Public

Today went pretty well but we didn't see any dramatic results at the end of it as we did the first 2 days. We had fewer adults today but we had more kids. A lot of people have already left for spring break or have family coming in so I new we may have a few less people. The people who were able to attend today worked hard and the weather was perfect! We moved the chickens for our work time to keep them safe. We finished cleaning and relaying the rock for the center drain. It looks really great and we were able to start on the third drainage path. We did a lot of weeding on that really hot, dry side. There was still lots of bermuda and Johnson grass. We then laid some heavy weed barrier on the edge and laid rock to define the area. We ran out of barrier though and had to stop work on that part. Angie Sunley brought some really nice succulents from her yard that she transplanted. We also got the rock laid around the Texas Sage plant area and it is taking shape.

Baby bunnies born end of February '08

Exciting things are happening in Mrs. Jones' room.  Our pet rabbit just gave birth to four babies.  It was really neat for the kids to watch her make her nest and feel the babies in her tummy.  She had the babies over the weekend and the students have been able to watch them grow. We are very fortunate to have an area at Kyle for the many pet rabbits on our campus to run and play without being in danger.  Our courtyard is a perferct place for them to spend time outside and for the children to watch them from the windows. 

I am very excited about the opportunities that our grant is giving us and the new plants and animals that are adding to our student's learning. 

Hays CISD Spring Break 

I am Carrie Adams, a 2nd grade teacher here at KES and have had many animals in my classroom for the five years I've been at KES. I have always had animals that aren't your typical furry pets but the animals that people find scary or ugly.  Animals that most students never come in contact with but are an important part of our world. I tend to keep reptiles, invertibrates and amphibeans.  I started to notice past students always coming by my class to visit the animals and watched there excitement as they noticed growth in the animals we had during their time in my class. With this grant and the help of other teachers/parents at our school we will  be able to share all of these animals and many more with all students at KES.  Most will be available for check out by the teachers and they will be able to use them in many ways to enhance instruction.  We want children to see, understand and realize that every animal, no matter what it looks like has a job, a purpose in our world and the balance of nature.

This area will be worked on March 8th. We need to add fixtures to the sink and connect. We will also use sifting screens to clean river rock and remove composted material and weeds. We will then re-lay the river rock as a drainage area to carry water to the center drain pipe. On the left, we will edge the border with large rocks to define the garden area.

Picture 2 shows the center path. Next workday we will need to start removing grass and rock material from this section. The grass is actually growing over river rock that was previously laid. We suspect there is a layer of weed barrier under this which may help with the removal process. We will remove the material from the top, sift it with the mesh trays, throw out the bermuda grass and save the composted material. The river rock will then be relaid in areas where it is needed. The path will be covered with heavy weed barrier and we will place flagstones down the path. We will then fill in with crushed granite and border the path with large stones. 

We had our second workday yesterday, February 23rd. We did not have as many people as last workday due to a lot of prior commitments but the people who came really worked hard an accomplished a lot. Our primary focus was to get the pond installed. Additionally we needed to continue to remove bermuda grass, sift the existing river rock, divide and transplant ornamental grasses and crinum. Mr. Farmer installed a new thermometer and set up our new hose and hose reel. The Leal family worked hard to divide the ornamental grasses and transplanted them into new spots. We added a few of these and some crinum around the pond area.

Our first workday was held on February 2nd 2008. It was a beautiful sunny day! We had a great group of teachers, parents and students come out to volunteer. Mrs. Stewart brought muffins for everybody to snack on. We had a group of volunteers work on moving rocks and pile them up to the sides. The purpose of this was to make cleanup a little easier. We will re-lay the rocks at a later time. The church at the corner gave us permission to have some rocks from an excavation pile by their construction. Ms. Magnesio and Joel Mulligan went down and loaded up a bunch and brought them back for us. These rocks will be used to surround a small pond area. The overgrown shrubs got a haircut and they will hopefully start growing out nicely in the spring. We also tried to remove as much of the bermuda grass as we could. That was a tough job! Thankfully, Mr. Farmer went and got his tiller which helped to break up the ground much easier. We now need to tarp some of those areas to kill off the remaining bermuda grass.

We will enter from the side parking lot as before. Please bring tools labled with your name.

We will enter from the side parking lot as before. Please bring tools labled with your name.