marketing. She enjoys spending time with her family, boating and traveling. Arial is majoring in business marketing. She loves cats and being creative. Molly is undecided. She enjoys taking naps and painting and loves dogs.

 

Research

While figuring out our research topic, we aimed for a topic that is related to both teams’ service projects. After hearing the MSU students were focusing on composting, we decided to research the issue of food waste today in the United States and Russia. We worked with students from MSU to compare and contrast the food waste in the US and the food waste in Russia. We went further to investigate our own cafeteria right here at Penn State Berks, and conducted an interview with Head Chef, Joseph Ertel. After many zoom meetings with the MSU students and continuing our research, we created a narrated presentation summing up all of our findings and comparisons. 

Food Waste Research Presentation Link

Service

For our service project, we decided to paint ceiling tiles for the Southwest Middle School right in Reading. We worked with Shana Holler, head of their science department to plan on painting the tiles for the science hallways. We focused our painting on the environment and sustainability. We painted two tiles each and created paintings that would showcase the importance of our planet and conserve its unique beauty. It was very fun to create art while also educating such a young group of students at the middle school. We created a video showing our progress and experience with this portion of our project.

Service Project Video (Ceiling Tiles)

Outcome

As a whole, we all worked well together and enjoyed both portions of this project. Although finding the right times to meet with MSU students was difficult, we still enjoyed getting to speak with them and collaborate on this project. It was great to grasp a different perspective of the world and be able to work with international students. We worked hard on our paintings as well and hope the students at Southwest Middle School enjoy them and make an impact on their views of their environment. It was a great experience and we were very glad that through this experience we were able to make new friends!

 

 

 

 

Team Green Thumb Clean Up

djm7423Glenside School

 

Team Introduction

We are the Green Team, we are three Penn State Berks students in Environmental Science. Our project was located at glenside elementary school. We worked outside of the school on the gardens and flower beds. Our main goal was to clean up all of the trash and dead plants, and then plant new flowers for the school. We wanted to make sure that the school had a nice look on the outside for when they reopen it after the construction was done. Our group members were Ethan (Left ), a freshman majoring in Business. Scott (Middle) a freshman majoring in education. Dalton (Right) a freshman majoring in finance. Together the green team is looking to improve the earth one step at a time.

 

Green Team Service

For our service project, we assisted in the transformation of Glenside Elementary School. In order to get an idea of how we could help, we first met with Mrs. Fisher toured the property with a focus on how we could improve the landscaping. We looked at the flowerbeds, garden area, and looked to restore the scenery around a previously painted memorial. With Dalton’s previous experience working as a landscaper, we were able to identify what needed to be done in order to get started. Once we began, we realized this project was going to be more work than we thought. Over the winter, the harsh conditions stripped away any previous greenery, and months of a lack of maintenance led to a trash buildup which needed to be taken care of. We pulled weeds and trimmed back the remains of dead bushes. We raked out the garden area and tried to clean it up the best we could. We ended up collecting a lot of trash that was more than likely caused by the construction going on at the school. We improved the garden by planting flowers out by the front of the school. The school was nice enough to buy us the flowers and supplies we needed for this project. They purchased around 32 pansies for us to use.  They also allowed us access to the tools and garden equipment in their shed which was greatly appreciated. Over all the project went really well and we are very thankful that the school helped us out a provided the supplies we needed. 

 

Secondary Research Conducted

Our group performed research on the effects of nuclear fall out. Although our research did not have a lot to do with our actual project it was still very interesting to learn. We researched in general what fallout is and found that it is the radioactive particles that are in the earth’s atmosphere and on the earth’s surface after the explosion. The effects that this radiation can cause on the environment as well as the life in it is devastating. The effects to humans include radiation sickness and burns which can kill in a short period of time. The main longer lasting effect is a major increased risk of cancer. There are two main causes of fallout that can occur. This includes the detonation of a nuclear weapon or a nuclear reactor meltdown. The world saw examples of each of these and how its effects were felt for years after. In August of 1945, two nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those two bombs alone killed almost 200,000 people, now that technology has increased since then there is no telling how much worse it would be now. We also saw what happens when a power plant melts down. In April of 1986 a power plant called Chernobyl in Ukraine melted down. Many people died from the explosion but many more were killed by the effects that the radiation had on the first responders who were attempting to put out the fire. A large area surrounding the melted down plant is still deemed uninhabitable to this day. Overall we learned how dangerous nuclear fall out is and that it should be prevented at all costs.

Service video

Brochure

 

Team reflection

Our group was very appreciative for the opportunity that Dr Kazempour and Mrs Fisher presented us with. It was nice to have this opportunity to give back to the community that we live in and make up for the stress we put on our environment. Overall the project was very fun and we were happy to get the type of project that fitted us best. We all enjoyed being in the outdoors and putting in some physical work which made the project very enjoyable. We all learned a lot and were happy to give back while learning as well.

Gaige Day And Reflections

jap6300Clean Team

We presented our presentation at the Gaige building to our fellow classmates along with those who visited the building. We talked about our research we did and our EACAP project. On the left side and the middle of our poster we presented our EACAP project. On the right side of the poster we gave a summary of our research we did. For our EACAP project, we went to Glenside Elementary School. We did decorations for their Reading Night which was inspired by The Lorax and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We decorated part of the cafeteria and the hallway that leads into the cafeteria. In total, we spent over 8 hours decorating, including the time we spent buying the decorations and actually decorating our 2 sections. We also helped the farm stand they had during the event where fresh produce was sold to local residents/families. Our reflection as a group is that in the beginning we didn’t know any of each other (for the most part). We all got along together and worked together as a team pretty good. All of us enjoyed walking around and listening to the others present their projects to us in Gaige. Some of them were really good and interesting. As a final thought, by working together we can really make a positive change in the world, even if it’s something small.

Starting the Progress

jap6300Clean Team

We started to set our project up and prepared it before the event was going to occur. We made all of our cutouts which included things from The Lorax, Dr. Seuss (Oh The Places You’ll Go), Horton Hears a Who and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We had to prepare different stations and decorations around each corner of the cafeteria, along with the hallway that led to the cafeteria, all of which had different themes. The event lasted around 2:30 to 3 hours during which the elementary students along with families came to visit and enjoy the event. During the time of the event, there were different stands that we attended, one of them being a fresh produce stand where we sold fresh produce to nearby families and residents. This was to help raise money as a fundraiser.

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Brain Storming & Progress

Esmeralda RiveraClean Team
This past week The Clean Team continued brainstorming ideas for our upcoming Reading Night at Glenside Elementary School! By putting our creative thoughts and saving our favorite Pinterest DIYs we’ve come up with four general themes so far for Glenside’s Reading Night for the school’s young children. The themes include: The Lorax, Dr. Seuss (Oh The Places You’ll Go), Horton Hears a Who and The Very Hungry Caterpillar as each of these have a garden-themed aspect to them. For each of these themes, we will be creating a reading corner/nook for the children to read books and eat snacks in and overall enjoy each others company in a safe space for the night.

Crossing Streams

jmm8167Crossing Streams
left to right : Nathan, Kyle, Jimmy, Jaeden

We are Crossing Streams, we are all from Berks County and we all love the outdoors.  This project is going to be a lot of fun for us and a nice way for us to give back to the area.  We are all sophomores in college at Penn State Berks and we all plan to transfer to University Park next semester.

I am Jaeden Mathias and I graduated from Tulpehocken Junior Senior High School in 2017.  I enjoy playing soccer and spending time hiking. I plan to major in Geography and graduate in 2021.  

I am Kyle Lanshe and I graduated from Schuylkill Valley High School in 2017. I always love spending most of my time in nature. I really enjoy mountain biking and snowboarding. I plan to major in Economics in 2021.

I am Jimmy Lanshe and I graduated from Schuylkill Valley in 2017. I love being outside and spending time in the outdoors. My interests are mountain biking, snowboarding, and fly fishing. I am an Economics major and plan to graduate in 2021.

I am Nathan Strause, a graduate of Schuylkill Valley High School in 2017. Some interests include mountain biking, snowboarding, and other outdoor activities. I plan on transferring to University Park and major in business at Smeal. 

 

2/13/2019

Ms. Boyer asked us to look into the tape used on trees.  She wants us to scrape the eggs off of the trees on the property.  She also wants us to then look at preventative techniques like wrapping the trees in the protective tape.  She also would appreciate us to create a visual aid to help explain to the kids why the tape is there and what the life cycle of a spotted lanternfly is like.  She said we could use this visual aid for our presentation and then give it to her after the completion of our presentation.  She said we may also come in to teach a little bit to her kids in garden club and that would be helpful.

 

Final thoughts

lpb5158Fall 2016 Teams

As our EACAP project comes to an end, this does not mean that our environmental awareness should end as well. As a group, we completed a lot but individually I think we each reflected heavily on how we are harming our environment. This EACAP project revolved around water contamination and improving a school’s garden by adding a little more color to it. Not only did we improve our environment, we informed others on how to do so. I believe after this class, I will be more conscious about my surroundings and how my every day routine affects it. Here’s to a greener planet from MLR.

Laken Bankert, Group Leader

MLR Paints

lpb5158Fall 2016 Teams

M and L from MLR got together on the first of December to finally do our service project with My Squash. We painted stepping stones for Glenside Elementary to go in their garden. It took us from 1:30-5 to finish painting all of them but we are hoping our time will brighten up their garden. Who knew environmentalists could also be pretty good artists?