Summer Volunteers Needed🦎
Please indicate your willingness to volunteer by Friday, May 16th. Sandy will be in the garden area on Monday, May 16th at 3:15 PM for a brief tutorial on how to monitor nest boxes and a quick overview of the planted areas and care routine. It would be so great if we could have the volunteers present.
Three Volunteer Opportunities: Nest Box Monitoring, Fruit Tree Watering, and Gardening
Nest Box Monitoring and Garden Volunteer are separate activities, but you may sign up to do both for the same week. Each week runs Monday-Sunday.
June 2-June 8
June 9-June 15
June 16-June 22
June 23-June 29
June 30-July 6
July 7-July 13
July 14-July 20
July 21-July 27
July 28-August 3
August 4-August 10
August 11-August 17
August 18-August 24
August 25-August 31
Nest Box Monitors
Who doesn’t love a gift box? The anticipation of what is inside, the excitement of physically opening it, and the surprise you find inside from the gift giver are all part of the fun!
The nest boxes built by the Maple Grove learners are gift boxes that will keep on giving! We expect that nests will be constructed in the coming weeks. Finding a nest, eggs, and baby birds is something that is always exciting! Sometimes we find surprises such as mice in the boxes, but even mice can bring a moment of fun! Sandy has been doing this community science monitoring for about 20 years, and she can tell you, these discoveries NEVER get old!
Weekly monitoring will need to continue through the summer. We are looking for families to commit to monitoring. We can have one family or multiple families sign up. We will provide you with in-person training–it’s not difficult and Sandy am just a phone call away if you have questions.
Please let me know if you would like to be a nest box monitor for part or all of the summer, and we can set up a time for the training.
Friends of a feather, please flock together with me in this monitoring project, Sandy Benton at sandy@fieldedventures.org .
Maple Grove Gardeners
Spring planting season is here, and the Maple Grove students will soon be planting vegetables and herbs that support people and pollinators.
New this year is a pollinator patch researched, designed and planted by Mrs. Blume’s Second Grade Class. We thank the WILD Ones Central Chapter for the donation of native plants.
A great deal of science learning has taken place regarding plants, pollinators, and soils across all grades; and, in second grade, math has also been a focus to determine perimeters and areas of the available growing spaces.
Because a lot of the plant growing and care will take place during the summer when students are not on site, we are asking for families to sign up for garden care. Ideally, we would like two visits per week. One family does not need to do both visits for the week, we just want to create a coordinated schedule of care. If we have 26 folks sign up, everyone will only need to take one turn each.
The work will include:
Watering as needed; the watering equipment will be at the garden site. Mrs. Hanson has graciously agreed to keep us supplied with water in the sprayer tank when Mother Nature does not.
Weeding–everyone’s favorite–as needed.
Picking and taking produce home (or eating it in the garden)--TRULY everyone’s favorite!
Thinning plants if needed
Leaving notes for the next volunteer
Areas that require garden care and maintenance:
Upper playground area:
Pollinator Plots
Three Sisters Garden
Vegetable Garden
Bean Teepee
Fruit Tree Watering (upper playground)
This volunteer opportunity is just as it sounds: once per week, please fill the tree watering bags with water from the sprayer tank. The water will slowly seep into the soil at the roots of these new pear and apple trees recently planted by Ms. Riehle’s Kindergarten Class. You will be part of the establishment of Maple Grove’s new orchard! You can almost taste the apple pies, just thinking about it!
If you are interested in learning more about these opportunities, or you are ready to sign up, please reach out to Sandy Benton at sandy@fieldedventures, and we’ll create a schedule that works for you!
Thank you for your continued support of the learners of Maple Grove Charter School! Please indicate your willingness to volunteer by Friday, May 16th.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F44ACAF2DA0FBCF8-56689263-summer 🔴
