What does $1,693 buy?
At Inverness Primary, it buys mind-growing lessons in gardening without a deluge of water.
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE
Published May 18, 2006
INVERNESS - Kristen Milford might be considered a Florida-friendly teacher. The Inverness Primary School science teacher is very much interested in teaching her students to be good stewards of the natural world.
Milford is a specials teacher, which means she sees all the students in the school throughout the year in scheduled blocks. To enhance what she teaches, she applied for and received a $1,693 grant this year from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
On a recent Monday afternoon, she invited Mary Alice Wagner, the project manager for the minigrant program for Swiftmud's northern counties, to see what she had done with the money. She also invited Mark Klauder, coordinator of secondary education for the Citrus County School District.
The two took a walk outside with her and some of her kindergarteners to see the butterfly garden they had planted. It was in full bloom with butterfly-friendly plants, including hibiscus, milkweed, plumbago, salvia, asters and passion vine.
The lesson, though, was less about attracting the showy insects and more about growing a garden using a minimum of water.
Milford pointed out the garden mister attached to a timer that sprayed the plants at 3 a.m. This method uses about half the water they would have to use with a hand-held hose, she told the children.
Kindergartener Gracie Tyler, 6, grasped that concept and explained, "We have, like, a water cycle so, like, really early in the morning the mist sprouts out and the flowers can get water."
She likes the garden, she said, "because it's fun. It gives you more colors around the school. It gets a lot of people's eyes, and they like to look at it and stuff."
Later, when the younger children had left, fourth-graders filed into Milford's room to use the Water Shed Water Education Resource Box. Put out by Swiftmud, it contained videos, cassettes, books and, of particular interest to the children, puppets.
These were not run-of-the-mill puppets. There was an eagle, skunk, rabbit, armadillo, rattlesnake, manatee and an assortment of insects, including a mosquito.
"Your job is to teach using puppets," Milford told her students.
They were expected to work in groups to write a script and produce a puppet show to be shown on the school's morning show. The show had to teach about the environment in some way.
Milford used some of the grant money to send students on field trips. First- and fifth-graders went to Crystal River Preserve State Park. Fifth-graders learned how to do water testing.
Third-, fourth- and fifth-graders made brochures about the environment to distribute to politicians, recreation agencies, golf courses, community members and parents.
Swiftmud gives out many small grants yearly. This year, there were 108, totaling about $200,000.
"It was a record number," Wagner said.
Milford's was one of four granted in Citrus County.
"It's a great opportunity for us to work with the community and use the students as a resource and get the message of water conservation out," Wagner said. "And we love to have teachers like her," she said about Milford.
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Michelle Bingham's prekindergarteners at Inverness Primary School were curious. They wanted to know whether they could grow beans in something besides dirt, like marshmallow, peanut butter, vanilla sandwich cookies or plain water.
Bingham guided them through the experiment. They planted the beans in each substance and waited for growth.
By Day 7 there was a 4-inch growth in one pot. By Day 14, the same plant was 6 inches tall. By Day 21, the 19-inch bean plant convinced the children that really only dirt works.
"Bean seeds can grow in dirt," 5-year-old Erin Cooper said.
Children in other grades had done experiments as well, and all their work culminated in the Inverness Primary science fair, which was held recently in the cafeteria.
Some projects were class efforts. Families did some, and others were individual.
Fifth-graders had done their projects earlier to coincide with the Citrus County Regional Science and Engineering Fair. They were invited to participate in this one, too, but it meant doing another project.
Science fair topics included a physical-science offering from a first-grade class: "Does the height of the ramp make a difference in how far a car will go?"
"We learned that the higher the ramp is, the farther it'll go and the more speed it'll get," said Jonathan Fernandez, 8.
"I did the hypothesis, read it to the whole class," said Jonathan's classmate Brendan Hess, 7.
Projects filled about a quarter of the cafeteria and were judged by community members and Citrus High School students.
Students tested egg strength, whether freshwater or saltwater melts ice faster, what happens to raisins in 7Up or Sprite (they dance) and whether long or short legs run faster.
There were projects about static electricity, energy transfer, battery strength, gravity and which toilet paper breaks down the fastest in a septic tank.
There were classic volcanoes and moldy bread and deciding which popcorn delivers the most value for the money. And this: Is it a good idea to let a dog lick your face? Um, it's not.