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GERANUM NATION CHALLENGE. =MEMBERS PAGE=

Volunteers and teachers are encouraged to post pictures and notes here.

 * Oct 25, 2011**- "Things went very well at Kilbourn today. Trimming back the plants was great. It helped the kids take ownership of their plants". **Cindy Mestan at Kilbourn School**


 * Oct 27, 2011**- "It went very well. The kids were so excited. Folks should plan for about 45 minutes per class. The highlight was when I asked one class to tell me all the things plants need to survive. They said water, air, food, sunshine...and then one little guy jumped out of his chair and shouted "Love! They need love!". Yes, that is the most important thing of all... " **Kristin Stieger at Zablocki School**

Here are a few suggestions that may be helpful in the future. --First--take a bunch of extra pots. Several of the students at Grantosa had either forgotten or brought teeny pots, like an 8 oz milk carton or very small margarine tub. Luckily, I had brought 10 old pots I'd found in my garage. We needed all of them! --Take some kind of container to put a pile of soil on each table for the students to access--I used the white plastic garbage bags I used to transport the geraniums. Luckily I took a few extra bags so I was able to give all 4 tables their own pile of soil. I also took plastic cups for each student to scoop the soil into their pots. --I had my watering can but it would've taken a long time to go around and let everyone use it to water their plants. Instead the students went to the sink one table at a time and filled the plastic cups and used that to water their plants. This really was a fun activity. A bit messy, but that's gardening for you."
 * Oct 27, 2011**- " Just got back from my Geranium Nation classroom at Grantosa. The students were wonderfully well-behaved and they were excited about having their own geranium to take care of. I really enjoyed working with them.
 * Sheila Jozwik at Grantosa **

**Oct 27, 2011**- " Me and a few of my students presented today at Holmes Elementary school. I think it went fairly well. THe elementary students enjoyed it as did my students. I also attached a picture."
 * Vince Goldstein at Holmes Elementary **

**Oct 27, 2011**- Several classrooms are keeping journals of their geraniums and care.

**October 31, 2011**- " I just completed my presentation. Thank you so much for dropping off the plants and soil. Mr. Falsetti is a gardener himself so his class was prepared. They are keeping their plants at the school to monitor them.

The second presentation was 2 classes combined and with only an hour, that was a little hectic. It was like an assembly line. One of the teachers helped me with getting soil and potting.

In each class there was a table for me. My only suggestion is to have the plants at one end with the pots so the children can pick out their Geranium. Some times it takes a while to pick out the perfect one! Next station, dirt filling and planting. Third station, pruning. I just had the children move down the line as they were complete. It made things go a little faster.

This was a great idea. Lots of the children have never gardened or even knew what a geranium was. One question I asked was "As you are driving did you ever see the pretty plants in the middle of the street. Well these are them". That seemed to excite them. Let me know if you other "fun" things for me to do like this!"
 * Dawn Riegel at Victory School**

A fun experience!! The second class took around 40 minutes - 25 students - but had a small number of students fill all the pots with soil and put in the geranium. The rest of the students just cleaned the plants of debris. Students did not bring in pots, drainage plates, bags. We had to supply everything. They brought interest. My suggestion is to have the soil on the table accessible to all children, rather than on the floor."  Thank you very much for allowing us to be a part of this project. Sincerely, we had a great time and really enjoyed the kids. Please let us know if you need any volunteers in the future. Schedule permitting, we're in :)"
 * October 31, 2011**- "I went to Manitoba with the geraniums around 12:30 PM today. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to take pots while I was getting the geraniums!! Most of the kids had pots although some were pretty big (we ran out of potting soil!!) but I had brought two of my own and the teacher had a few so we made do. The kids were very excited and it was a lot of fun! Two children were absent so I will pot up the two geraniums I have left and take them in so they can each have one, too. The teacher was very cooperative (she had sent me an email regarding the pots but unfortunately, I didn't get it before I left for the school!) and had organized things well. We also had a couple of parents assisting which was VERY helpful--that might be something to tell teachers next year; see if they can round up a few parents to help out with this and that. The kids were very sweet....many of them said thank you without the teacher even prompting them!
 * Jane Misslich at Manitoba School**
 * October 31, 2011**- "I demonstrated to 2 classes at Stuart Elementary School and found the children very happy to work with the geraniums. The first class took me about an hour - helping them do all - put soil in pot to watering.
 * October 31, 2011**- "I demonstrated to 2 classes at Stuart Elementary School and found the children very happy to work with the geraniums. The first class took me about an hour - helping them do all - put soil in pot to watering.
 * Diane Garhart at Stuart School**
 * November 1, 2011- "**It was great today, the students were very excited about their plants!"
 * Elizabeth Arnold at ALBA School**
 * November 1, 2011- "** Sorry for not reporting in right away. Things got away from me last week :) We had sooooo much fun in Ms. Meehan's class. The kids were awesome as was Ms. Meehan. I really think they enjoyed it very much.
 * November 1, 2011- "** Sorry for not reporting in right away. Things got away from me last week :) We had sooooo much fun in Ms. Meehan's class. The kids were awesome as was Ms. Meehan. I really think they enjoyed it very much.
 * November 1, 2011- "** Sorry for not reporting in right away. Things got away from me last week :) We had sooooo much fun in Ms. Meehan's class. The kids were awesome as was Ms. Meehan. I really think they enjoyed it very much.
 * Mary Long & Scott Defebaugh at Hopkins Lloyd School  **

Also I had a couple of extra plants so I took them to the school I work with for my foundation and I have the special needs classroom growing them... They were so excited to be part of he program..." o Smell the geraniums…I was struck by the familiar smell in my car after transporting 55 plants in the trunk. The kids really liked the smelling piece. o Touch the leaves and describe how they felt  o Where would you find light for your plants? In the window or near the window discussion – I made the mistake of saying in “your house” – one of the students asked what she should do because she lived in an apartment (ugh)  o How much water? What happens if you water the plant too much – my favorite answer “the plant will drown”.. o How to remember when to water the plants – the choose same “day of the week” was the favorite answer o Reinforced the idea of removing the dead leaves and spent flowers at the “node” – they seemed to have fun with this word o They thought the white filler in the potting mix were stones – explained that it helps to hold the water in o They were curious when the water didn’t drain out of the pot at first, only after it sat for a while – had them hold up the pot and tell me if it was heavier or lighter than before o We had a few little worms, etc. that were riders on the geraniums – caused some excitement o Some of the plants still had small flower buds – that caused some interest as well I relied on the adults in the room to divide and conquer to get it done. We started at 2:00 (room already set up) and finished at 3:10. I cleaned up after so the kids could get back to their rooms and catch the bus. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. A delight to see the interest in the kid’s faces. I hope we do this again next year. Thanks for the opportunity."
 * November2, 2011- "**Just wanted to let you know that our planting at Grant school went great... Kids loved it, teachers and staff were very helpful and supportive... I think it would be a good idea to have the volunteers bring some newspaper to cover the desks as it did get a bit messy... My mom has some great photo's and I will e mail to you.. I also set up a meeting with the lead teacher to come back to the school around Christmas time to follow up with the students and talk about how the plants are doing... Thought it would be a good idea to keep them interested...
 * Susan and Sandee Schmidt at Grant School**
 * November 2, 2011- "**Ways to have fun:
 * I went to Steins and bought some silk geraniums so that the kids could see what the flowers will eventually look like. It was helpful when pointing out the “node” as well.
 * I wore a headband with the geranium in it – hoping I would be referred to as the ‘flower lady’ when they went home and talked about this with their family
 * Learning points –
 * <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Learning points –
 * <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Ann Woodward at Wisconsin Conservatory of LIfelong Living **
 * November 2, 2011-** "The teacher, Mrs Harris, started things off by having them watch the video of you explaining the project. I then went over the basics with all of the students, demonstrated how to prepare the plant for potting, and had them put their fingers in dry and wet soil to know the difference. Next we divided them up into 3 groups (grouped tables together and covered them in plastic) and passed a pot, a holder for the pot (the teacher had brought some great little clear plastic containers and some plastic plates), a plastic cup and a plant to each student. They used the cups to put the soil in the pots and I went around to each child and helped them with the planting ( the teacher helped too). Then we gave them water in their cups (the teacher didn’t want them filling their own cups up) and guided them in the watering. Lastly we gave them each a plastic bag to carry the plant home in.
 * November 2, 2011-** "The teacher, Mrs Harris, started things off by having them watch the video of you explaining the project. I then went over the basics with all of the students, demonstrated how to prepare the plant for potting, and had them put their fingers in dry and wet soil to know the difference. Next we divided them up into 3 groups (grouped tables together and covered them in plastic) and passed a pot, a holder for the pot (the teacher had brought some great little clear plastic containers and some plastic plates), a plastic cup and a plant to each student. They used the cups to put the soil in the pots and I went around to each child and helped them with the planting ( the teacher helped too). Then we gave them water in their cups (the teacher didn’t want them filling their own cups up) and guided them in the watering. Lastly we gave them each a plastic bag to carry the plant home in.

At the end we did a quick review of the light, water, and maintenance directions. A classroom captain hadn’t been selected so I left the button, etc with the teacher and told the class that they’d do a rotation of this position.

The children participated in cleaning up their desks and I did some sweeping up, etc.

All in all it went just fine. Let me know if you need anymore info from me. I am also curious as to whether anyone follows up with the teachers to see how many plants survive!"
 * Cathy Hoelter at Hi Mount School **
 * Alderman Jim Bohl Demonstrates at Parkview Elementary School:**

I have invited the two classes to do a follow-up session with me at the Domes sometime in December. Truly, a great group of students! A nice reflection of great teaching! I would do it again!"
 * November 3,2011**- "All the students decorated their pots so creatively and with "Go Geranium" painted on the pots to cheer their plant on. We had great discussions on how we eat different parts of plants and what it takes for plants to make their own food. We added humus to their pots that each class had prepared earlier in the semester.
 * Paula Zamiatowski at Greenfield School **


 * November 9, 2011**- " The kids in Mrs. Cannon’s 3rd grade class were absolutely delightful – and so eager to learn. They were very excited about potting an actual plant, as in the past they said they had only planted seeds. They loved picking out their plants and were interested in learning all about the plants. They all did such a great job of listening, standing in line and waiting, even when they were all so excited. They loved the hands-on experience of being able to pull off dead leaves and run their hands through the soil. Each boy and girl was very intense about making sure their plant was watered properly. The kids were the perfect age for this project and everyone was very helpful. What a wonderful experience!
 * Angela Pipito at Thureau School **

Watching my plant grow at the UW Extension office: