Green Thumbs

Agriculture students at Webster City High School are doing more than sporting green thumbs.

These students are learning skills that they can use in the “real world,” whether or not they pursue agriculture as a career.

Students can take agriculture instructor Kurt Veldhuizen’s two classes: Plant Science and Greenhouse Production and Management.

In Plant Science, students learn the science of plants: how they grow, how they reproduce and how they influence the environment.

In the Greenhouse class, students put that science into action.

“Students are in charge of producing a crop of plants,” Veldhuizen said. “But the better part is the learning they do.”

Veldhuizen said his students not only learn about the plants, but they also learn how to manage the greenhouse as well. Ultimately, he feels the Greenhouse class is more of a “real life” entrepreneurship class.

“The greenhouse is a business,” he said. “Students in the class are in charge of selecting plants—depending on our money—and caring for those plants, managing other Ag classes and students that work in the greenhouse [in order] to get product completed, and supervising other tasks.”

Then students in the Greenhouse class have to take inventory, determine their expenses, set prices, market the product, and then sell the product.

Below are some photos of the plants students have grown:

Veldhuizen said the plants are just the “track” he uses to get the real learning out there.

There are a few students in the Greenhouse class that are not planning to pursue plants for a career—one of them is actually going into diesel mechanics.

Even though these students aren’t going to be working specifically with plants as a career, they are still learning management skills. Perhaps they will become managers of a shop one day, Veldhuizen said.

“That’s the cool part of the facility,” he said. “It is 100% real world.”

Veldhuizen said he could teach the students about business and entrepreneurship in the classroom, or he can get them involved in a real life situation.

“My whole goal is that the greenhouse is self-sufficient, just like a real business has to be in the real world,” he said. “The kids know that, and it’s important that the kids learn those skills as well.”

In fact, the Greenhouse class has several plants available for sale beginning April 25^th.

Click here to see their flyer: 2013 Good Plant Flyer

At the end of the day, Veldhuizen is thankful to have the greenhouse and all that it entails for students.

“I am very passionate about what we do in the Ag Department as a whole,” he said. “I really take pride in what the students do, and I think the students do too—which is why the Ag Department continues to grow.”

If you’re interested in purchasing from and supporting the Greenhouse class students this year (starting April 25^th), you can stop by the greenhouse. It is located on the south end of the high school, and the regular hours are 3:30 PM—6:00 PM.

Mean Muggin’!

This week, 8th Grade students at Webster City Middle School started their ceramics unit with their art instructor, Lisa Marie Jorgensen.

This is a unit they all look forward to because most have not used clay before, according to Jorgensen.  This unit combines elements of art and cultural history, hand building technique and—of course—creativity.

“Students are a little overwhelmed in the beginning,” Jorgensen said.

Students have a series of requirements to get through before they even get their hands on clay.  This includes a reading and writing assignment that ties tightly both into the Common Core and National Art Standards.

After the reading, students are exposed to the cultural history of African American Slavery within a Prezi presentation and learn about ceramic “Face Jugs,” also known as “Ugly Jugs”.

During slavery, anything that was considered valuable also had the need to be hidden,  and these face jugs were created to do just that.  Using scary or ugly faces—occasionally normal—the jugs would often “scare” away anyone that didn’t know what was in them.

During this Prezi , students also learn about the different techniques involved in hand-building with a series of rules to follow when working with clay.

Below are two photos Jorgensen uses in her presentation:

Image: African American Face Jug from Bath, South Carolina, late 1800s – from Skinnerinc.com

Image: Artistic Take on the traditional “Face Jug”, Alex Irvine

Following this, students participate in a demonstration in which they walk their teacher, Jorgensen, through some of the steps they’ve learned in their reading and Prezi.

They also have to take time to think about the process and plan out their ideas, including what the purpose of their jug will be – will it scare away or invite someone in?  Or will it be pleasant enough that no one is scared?  The possibilities are endless.

“Because they have been exposed to so much information in a variety of ways, they are pretty much ready to start,” Jorgensen said.

Students receive their clay and, on day one, roll a slab for their base and begin attaching coils.

“Making coils is one of the more challenging tasks for them,” Jorgensen said. “But they get the hang of it after a couple of days.”

After a series of days in which they attach coils and smooth over their walls, students learn the variety of ways that detail can be added (there are too many to count).

Their requirements are pretty straight forward – they must make a face that has one eye, one nose and a mouth.  These details should be recognizable but do not have to be plain – in fact, Jorgensen encourages her students to get as creative as they can – whether they do something human, animal or completely make-believe.

Below is an image from Jorgensen in which students were working on building up their face jug with detail:

“I am always impressed with the imagination students put into this project,” Jorgensen said. “We have faces that range anywhere from normal, to monsters, to goofy, even animals and some zombies!”

Below are some images of projects made from previous trimesters this year:

Kaitlyn R., Class of 2017

Luke B., Class of 2017

Devin C., Class of 2017

Ann Marie L., Class of 2017

Jorgensen said she enjoys this unit because students end up having a great discussion surrounding a big part of our American history. Students also have a great collaboration regarding creativity.

“Students are constantly talking about their ideas and problem solving when something doesn’t work how they thought it might,” she said.

Vocabulary Parade!

Yesterday, some students from Webster City Middle School got to try something new!

The Fifth Grade reading and language teachers tested out a new, fun way to practice vocabulary, memorization and public speaking skills. In their classes, students read a story called Miss Alanieus, in which there is a vocabulary parade.

Since MAPS testing was coming up, these teachers thought that creating a vocabulary parade of their own would be a “fun way for students to learn vocabulary and be creative at the same time,” teacher Kelly Johnson said.

Students had to create a definition, sentence and costume to go with their vocabulary word. They had some time in class to work on their costumes and props, but most of the work was done outside of school.

“At first students were apprehensive and nervous,” Johnson said. “However as the parade drew closer and their costume was created, the excitement started building.”

Aside from the students, there was a nice turnout of parents in the audience as well as staff from the school.

Johnson posted four videos of the parade, and it sure seems students had a fun time learning!

“Overall we felt this experience was great for the students,” Johnson said. “We look forward to doing more of this in the future!”

Teacher Christina Moline added a few more photos from the parade:

 

“It was also nice to see that there have already been many YouTube views of the videos,” Moline said. “I am happy that the kids have a way to share their experience with others who could not be there.”

Moline said the parade was a “great success!”

“We definitely will have a vocabulary parade again,” she said.