The Scoop on Soil: Sowing Seeds of Knowledge

Friday, March 2, 2018

Thanks for the memories!!

Original Post from 3/6/2015

My last day picnic party!

Many of you know that I have accepted a new job with the Great Parks of Hamilton County as their Volunteer Coordinator. Although I am thrilled to start a new and exciting chapter in my life, it is always bittersweet saying good-bye.
I cannot say thank you enough to Gwen, who has mentored me, showed me what passion and dedication look like and who, as a boss, has always encouraged and supported everything I have done. As a matter of fact, all of the staff at the SWCD have been that way. They are all unique and have taught me something and made me laugh along the way. I will definitely miss them! They have also done a great job putting up with me, my chattiness, my sarcasm and my slight attention issues! :)
Ohio has some great educators, formal and informal. People that are passionate and believe in what they do. And that's awesome. Thanks to all of the teachers that welcomed me into the classroom and even invited me back! It's been fun to get to know you all. I'll miss the random comments and crazy schedules from the classrooms! And to everyone that collaborated with me, that are doing the important job of introducing children to the natural world so that they can appreciate and conserve it in the future, thank you for letting me into the fold. I have had a blast working with you all!
With that, I'll leave you with some of my favorite memories and people from my five years here at the District. It's not good-bye, it's see you later! See you at the Parks!

Niki

A job hazard: over-crafting and being covered in feathers!

My homies on New Years Eve when we dressed "swanky".

I actually held a tarantula!! Thanks to this job..

One of our awesome Educator Development programs: learning about farms.

Hikes with Scouts

Library programs always have great crowds, quality over quantity!

I worked with many great interns!

A truly fabulous and passionate group: the educators of Area IV.

Gwen telling kids to not use cell phones at Envirothon. :)

Love our Storm Drain Labelers!

Great Outdoor Weekend

Talkin' worms in the rain!

Two of my favorite co-workers ever!

Thank you for being awesome!

Original Post from 2/2/2015

Each year Gwen and I struggle with choosing JUST ONE Teacher of the Year for our annual meeting in September. So many teachers that we work with go above and beyond in not only transforming students, but also their peers and school neighborhood. In 2013 we had selected Julie Christner from Hilltop Elementary in Wyoming for her environmental education skills, for making her classroom a mini-science museum and for just being awesome in general.

We thought Julie was awesome.
But then she went and TOTALLY exceeded our expectations.
Julie had noticed some erosion issues on the school property, She never thought the job to fix it would be too challenging for her students - she has total faith in their skills. Instead she saw these erosion issues as an opportunity for her 4th grade students to assess a real-world problem and for them to engineer and build a solution for the school that would have a lasting impact for the community. Little did she know how much her principal would like the idea!

Hilltop decided to get all of the grades and teachers involved, from the first graders testing the soil and ground temperature, the kindergarten and second graders who filled a trench with gravel and the third graders who helped to cover the trench with soils. But the fourth graders! They were the true workers on this project, with Julie leading the way; they assessed the problem, had guest speakers from Ohio Utilities Protection Service (Call Before You Dig!) and our office (thanks Dan Taphorn), created models, proposed solutions, and made a safety video before starting to dig the trench. Soooooo, this year Gwen and I decided to nominate Julie for teacher of the year for all of the Ohio Conservation Districts, and guess what? She won!

We are thrilled to have such an amazing teacher in Hamilton County and are so excited to watch as she is presented with the Ohio Teacher of the Year award at the all-Ohio meeting in Columbus on February 24th.

Thank you to Julie and the rest of the inspiring teachers out there in Hamilton County!

If you are interested in receiving grant money for a project like this at your school (or any other conservation-related project in the schools) click here.
Here's to looking forward to Spring so that we can start working on them! Get those kiddos outside! :)

Niki

No Winter Blues Here!

Original Post from 12/16/2014

As we near the first official day of winter and the shortest day of the year - that darned winter solstice on December 21st - many of us sink into the dreadful winter blues (also known as SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder). This year, let's fight the SAD by embracing winter! Yes, it's cold, and gray and and icy but there is also snowy trails to walk, snowmen to build, winter wildlife, sleds and hot chocolate to warm our bodies. Here are some ways to become BFFs with ol' man Winter:

Pick a Space and Watch it Change!
There are all sorts of 365 day video projects, but this one stuck out to me as an environmental educator. Using over 40,000 pictures, the creator of this video made an amazing timelapse that shows the change that this natural space goes through in the course of a year, so that we can appreciate all four seasons!

It would be so simple to choose a natural space at your school or backyard and take a weekly picture (you definitely don't need 40,000 to see the change!). Cell phones make visual documentation easy. If you started your project in January your students could easily see the differences from Winter to Spring to Summer. Make a poster to take simple notes on, including the colors, the wildlife, how the plants change, how the ground looks. List the kid's favorite thing about each season. It's an easy way to get your kids engaged in the outdoors all year long!

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Citizen Science in the Winter
Get out there with thousands of others to participate in some science projects! When children see that their data will be combined with thousands of others and used in real-world conservation efforts they start to believe in the difference that they can make! The Great Backyard Bird Count is February 13th-16th and it is a cinch to get involved in. Pick a spot to document the bird species that you see. You can log for as little as 15 minutes for one day or participate in all four. The website link tells you how to sign up be an official participant.

To encourage the birds to stop by and get your kiddos involved in the fun, have them make their own unique bird feeder using recycled materials. Check out some pinterest-y ideas below (and be sure to follow the District on Pinterest for more nature ideas as we build our page this winter!).

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Explore Snowflakes

Talk about snow, look at the snow, play in the snow! Observe different snowfalls to note if the flakes always look the same. Check out any of the beautiful snowflake books that showcase beautiful photographs of snowflakes. A highly recommended book is "The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder", available on Amazon.com.

Most importantly, enjoy your winter breaks and time with family. Happy Holidays!

Niki

Water around the world.

Original Post from 12/3/2014

This past September, I had the chance to visit Kenya and Tanzania on a wonderful vacation. One of the places we visited was a small fishing village on the shores of Lake Victoria in Speke Bay. It certainly opened my eyes to how people live in many other places in the world. We took handmade canoes from our lodge over to the village. The canoes were made of wood and the cracks were stuffed with pieces of rolled fabric, yes fabric. Needless to say, there was a bit of bailing going on during the trip.

Pulling up to the village it seemed some people, especially the local kids were eagerly waiting our arrival. We disembarked our canoes and were led through town by our tour guide, John, who was amazing and wonderfully patient answering all of our questions. The village has about 1,000 people living there who democratically elected a mayor. The mayor's term lasts for 5 years and if after that time, the villagers believe the mayor is doing a good job, he will stay on for another 5 years, if not, they will hold another election. The mayor appoints 12 men and women to serve on council during that time.

The majority of the people that live in the village make a living through fishing. The fishermen go out every night and come back with their catch in the morning to sell at the market. There is no electricity in the village, no hospital (although there is a local medicine man), and a school that was opened by a young villager in 2009 (I'll write more about the school in another post). Currently, only about 50% of the children in the village go to school.

The village does have many other businesses in addition to fishing. I have included pictures of the general store, the bike rental shop and the bakery. We also saw women selling charcoal and men making bricks with either soil or cement. The villagers would buy the bricks to build their homes. The cement bricks were much more expensive than the soil bricks, meaning almost all the homes were made of soil.

I would be more than happy to share more pictures or stories with you or your students about my trip. I certainly learned the importance of water and soil conservation as well as farming practices used throughout the world.

Enjoy, gwen

Gwen with the village in the background.

handmade boats we took to the village. that's me in the blue shirt!

the bike rental shop.

main street in the village.

general store with sugar cane for sale out front.

approaching the village.

repairing nets for the fishing trip that night.

the bakery.

Original Post 5/20/2014

Ugh! Another oil spill affecting Hamilton County has dirtied up the Ohio River. The oil spill occurred in New Richmond and has dumped about 5,000-8,000 gallons of oil into the river. This is the second oil spill in our area this year, the first one being in Colerain Township, where a pipe burst and approximately 10,000 gallons of oil leaked into the Oak Glen Nature Preserve. These events are heart-breaking and we often become very upset at the perpetrators (and they do deserve some flack), but I always ask the students "Who's demanding this oil? Aren't they responsible too?" Below is an image of many things made from oil that we don't even think of! By demanding more "stuff", not turning off the lights, not unplugging electronics/appliances or not carpooling, biking, or walking when available we are contributing to the oil demand. Not to mention that everything made from plastic uses oil at some point!

Fortunately, we can turn this into a teachable moment for our kids and ourselves! Below are some topics and/or activities that you can bring into the classroom that can relate to the oil spill or natural resources.

Animal Impact: You can try No Water Off a Duck's Back from Project WILD or we can bring Who's Dining in Ohio Rivers?
Watersheds: We can bring Water Wanders, the Sum of All Parts or you could book our Really Big Watershed Game (requires 20x20 space and students rotating to the game giant game board).
Habitat/Land Effect: Try Toil for Oil to talk about social, economic or environmental impacts of oil extraction or have us out to do Cookie Mining.
Natural Resources: We can do the Resource Relay to talk to students about the difference and impact of renewable vs. nonrenewable resources and the future of both.
Groundwater: Have some fun and try the Edible Aquifer!

So, how do you book these programs, you ask? Go to the Classroom Presentations link and click on Book Niki or Book Gwen to access our online scheduling calendar. *Note: "Duration Time" on the calendar indicates the entire length of time that we will be at your school, including breaks and all presentations.

While you are at it, if you are a 3rd-5th grade teacher unsure about teaching the new science standards regarding landforms (including cave and karst), Ohio's geologic present and past or fossils, then come to our Project Underground Teacher Workshop! Interested in a worm bin? We have two of those workshops coming up as well. Go to the Teacher Workshops page to learn more and sign up!

We know standards are changing and so are your curriculums, so if you have any suggestions for our offerings please feel free to let us know. It especially helps if you fill out the post-presentation survey online that we send after coming to your school. We are looking forward to working with you all for another exciting school year!

Niki Marengo
Education Assistant

We're Ready for the School year (almost), are you?

Original Post from 8/20/2014

Happy August!
Are you all still warming up from dumping a bucket of ice water on your head for charity?! Despite the mellow weather (due to that pesky polar vortex sticking around), I know many of us are ready to jump into fall and are looking forward to seeing those kids get back in the learning groove. I know that both Gwen and I (and Muskie the office dog) are excited to work with Hamilton County's finest again this year!

I wanted to start out our blog by showing you some awesome, awesome photos of students learning about and playing in the soil from the end of last year. Teachers: note the augers that the students are using; wouldn't you love to have those for your classroom? Look at the enthusiasm as the students get their hands dirty and do field work with actual soil science tools. Are you ready to bring that excitement to your school? This soil science equipment was purchased by two teachers, Elise Allred of E.H. Greene Elementary and Sheryl Melvin of Mariemont Elementary, with funds used from the Odegard Diebel Grant that our district awards to Hamilton County teachers. We know you all put so much of your own money into your classrooms, let us help you out! It doesn't have to be soil equipment that you buy, it could be any way that you enhance a conservation education experience in your classroom. Check out the Odegard Diebel Grant page to learn more and even apply online!

Original Post from 5/30/2014

We are wrapping up this fun school year and look forward to our summer camps, scout groups and library programs. If you haven't booked your program, hurry! Go to the education presentation page and schedule something! If you want to look at our featured summer offerings click here. A gentle reminder that we can only bring our FREE programs to your group two times in the summer so that we can spread joy and conservation to kids all throughout Hamilton County.

Thanks to everyone that filled out our online survey this year! It helps us to figure out what's working for YOU, so if you haven't taken it please do so now! Just click here and have your voice heard. Congrats to April Black of Hilltop Elementary and Melissa Burns of Sharpsburg Elementary! They both won gardening baskets for their input in the survey. Last but not least....
If you teach soils or geology and land forms read this:
1. We have two GREAT fall workshops for teachers coming up: a 6th grade soils workshop (date TBD, suggestions welcome) and a Project Underground/geology workshop (October 28th). Flyers coming soon and we hope to see you there. Email Gwen Roth (gwen.roth@hamilton-co.org) or Niki Marengo (niki.marengo@hamilton-co.org) with questions.
2. If you teach soils or (water), please have your students participate next year in the Soil and Water poster and essay contest. The kids really do learn soooo much and both teacher and student win prizes!! I leave you with this year's winners in the slideshow below.
Have a great summer!!
Niki Marengo,
Education Assistant