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PLT GreenSchools Investigations Benefit an Outdoor Education Center
The Civilian Conservation Corps built what is now Camp Waskowitz more than 70 years ago. True to its conservation history, the outdoor education center is also highly relevant today.
Highline School District has sent students to Camp Waskowitz for outdoor education programs since 1947. Since then, more than 200,000 students have participated in environmental education and team-building programs there. In addition to the 1,200 sixth-graders from the Highline School District who attend programs at Camp Waskowitz each year, some 1,600 5th and 6th graders from neighboring districts also attend week-long environmental education programs at the school. Waskowitz Outdoor School has been a part of the PLT GreenSchools program since 2009.
The school's Green Team is composed of eight high school students enrolled in the Waskowitz Environmental Leadership Semester (WELS). These students live in the cabins with the younger students, and serve as role models and mentors who lead the investigations. These students also have created environmental skits that they perform for the 6th grade students that feature Captain Planet, Trashbuster, and other environmental superheroes.
Energy Investigation
Because of the historic nature of its buildings, Camp Waskowitz lost energy through the cracks in doors and window frames that didn't quite close. After completing the Energy Investigation, the school's Green Team recommended weatherstripping to cut down on energy loss. "Weatherstripping has allowed us to reduce our electric consumption by 12%," reported the school's director, Roberta McFarland.
Waste and Recycling Investigation
After completing the Waste and Recycling Investigation, students recommended composting the school's food waste and proposed a recycling program to reduce the amount of trash sent to a landfill. Composting the 70 pounds of food waste the school generates every day has reduced Waskowitz' garbage pick-up schedule from once a week to once every two weeks. A side benefit: composting converts waste and carbon into great garden soil.
The school also uses TerraCycle to recycle other items. By using this service, which provides waste-collection programs for hard-to-recycle materials and turns them into affordable green products, Waskowitz Outdoor School has reduced its landfill trash by 288 cubic yards, and saved $2,800 per year in fees.
A School Nature Trail Creates a Pathway to Learning
Interactions with nature and green space have lasting impacts on learning. Kindergarten students at Hillside Elementary School in Niskayuna, New York, put this theory into action when they worked with fifth-graders to complete a nature trail that stretches four-tenths of a mile along the perimeter of their school's property.
Initially, kindergarten teacher Christine Mathews thought to have her students create a map of a trail as part of their lessons. Mathews, along with fifth-grade teacher Christine O'Reilly and librarian Debbie Urbriaco, wanted to provide outdoor learning opportunities for their students and a walking trail for residents who live near the school property. The idea soon evolved into a collaboration between classrooms, and a more hands-on and involved project that engaged students with their community to build their own trail.
They researched nature trail designs and grant opportunities. One of the grants they applied for, and received, was a Project Learning Tree (PLT) GreenWorks! service-learning grant. As a prerequisite for the grant, Mathews attended a PLT workshop to learn how to use the environment and the outdoors to engage students in learning.
Fifth-graders class joined with the kindergarteners in planning the trail, serving as mentors to their younger counterparts. Together, they designed a logo, created a map and a guide, and researched plants to place along the pathways. A parent volunteer who is a professional landscaper and the school's head custodian helped the students design the trail. Students, parents, and other volunteers spent several weekends on the project, and about 75 people participated on the final day of work that included planting trees and a butterfly garden.
Celebrating Good Work
When complete, Hillside held a nature trail dedication ceremony to recognize the contributors and celebrate their accomplishment. I was invited to give the keynote address and told the audience that the trail represents a symbol of service, of community, and a dedication to getting students outdoors and getting them to experience everything that nature has to offer. After the formal program, students from the kindergarten and the fifth grade led the rest of the school in walking the trail, and local press covered the event.
The positive connection between nature, education, and community was clear. Throughout the process, the students took skills learned in the classroom and applied them to cooperatively improve their environment. The town's residents also benefited from working with young people to beautify their surroundings to creating a place for them to also experience nature and learn from the things we can find in our backyards.
Tips for Teachers
Mathews shared tips for success that extend to many other aspects of school:
Pairing older and younger students provides learning experiences for them both. Even before we wrote grants or had approval for constructing a nature trail, we were committed to establishing a strong relationship with our classes and finding ways for the older children to mentor the younger ones. Based on classroom observation, teachers paired students according to strengths and needs. However, the relationships take time to develop, and doing specific activities together, such as our friendship books, really helps.
To involve other grades or classes, make it as easy for them as possible. For example, provide some funding or suggest specific options they can choose to do, such as the butterfly garden created by the school's third-graders.
Get support from the principal. Our principal believed in us teachers and in the project. She encouraged us to take risks.
Children learn best by seeing and doing. We organized weekend or after-school hikes to see other nature trails nearby. Parents were involved by bringing their children to the events and stayed to participate. As a community of learners, our students took pictures and recorded their observations to show and discuss what they had seen with those who could not attend.
Ask parents for help. Students, their parents and families were invited to participate in the construction day. We organized people into small groups based on the interests they indicated on a RSVP form (laying ground cover, posting signs, planting trees, etc.) and assigned a parent to be "team leader" for each group. In addition to our parent who was a landscaper, another parent was a carpenter who could help with the signage. A parent who could not participate in the construction was more than willing to organize the refreshments.
Teach kids about trade-offs and future action. They could not accomplish all they would have liked, but they learned to prioritize. They are now seeking funding for benches and other features.
Ask local businesses for donations. Many businesses are willing to donate and sometimes all it takes is a letter from your students explaining why their project is worthwhile.
Energy, Recycling, Gardening Projects Green a City High School
A bare courtyard at Wyandotte High School has been transformed into a verdant garden with 25 raised beds, more than 60 species of plants, an automatic watering system, a small pond used to teach water sampling techniques, and concrete paths — all constructed primarily by the students.
High school science teacher Michael Hotz has "been doing green things for years and years and years." Ever since his school, Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, KS, became a Project Learning Tree GreenSchool, "we've been able to do so much more," he says.
Growing Gardens–At School and Beyond
One of the first things that captured Hotz' imagination when he came to the school more than a decade ago was its enclosed courtyard, which Wyandotte students have gradually transformed into a thriving garden spot. "Now we have 25 raised beds, more than 60 species of plants, an automatic watering system, a small pond used to teach water sampling techniques, and concrete paths-all constructed primarily by the students. It's cost-effective labor – and they learn things. It's amazing how enthusiastic they are," said Hotz.
Hotz' students raise vegetables and strawberries, which the students can take home to share with their families. "So many times, the kids don't know where their food comes from. They're amazed when they can pick a strawberry and eat it right off the plant," Hotz said. Because Wyandotte's student body represents 23 different ethnic groups, the gardens also include plants native to the students' cultures.
Taking their gardening expertise beyond school grounds, Wyandotte students have worked with community members to transform vacant urban lots in their school's Kansas City neighborhood into community gardens.
$100K in Energy Savings Help "Save the Teacher"
Budget shortfalls and threatened staff cuts added urgency to the Wyandotte Green Team's search for energy savings. They launched a "Save the Teacher" campaign, hoping to save enough energy to equal a teacher's salary. By turning off lights and letting natural light stream into classrooms, they more than met their goal, saving the school $100,000.
Because they study in a school building constructed long before energy efficiency was a widespread concern, the PLT GreenSchools Energy Investigation has been the springboard for many money- and energy-saving projects.
"Our students used the information they gathered from the Energy Investigation to launch a 'Save the Teacher' Campaign," Hotz said. "Our school was faced with the threat of staff cuts due to budget shortfalls. The goal of the campaign was to save enough energy to make up the cost of one teacher's salary."
"We counted all the lights in the hallways and classrooms," student Yehimi Robles explained. "We found that classrooms would have the lights on even if the sun was shining. Now, not many classrooms turn on all their lights. I'm glad we were able to make some changes."
Those changes have made a big difference. Robles continued, "By analyzing energy use and implementing changes – like using the natural light admitted through our old school's many windows, rather than turning on electric lights in classrooms – we were able to save $100,000, more than enough to meet our 'Save the Teacher' goal!"
PLT GreenWorks! Grant Helps Launch Recycling Program
A PLT GreenWorks! grant helped the Wyandotte High School Green Team purchase bins and carts to launch a recycling program that now involves the whole school. In one year, students recycled 17,000 pounds of paper, plastic and aluminum — allowing the school to get rid of one of its trash dumpsters.
A PLT GreenWorks! grant helped Wyandotte develop a highly successful school-wide recycling program that spilled over into many students' homes. The grant helped the school purchase recycling bins to replace the cardboard boxes that had been used to haul recyclables to their pick-up point.
Thanks to better equipment and a solid commitment by everyone in the school, Wyandotte students recycled some 17,000 pounds of paper, plastic and aluminum in one year alone. "And they're spreading the word at home," Hotz said.
Hallmark Cards, whose corporate offices are in Kansas City, provided added inspiration. "We had a field trip to Hallmark and got a lot of great ideas from them," Hotz said. "They have a 'zero-landfill' corporate model, and have two individuals who work full-time on their corporate recycling program. It was inspiring to the students to see what's possible."
"As much as we can, we're trying to get the school and community involved in a dialogue about environmental issues that affect us all," Hotz says. "PLT GreenSchools has helped us do so much."
Clean Energy for Bright Futures
Bloomfield Vocational Technical School (Bloomfield Tech), a PLT GreenSchool in Bloomfield, New Jersey, is an ideal laboratory for the program's student-led investigations.
The school's Green Team, facilitated by teacher Todd Menadier, has completed all five of the investigations. In the process, they found ways to make their already green school even greener.
Bloomfield Tech is an unusual school, offering a Green Energy Academy as one of four career clusters available to its students. Green Energy Academy students study the environmental, economic, political, and social impacts of energy usage, and are encouraged to think about alternatives to current energy models. The intensive energy-focused curriculum, combined with a strong academic program that has earned Bloomfield Tech a coveted Blue Ribbon School designation from the U.S. Department of Education, prepares students for careers in the green energy field.
The school's focus on energy led to innovative—and money-saving—projects, as students completed the PLT GreenSchools Energy Investigation. With help from $8,070 in PLT GreenWorks! grants, students designed and installed systems to monitor temperature, humidity, and energy use in the school's greenhouse 24 hours a day. They even designed an "app" that turns off grow-lights in the greenhouse remotely from a SmartPhone if the automated monitoring system indicates there's enough light to meet the growing plants' needs.
"We have installed systems that give us more data and, as a result, have achieved significant energy savings," said Menadier. "We installed a 400-watt wind turbine and a 1 kw solar system to provide power for the greenhouse," where the students raise vegetables for school families and for distribution to needy community members.
Students enrolled in the program have become polished and articulate ambassadors of the PLT GreenSchools program, not only in their community but also to national audiences. A student team made a presentation at the annual meeting of the National Youth Leadership Council in Minneapolis. They also were featured presenters in a PLT GreenSchools webinar.
A formal partnership with the local power company, Newark-based PSE&G, means that Green Energy Academy students make regular presentations to company executives and staff. They also have presented their work to the local school board, and to New Jersey staff of the international consulting firm Ernst & Young.
Incorporating PLT GreenSchools in Culturally Diverse Classrooms
Escuela students Jonathon, Jocelyn, Rocsana, Elijah and Mica, who are happy to get their hands dirty making soil from worm castings as part of the school's vermicomposting project.
Back in 1971, the late social activist Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, saw that the Denver, Colorado, public school system was not responding very well to the needs of Latino children. Corky, who was a visionary leader in Denver's Latino community, started our community school, Escuela Tlatelolco Centro de Estudios, based on the principles of educational/social justice and diversity that he believed in. As a PLT GreenSchool, we incorporate those principles into every part of the PLT curriculum.
As a teacher, I really like the PLT GreenSchools curriculum. With some planning and preparation—and awareness of the special needs of my Latino students—I have been able to adapt the investigations to reflect the cultural history and linguistic diversity of our school's students, while remaining true to Corky Gonzalez' vision.
Escuela Tlatelolco's "Four Educational Cornerstones" are very closely aligned with the work my students do in the PLT GreenSchools program. For example, our students must be able "to utilize critical and creative thinking," and to "recognize, query and analyze [the] environment from the most immediate to the most remote." We also want our students to work to actively improve the community's health and well-being. The PLT GreenSchools Investigations are well suited to help achieve these bigger goals.
Action and Results
When we first started with PLT GreenSchools, we did the Energy Investigation. Students were sleuths who inventoried our energy use. As a result of their findings—and with the help of a PLT grant provided through funding from Learn & Serve America, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service—we started using energy-saving light bulbs, turning computers off at night before we left, and using low-flow faucets and toilets in our school bathrooms. We cut back on the number of microwave ovens available to our students. We used to have several; now we don't have any. We also recycle on a regular basis.
Students check the aquaponics system at Denver's Urban Farm
Right now, gardening is Escuela's major focus, which is pretty remarkable since our school is completely landlocked in asphalt. We have aligned our curriculum this year around PLT lessons. Luckily, we can use Denver's Urban Farm as our outdoor learning environment. Once a week, my students work at the farm where they raise tilapia fish and a variety of vegetables and herbs. Most of their science curriculum is integrated into what they do there.
The kids do a wide variety of projects geared toward understanding the sustainable food movement. As an example, an aquaponics system houses the farmed tilapia fish, and the water in which the fish swim is filtered through plants to provide the nutrients the plants need to grow, the plants filter the water and it returns back to the fish tank clean. In a few months, we can grow and harvest lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and at the same time harvest fish.
My goal is to help my students understand the whole food system, all the way up to social policies. For example, we're integrating the PLT lessons to add questions about food justice: what happens when a community doesn't have access to fresh foods? What do they eat?
As we do PLT activities around trees, I try to bring in culturally relevant information. In addition to the maples and aspens included in the PLT curriculum, we study the ceiba tree that grows in Mexico. It's a sacred tree in the Mayan and Aztec cultures and traditions, and there are lots of legends and stories associated with it. Adding this tree connects our studies to who my students are.
The school's emphasis on urban farming and gardening was the focus of the conference presentation by Escuela students Yesenia Luevano-Nava, Rocsana Contreras, Celerino Banuelos, Jorge Chavez, and Justin Torres.
Similarly, in addition to the PLT recommendations of poems about trees and nature, I have added a couple of poems to help my students see nature through a social justice and multicultural education lens. So alongside Robert Frost, I teach African American poet Maya Angelou's "When Great Trees Fall," and "La Tortuga," a poem by Spanish poet Pablo Neruda.
Five of my students were pleased to be able to talk about this work to a national audience at a national Green Schools Conference in Denver. I hope their presentation will inspire other urban teachers to build community partnerships around gardening, regardless of their location, and to think about the possibilities of incorporating cultural diversity in their own PLT GreenSchools classrooms.
Know your students and understand where they're coming from.
That makes all the difference. It's important to understand your students' strengths and know, for example, which ones have a learning disability. A lot of kids with learning disabilities have been misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. Understanding which ones need extra help can help all of your students work better together.
Look for additional resources that you can bring into the classroom to help your students to "get it."
I always think about my students' different learning styles in everything I do. Some want to see. Some need to hear. Some have to have a hands-on experience. PLT offers all those opportunities, but it takes thought and preparation.
Plan ahead.
I work a week in advance to be sure I have everything needed to teach the next PLT lesson and make it relevant to my students.
Consider including reflective journaling as a regular part of your students' PLT work.
Everything we do for PLT at Escuela Tlatelolco goes in one notebook: the assignment and the reflection about the work they've done. It adds an important dimension.
Be prepared to learn lessons from the unexpected.
When a toad that had been hibernating in our garden jumped out as one of my students was breaking up the soil, it launched them into research on what kind of a toad it was, the lifecycle of toads, and toads as "indicator species" of habitat health. The students have built a terrarium habitat for "our" toad, and are recording their observations.
Think outside the box.
Even city folks can become sustainable, and there's always space in the cities for an urban garden. If you're creative, you will find a way to make it work.
Our Environmental Journey Began with an Exchange Box
I teach Gifted and Talented at Mildred Elementary School in Corsicana, Texas. As educators, we continually request and receive materials to help develop new interests for our students. We also know that learning is not confined to the classroom, but rather can take place in any setting that presents new ideas.
My quest to offer my students opportunities related to environmental studies began when I discovered Project Learning Tree's Environmental Exchange Box activity found in the PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide.
Planning Our Journey
I e-mailed Project Learning Tree and in a short time I received a letter linking me with Explorers Learning Center in Seymour, Connecticut – a preschool that was to become our partner in a fascinating journey. An e-mail to the principal, Jackie Yannes, put me in contact with Julie Cavanaugh, the school's kindergarten teacher. Since my students were first and second graders and Ms. Cavanaugh's students were kindergarten age, we decided this would be a good match.
In September, each of us began guiding our students in preparation for our "Box Exchange." My goal in the project was to help students focus on becoming more cognizant of the natural resources around us. I also wanted my students to learn that other areas in our country have distinct natural resources that may be different from those in our locality.
The Journey Begins At Home
We began our project researching trees native to our North Central Texas region. Students collected leaves from trees found in their yards, or near their homes, and brought them to school. Through posters we acquired, an online guide to Trees of Texas from the Texas Forest Service, and What Tree Is That?, an online tree identification guide from the Arbor Day Foundation, we identified the tree from which each leaf came. This was a great way to connect school work with life at home, and also hone students' observation and research skills.
My class consisted of seven students, so we narrowed our study to seven species of trees. Each student selected a different species of a tree to research. Time spent in the computer lab allowed students to prepare note cards with facts about the tree species they had chosen. After completing their research, students gave oral presentations to their classmates to share the information they found. Their notes would become a part of our Exchange Box contents.
A Local Field Trip Reinforces Learning
I like to enhance my students' learning by making it relevant and tangible by connecting them to their local surroundings and things that are familiar. A local nature center operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is within driving distance of our school. Plans were made for a field trip that would give students an opportunity to walk a forest and wetlands trail, take time to observe the natural habitat, and gather specimens for inclusion in the box we would send to our partner school.
On the day of the trip, I handed out bags containing items students needed for making observations, taking notes or sketching, and collecting specimens. These items included:
zip bags of various sizes
clear plastic containers with lids
small scissors
hand lens
pencils, and
journaling pad.
Activities for the day included:
making tree rubbings
gathering leaves and specimens of native grasses, plants, and trees
collecting seed pods, and
in general, observing "all things of nature."
In addition to the above, I wanted my students to have the opportunity to take photographs throughout the day. Because our program operates on a tight budget, as do many other educational programs, students shared the use of a digital camera.
Illustrating Our Journey
Once we were back in the classroom, students scrolled through the photos that were taken that day and selected the ones they felt best exemplified our natural wild scape. I printed the students' selections and we added these prints to our exchange box. When asked what else should be included in our exchange box, most students wanted to draw pictures, so we set some class time aside to do this. Two students created a collage representative of trees and vegetation found in our region. Pictures from magazines such as Texas Parks & Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation's Ranger Rick were used to create their collage.
The final step was to assemble our Environmental Exchange Box and prepare it for mailing. Once this was done, our wait began for the box from students at Explorers Learning Center, our partner school in Seymour.
A Personal Connection with Our Destination
One last special serendipitous moment occurred when a parent of one student called to tell me how excited she was to know our partner school was in Seymour, Connecticut. As a child, she had lived in Seymour for a period of time. I invited her to come as a guest speaker and bring photos of the area. Her mom had just returned from a visit with family and friends in Seymour and she was happy to share her photos with the students. What a wonderful coincidence and how fortunate we were to have this local perspective.
How excited the class was when our partner box arrived and what fun the students had examining the contents our partners had chosen to share with us!
My students benefited from it by gaining an understanding of the diversity of natural resources in the United States. Most importantly, I believe my students have a keener awareness for the beauty of nature that surrounds us, and gained new knowledge about their own environment.
Thanks to Project Learning Tree's incredible network of educators across the United States for making our participation in this program possible. I have already made initial contact with our new partner, Pine Plains Central School District in Pine Plains, New York.
At Oil City Elementary, Environmental Education Saves the Day
Several years ago, Oil City Elementary Magnet School, located in rural northwest Louisiana, faced declining enrollment and possible closure. About one-third of the teachers were transferred elsewhere. The teachers and administrators who remained decided to fight for their school, energized by community support. Their solution: working together to create a school with an environmental focus.
Enrollment grew by about one-third, to 385 kids. School Performance Scores dramatically improved, surpassing the state average. The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry named it one of the "top 10" most improved schools in the state. In 2006, Oil City won the National School Change Award from the American Association of School Administrators, Fordham University, and Pearson Education.
PLT as Catalyst
The school presented a proposal to the superintendent and school board to turn Oil City Elementary into a school that uses the environment to teach math, language arts, and other subjects. The school board agreed—with no extra funds, but at least with a promise to provide bus transportation for any kid in the district who wanted to attend and 20 extra instructional days.
The staff chose Project Learning Tree as the catalyst in turning this school around because of its track record of success in total education and student achievement. Each year the entire faculty receives ongoing PLT professional development. Under the leadership of Cindy Kilpatrick, the school's science coordinator, teachers align PLT activities by topic and grade level across the curriculum–inside the classroom and out. Teachers taught every subject through an environmental lens, stressing hands-on, active learning.
Oil City is now also a certified PLT GreenSchool.
Suggestions from the Principal
Fortunately, a school does not have to be in the dire straits of an Oil City to gain from its experience. Principal Mike Irvin offered these suggestions:
Train the teachers: All teachers receive training in PLT. They continue to keep up with environmental issues and how best to present these issues to their students.
Inspire the kids: Teachers in each grade level choose an environmental theme at the beginning of every year, for example, related to forests, wildlife habitat, or another concept. Hands-on learning, field trips, and other activities revolve around the theme. Kids clamor to find out their theme for the year.
Partner with the community: Grants from community groups, as well as PLT's GreenWorks! program, helped pay for a greenhouse, a learning pavilion at nearby Caddo Lake, and other improvements. But it's not all a question of what the community can do for the school. Students developed a butterfly garden for the hospital and care for flowers in concrete planters downtown. Families are involved in all aspects of school life.
Learning outside turned Oil City from a school on the way out to a place where things are happening for teachers and kids—inside the classroom and out.
In addition to the awards mentioned above, Oil City's turnaround was highlighted through feature articles in two prestigious educational publications: Science & Children, published by the National Science Teachers Association, and Educational Leadership, the flagship publication of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (You can download (PDF) the full Science & Children article "Environmental Education Saves the Day.")
Special-Needs Students Create a Bloomin' Butterfly Garden
At Columbiana High School in Ohio, Kathryn Kromer's special-needs class works together, learns together, and recognizes the differing skills of each student.
For the past two years, students have volunteered each spring and fall at Goodness Grows, a church-founded, sustainable agriculture non-profit in North Lima. Goodness Grows facilitates educational workshops, produces organic vegetables, supports urban gardens, and hosts student and civic groups.
In 2010, the students learned about the importance of blossoms, native species, and pollination. They sampled fresh produce and learned about the edible parts of plants using PLT Activity 71 "Pass the Plants, Please." This sparked their interest, and laid the foundation to complete their own garden project.
One year later, ten students and three teachers took on the creation of a pollinator garden on the Goodness Grows site. They designed and built the Bloomin' Butterfly Garden with $700 from a PLT GreenWorks! grant, community support, and tools provided by Goodness Grows.
Gardening Builds Character and Skills
Planning and tending a garden is an avenue for all students to build character and gain skills. It allows special needs students have the opportunity to expand their capabilities in a collaborative, hands-on setting.
The Columbiana class splits into three groups and works on tasks most appropriate to their abilities. Over the past two years, these students have improved speech patterns and dexterity.
Once a week they help plant onions, peas, potatoes, turnips, lettuce, carrots, calendula, and day lilies. They water, compost, mulch, and weed. They help harvest vegetables and save seeds.
Creating the pollinator garden was a great way to connect classroom learning to the natural world, and to experience direct outcomes. They researched plants such as parsley and holly hocks that provide food for caterpillars. Nectar and pollen plants to suit local butterflies were chosen and planted as well. Not only did the garden grow and blossom, so did the students' plant and butterfly knowledge.
Success On Many Levels
Our GreenWorks! project was successful on many levels. Not only did students gain research, planning, gardening, botany, and collaboration skills, but local groups and volunteers formed new relationships.
An unattractive mound was turned into a beautiful oasis for pollinators, and many people were inspired to see caterpillars, butterflies and bees in the area.
Before: Students and Goodness Grows Director measure the area
After: Dustin and Tori in the Bloomin' Butterfly Garden
Students began planning the project with PLT Activity 96 "Improve Your Place." Each student researched the nectar and feed preferences of a local pollinator. It enhanced their learning to know that the plants they researched would be the ones they would later plant and tend. Students were anxious to see the pollinators they had learned so much about.
The students took part in many aspects of the process, including:
Starting the seeds
Transplanting the seedlings
Drawing the garden designs (they decided on a butterfly-shaped garden)
Removing the sod
Adding compost
Sowing seeds according to the layout
Creating stepping stones for a path in the garden
Their creativity, leadership and learning are evident in the garden. They gained knowledge, skills and a sense of accomplishment for leading their project to completion.
Dan and Keegan mix and pour concrete into molds to create stepping stones while Rebekah and Tori decorate them.
Engaging Local Community Groups
As with any school garden or community project, success comes as a result of advance planning, having enough resources and a dedicated group of people with a long-term interest in the project. We found it helpful to have a project leader, schedule weekly work time, and enlist local naturalists to help.
We were fortunate to have the following local community organizations support our project:
A local bee keeper spoke about native bees during one of the nine weeks the students were at Goodness Grows.
A member of the Youngstown Men's Garden Club helped determine the space and moisture requirements for each plant.
A speaker at a local Audubon Society meeting provided a pamphlet that listed our area's local butterflies.
Community volunteers and church members worked alongside the students to encourage and help them complete the project.
To plan a garden project that will be enjoyable and rewarding, calculate the time, tools, materials, and funds you will need to create and maintain it over the long-term.
Set a schedule
Goodness Grows' staff, the students, teachers and volunteers worked on the garden every Tuesday for nine weeks. The students, with support from teachers and volunteers, conducted research in the classroom and worked hard during on-site workdays. We allowed for three weeks of planning time before breaking ground, and we took three weeks after school ended to add the finishing touches. Over the summer, other volunteers installed a sign, pulled weeds, mulched and dead-headed plants.
Learn from local experts
It was very helpful that local naturalists gave their knowledge and time, plant starts and seeds to the Bloomin' Butterfly Garden. They helped recommend plants that would not spread or takeover, such as tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), false nettle seed (Boehmeria cylindrical), and "Lo and Behold Blue Chip" butterfly bush (Buddleia spp.)
Use the garden as an ongoing educational tool for students and the community
Our garden acts as a live lab for environmental education and horticulture programs. The double-sided sign features the butterfly's lifecycle and food needs. Markers identify the diverse mix of annuals (zinnia, sunflower and hollyhock), perennials (cardinal flower, purple coneflower, butterfly bush, milkweed, and bee balm) and herbs (parsley, yarrow, and thyme).
The students and volunteers continue to care for the garden when they return to Goodness Grows each week in the fall. Recently they were excited to host a local garden club interested in seeing what a special-needs class and a church gardening ministry could accomplish together.
Our beautiful pollinator garden continues to show the students rewards of participating in the yearly cycle of life. It is vibrant, educational, and maintained thanks to the commitment of dedicated students, teachers and community members working together.
Outdoor Space Provides Many Learning Opportunities
One team, one dream. That's the vision of Pride Avenue Elementary School in Madisonville, Kentucky. Our vision helps create a school climate that is positive, family-oriented, and geared toward exploration and hands-on learning.
Our new "Courtyard of Curiosity" supports that vision. Thanks to my PLT training, we have incorporated PLT activities into the school. Thanks to a PLT GreenWorks grant, we are on our way to creating an inviting outdoor space between an existing and new wing of the school.
Making memories outdoors
When I Pride Avenue Elementary myself, we sometimes went out in the woods behind the school, which had a small amphitheater. I remembered my own experiences out there so well and have many memories of being outdoors.
Now as a teacher, we began to talk about building an outdoor learning area. I knew it would be a great project for the Pride Avenue kids. Unlike the area from my childhood, however, we decided the outdoor space should be easily accessible from the school building. Students and teachers can access the new courtyard from two different parts of the school.
Partnerships make the outdoor space more inviting and sustainable
Through a partnership with Green Giant Landscaping and employees from General Electric, students planned, built, and now maintain our new area. Fifth graders also developed a butterfly garden in conjunction with a Chrysalis project. They released butterflies into the garden and have observed many butterflies that lingered with us.
Fourth- and fifth-graders set up a composting station—composting pumpkins was also a real hit.
A local Girl Scout troop approached us to plant rose bushes in one corner of the area. They earned their badges, and we have a beautiful spot to enjoy. We plan to have an outdoor plaque installed in this area to feature the girls by name from the troop that completed it.
Various trees and bushes, native as well as nonnative to Kentucky, are spread throughout the courtyard. Benches will be installed near these areas to create little sanctuaries for reading and reflection.
Change didn't happen overnight
Things got off to a slower start than we anticipated, partly due to delays with school construction going on simultaneously.
It turned out the adjoining area needed a better drainage system, which our board office provided, through an in-kind $20,000 expense. It took a while to troubleshoot and solve the problem. But the upside is that the plants and trees in the Courtyard will fare much better with improved drainage.
Funding from various sources provided us much-needed resources to complete this project. A PLT GreenWorks grant provided a good portion of our funding. We also received a $2,000 grant from the Hopkins County Education Foundation.
We also won contests run by the Sonic Corporation (Limeades for Learning-$800 in products) and Big Lots (Lots2Give-$2,500 grant) to secure additional funding and supplies. These contests were based on online voting. With a little organization, these kinds of opportunities can pay off. We mobilized the school community to vote through reminders on school menus and other information that went home in backpacks and flyers distributed to parents during afternoon pick-up time. It worked!
Lessons along the way
Although our outdoor space is still a work in progress, we have already learned some valuable lessons:
Patience and determination are essential
We were hoping to start planting in 2009, but it took until April of 2011 to really get things rolling. Some circumstances were out of our control—we just had to accept that. But we didn't give up the project either! We continued to work with the school district's Facilities office to keep our dream alive. Patience and determination paid off.
Help can come from unexpected places
We received funding from several sources and volunteers from local employers also helped create the new space.
Sometimes, the help we received came from an unexpected place. For example, the plant leader for GE is the father of a student who attends Pride. He brought about 20 volunteers with him on a Saturday to landscape the area. This initial landscaping effort only took five to six hours utilizing an eager group of volunteers versus days with only a handful of our school stakeholders. Thank goodness we all had team spirit and wanted to give back to students in our community.
The outdoor space can provide many kinds of learning opportunities
We have many new ideas for the new space that will provide different learning opportunities for the students.
We'd like to continue developing the space by:
Creating more habitats for students to observe living creatures in natural places, such as a pond,
Showing how we can capture energy from the sun with a solar-powered water pump in the pond and solar-powered birdbaths,
Installing a spider web frame so we can examine the formation of webs up close while respecting wildlife, and
Installing a plant cam to capture photos over time to assemble into a video that will show the full life cycle of growth.
So far, older students have spent the most time on activities in the Courtyard. We are hoping they can serve as mentors to younger students, a relationship that will benefit both groups. It's been a growing adventure creating our "Courtyard of Curiosity," and we are definitely cultivating minds here at Pride through its creation!
Keeping Students Engaged Through "Green Teams"
For many years, New Hampshire Project Learning Tree has worked closely with Bicentennial Elementary School, a school of about 670 K-5 students in Nashua, NH, to embed study of the environment into our curriculum at every grade level, provide sustained teacher professional development, and build stronger connections between the school and its surrounding community.
PLT's GreenSchools Investigations and environmental improvement service-learning projects have been incorporated into this "whole-school" work. Driven by the school's Green Team, which is a volunteer student group comprised mostly of 5th graders, teams of students and teachers have investigated their school's solid waste and recycling, water, and energy.
Reactions and Results
"It feels good to be doing something to save energy."
"I want to save money for the school."
"I was inspired by the time I spend outside with my dad."
These comments from 5th-graders on Bicentennial's Green Team reflect why our efforts are both popular and successful. Just like adults, children have lots of reasons why they want to learn and take action about things they think are important. PLT GreenSchools helps us give them this opportunity.
We incorporated environmental themes into science, language arts, math, art, and music. Among other achievements, our students' science scores rose, and a focus on environmental education has had a positive impact on students, teachers, and the entire community.
In an email to the school staff several years ago, Principal Kyle Langille said, "It is with great excitement and pride I let you know our NECAP [New England Common Assessment Program] Science scores for grade 4 show significant improvement. Our renewed emphasis on the science GSEs, our continued partnership with Project Learning Tree and your highly motivating and engaging lessons, are all contributing factors. Congratulations! It takes a collective effort to see this kind of change."
Audits and Action
Through PLT GreenSchools, students examine the impact of the school on the environment and then design and carry out activities related to their findings. What we like about it is that we received training and resources so students—even at this young age—can carry out rigorous, data-based audits. Our fifth-graders formed a "Green Team" and meet weekly during recess to take action based on the findings from the audits. Here's what they have done so far:
Energy Investigation:
The energy audit prompted installation of "Hit the Switch" reminders on all light switches. The students also designed "Energy Vampire" and "Energy Angel" classroom stickers—reminding offenders that they are "sucking up energy" when they leave lights on unnecessarily or are helping when they turn lights off.
Waste Investigation:
The waste audit inspired a plastic and aluminum recycling program, a first for Nashua's public schools. The program is student-run, and the students collect and sort recyclables. Second and third graders formed a "compost team" in concert with the cafeteria staff.
The Green Team also wanted to continue to minimize waste by having an "It's Easy Being Green Yard Sale" in the spring near Earth Day. Staff, parents, and community members benefit from this event! By cleaning out closets, we fill our entire cafeteria with donated items that are recycled back to our community. The Green Team also constructed a little golf course out of recycled materials for kids while their parents shopped. We sold compost bins, rain barrels, and aluminum water bottles at this event, as well as demonstrated how worms break down material in some compost bins. The Green Team picked herbs from our outdoor classroom, let them dry, and made scented bags to sell at the yard sale.
Water Investigation:
When students realized the impact of purchasing bottled water, they created a "Back2Tap" campaign. The Green Team now sells re-fillable aluminum water bottles to students and staff.
The water investigation also revealed that our school had 3-gallon flush toilets. Students quickly found out this was a waste of water and wanted to find a way to change to 1-gallon flush toilets. We applied for a grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation that helped us to install six low-flow toilets, a start toward our goal.
Keeping a program going beyond the initial excitement is always a challenge. A few things that have worked at Bicentennial:
Make connections: From an educational perspective, of course we need to connect to the curriculum. But it's also important to motivate kids by connecting to the things they value. The comment above from a student about associating nature with her father is a great example.
Let students lead: It is tempting for us to want to save time and tell students what they should do. Sometimes we need to sit back and let them figure it out for themselves (as long as they remain safe). They have more ownership and they have learned valuable lessons.
Get buy-in: When we first decided to integrate environmental education throughout the school, the faculty took a vote—and it was very close. Since then, teachers have seen the benefits for themselves and their students, and the school leadership, up to and including the superintendent, has been very supportive. This is a great boost to what we are trying to accomplish at Bicentennial.
Have a committed coordinator: A coordinator promotes teamwork and decision-making. This person shows leadership by coordinating the Green Team, encouraging a sense of shared responsibility, providing the team with information, and overseeing implementation of programs.


text:
Q: Does get_nprocs_conf() always return 1 when using a virtual machine? I'm supposed to use get_nprocs_conf() to get the number of execution contexts on my machine. I'm doing this because I am coding a server and client to interact with each other, and the server may only host get_nprocs_conf()-1 clients. Before I add code to my server to wait for an opening, I want to figure out this issue.
I'm running this code on a virtual machine because I'm using Linux and my desktop is Windows, and when I use said code above, my maximum number of clients is 0, meaning that get_nprocs_conf() only returns 1. Is this because I'm using a virtual machine and for some reason it only can use one execution context, or am I misunderstanding and my computer only has one execution context?
Provided below are my server and client programs.
Server Code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/un.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <sys/sysinfo.h>
#include <vector>
#include <cstring>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
//#define BUFFER_SIZE 32

//May need to replace -1 with EXIT_FAILURE in all the exits
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 if(argc != 2) {
  std::cout << "Need domain socket file name" << std::endl;
  exit(-1);
 }
 struct sockaddr_un server;

 char buffer[32];
 unlink(argv[1]);

 int serverSock = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
 if(serverSock < 0) {
  perror("socket");
  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }

 std::clog << "SERVER STARTED" << std::endl;
 size_t maxClients = get_nprocs_conf()-1;
 std::clog << "\t" << "MAX CLIENTS: " << maxClients << std::endl;

 memset(&server, 0, sizeof(server));
 server.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
 strncpy(server.sun_path, argv[1], sizeof(server.sun_path)-1);

 int success = bind(serverSock, (const struct sockaddr *) &server,
                 sizeof(struct sockaddr_un));
 if(success < 0) {
  perror("bind");
  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }

 success = listen(serverSock, maxClients);
 if(success < 0) {
  perror("listen");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }

 while(true) {
  std::cout << "Waiting for clients" << std::endl;

  int clientSock = accept(serverSock, nullptr, nullptr);
  if(clientSock < 0) {
   perror("accept");
   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
  }

  std::clog << "CLIENT CONNECTED" << std::endl;

  std::string path="";
  std::string searchStr="";
  char fileBuff[32];
  char searchBuff[32];

  memset(fileBuff, 0, 32);
  success = read(clientSock, fileBuff, 32);
  if(success < 0) {
   perror("read");
   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
  }
  path = fileBuff;
  std::cout << path << std::endl;

  if(path.empty()) {
    std::cout << "No path to file given" << std::endl;
    exit(1);
  }

  memset(searchBuff, 0, 32);
  success = read(clientSock, searchBuff, 32);
  if(success < 0) {
   perror("read");
   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
  }

  searchStr = searchBuff;
  std::cout << searchStr << std::endl;

  if(searchStr.empty()) {
   std::cout << "No search string given" << std::endl;
   exit(1);
  }

  std::ifstream inFile;
  inFile.open(path);
  std::string line = "";
  int bytesSent = 0;
  std::vector<std::string> allLines;
  if(inFile.is_open()) {
   while(std::getline(inFile, line)) {
    if(line.find(searchStr, 0)!=std::string::npos) {
     allLines.push_back(line);
     //std::cout << line << std::endl;
    }
   }
  }

  //Sending over entire length of vector containing all lines to be sent.
  long length = htonl(allLines.size());
  success = write(clientSock, &length, sizeof(length));
  if(success < 0) {
   perror("write");
   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
  }

  for(int b=0; b<allLines.size(); b++) {
   length = htonl(allLines[b].length());
   success = write(clientSock, &length, sizeof(length));
   if(success < 0) {
perror("write");
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   success = write(clientSock, allLines[b].data(), allLines[b].length());
   if(success < 0) {
    perror("write");
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
   }
   bytesSent += allLines[b].length();
  }
  //char end[] = {'\n'};
  //write(clientSock, end, sizeof(char));
  std::cout << "BYTES SENT: " << bytesSent << std::endl;
  inFile.close();
  close(clientSock);
 }
 //return 0;
}

Client Code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>   //Don't think I'll need this
#include <errno.h>
#include <sys/un.h>
#include <sstream>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <vector>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
 if(argc != 4) {
  std::cout << "Need domain socket file name, file path and name, " <<
          "and search string" << std::endl;
  exit(-1);
 }

 struct sockaddr_un client;
 char buffer[64]; //Prof had 64 for client may need to change to 32 to match

 int clientSock = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
 if(clientSock < 0) {
  perror("socket");
  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 std::cout << "socket connected" << std::endl;

 memset(&client, 0, sizeof(struct sockaddr_un));
 client.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
 strncpy(client.sun_path, argv[1], sizeof(client.sun_path)-1);

 int connectClient = connect(clientSock, (const struct sockaddr *)&client,
                 sizeof(struct sockaddr_un));
 if(connectClient < 0) {
  fprintf(stderr, "The server is not working.\n");
  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 std::cout << "client connected" << std::endl;

 //char arg2[] = {*argv[2],'\n'};
 std::string path = argv[2];
 std::cout << "Path: " << path << std::endl;
 connectClient = write(clientSock, argv[2], path.length());
 if(connectClient < 0) {
  perror("write");
  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 std::string search = argv[3];
 std::cout << "Search String: " << search << std::endl;
 connectClient = write(clientSock, argv[3], search.length());
 if(connectClient < 0) {
  perror("write");
  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }

 //int servRet;
 int lineCount=0;
 int bytes_received=0;
 //std::string line = "";
 char length[sizeof(int)];
 //std::string leng = "";
 int num=0;
 std::stringstream ss;
 std::vector<std::string> allLines;
 long size = 0;
 read(clientSock, &size, sizeof(size));
 size = ntohl(size);
 for(int a=0; a<size; ++a) {
  long length = 0;
  std::string line = "";
  connectClient = read(clientSock, &length, sizeof(length));
  length = ntohl(length);
  while(0 < length) {
   char buffer[1024];
   connectClient = read(clientSock, buffer, std::min<unsigned long>(sizeof(buffer),length));
   line.append(buffer, connectClient);
   length-=connectClient;
  }
  allLines.push_back(line);
  lineCount++;
  std::cout << lineCount << "\t" << line << std::endl;
  bytes_received += line.length();
 }
 std::cout << "BYTES RECEIVED: " << bytes_received << std::endl;
 close(clientSock);
 return 0;
}

Right now everything in the server and client work as they should. I'm just hesitating to add code that waits for an execution context to open for another client to be read because it seems like it would never accept any clients since the sole execution context is being used by the server. Any clarification on my issue or on if I'm just using get_nprocs_conf() incorrectly would be greatly appreciated.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


wooden bar stools swivel The majority of office chairs possess spines in order to chair paddings that could be easily taken out along with basic tools. In simply one afternoon, you can easily offer your dining room set a full facelift.
A regular dining room chair has to do with 18 inches high at the seat. That indicates you have a 12-inch room between the basic 30-inch table and also seat, to accommodate your lap, napkin, official or informal clothes and also any arbitrary bits of food that go astray.
Enable diners to stand and also mingle with others after dinner, in instance some guests clash with their seatmates.
Check out the selection for the design and also shade that best blend in with those of the dining room chairs. They're commonly readily available in sets of 4. Acquisition as several sets as required for the dining room chairs.
Yet do not let the treatment for that cabernet dash or chocolate pudding dribble worsen compared to the initial catastrophe. Match fabric, spill and also cleaner to bring back the chairs to near-pristine condition.
Check both sides for drips, removing them with your brush as you did on the legs. Allow dry over night. If you are making use of oil-based paint, clean your brushes with solvent, wash with soap and also water, and also cover in plastic (this will make your second layer smoother). Clean latex paintbrushes with soap and also water and also cover.
Many furniture stores lug furniture extenders in several sizes, shades and also designs to fit specific requirements.
Normal cleansing restores the bright, clean allure of chair seats or slipcovers, and also emergency situation spill mop-ups prevent irreversible damages and also expensive bills for changing messed up furniture.
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Renew the chairs in your dining room established by changing used seat pads and also fabric with brand-new fabric and also foam.
Search locally or online for furniture and also furniture accessory stores and also ask about leg extenders.
Transform the chair base on its side, resting the top of the chair back along the ground along with the front 18-inch side of the chair base.
Apply timber adhesive at each of the 4 significant place along the bottom. Press one 18-inch baluster at each place and also drive 2 nails through the top of each to bond the legs to the chair base.
Make tack marks for the webbing. When remodeling a chair, look for previous tack marks on the chair framework and also re-mark them plainly.
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The plan enables exchange to stream around the space, and also quieter guests at the posts of the table can pay attention or talk silently.
Webbing should be spaced uniformly, in parallel lines, and also not further apart compared to the width of the webbing.
When creating a chair, start from the facility of each side and also mark where each item of webbing will be located, with an equivalent mark directly contrary where the webbing will end.
You might not should dispose of a dining chair with worn, stained, stained or torn fabric if its framework is sound. Rather, a little bit of reupholstering usually fixes the trouble. While expert upholsterers are always a choice, a proactive, do-it-yourself method and also a little creative thinking can go a lengthy means in bringing that chair back to its former splendor days at a much lower price .


George Zimmerman (middle) who was accused of killing 17 year old Trayvon Martin has being released from prison after meeting his bail conditions. He will be placed in a safe house as there are alolt of people who do not like him and may want to harm him.
Trayvon Martin's family is not happy about the new development but have to respect the law.
His attorney, Don West, said "Zimmerman is very happy to be out...it's been a sobering experience spending the last month in jail."


text:
GBH News
Alexi Cohan
Thousands of people go missing every year in the United States, yet only some cases make national headlines and dominate the news cycle. Most of the missing people who do get widespread coverage are white women, while missing people of color are overlooked by both law enforcement and media.
The disappearance of Tamika Huston, a Black woman from South Carolina, prompted Natalie and Derrica Wilson created the Black and Missing Foundation in 2008.
"We read how her family reached out to national media for coverage, and there was no interest in her story at all," Natalie Wilson said on Greater Boston. "Weeks later, Lori Hacking disappeared, and she dominated the news cycle."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 13% of females in the country are Black, but FBI data shows that Black girls and women account for 35% of all missing females. And those cases do not receive a proportionate amount of media coverage or public alerts. Wilson said when a girl or young woman of color goes missing, she is often classified as a runaway, which does not prompt an Amber alert. In addition, Wilson said missing people are color are often labeled as criminals.
"Media coverage is so vital because one, it alerts the community that someone is missing and it can greater the chance of coverage, but it also puts pressure on law enforcement to add resources to the case," she said.
Going forward, Wilson said newsrooms should develop a policy on how to handle coverage of missing persons and strengthen relationships with law enforcement so they can be alerted to missing persons quickly.
Photo credit: Amber Baesler/AP
Adrienne Witherspoon (details | poster)
Philadephia, PA
Velva Lewis (details | poster)
Brittany Williams (details | poster)
Reuben Blackwell II (details | poster)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Drone Delivery Canada (DDC or the Company) CSE – FLT, is pleased to announce it has advanced its commercial testing and reports the Company has achieved positive results on its payload pickup and drop off capabilities utilizing its proprietary semi-autonomous auto-pilot system which enables automated take off, landings, way-point navigation and pre-programmed maneuvers to occur.
As DDC moves forward to obtain its operator status, Management continues to work collaboratively with its customers, its University partners, and the Canadian Federal Government in an effort to reach operator status. We look forward to reporting our progress to shareholders as it occurs.


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Wow, Ginny, you're so cynical, and here I was thinking you had already gone through 'the change'.
She's ferocious alright. I am going to have to pee on my territory.


text:
Group Szaniec (lit. Rampart Group, ) was a far-right World War II Polish underground movement founded by the activists of the Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny ABC party (splinter of the National Radical Camp). Szaniec's military arm was the Military Organization Lizard Union.

Its notable activists included Tadeusz Salski.

Notably, the Szaniec Group did not recognize the Polish Underground State, and absorbed part of the National Armed Forces which refused to join Armia Krajowa in 1944. Early in the war, Szaniec Group fought the Nazi Germany occupiers. Near the end of the war, Szaniec Group saw the communists and the Soviet Union as more dangerous to future of Poland than Nazi Germany, and on a few occasions collaborated with the Germans against the Soviets (see for example the Holy Cross Mountains Brigade).

References
Stanisław Salmonowicz, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, Warszawa, 1994, , p. 65

Polish underground organisations during World War II
National radicalism

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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HomeColumnsIn deep water: A primer on waterfront rights beyond the low-tide mark
In deep water: A primer on waterfront rights beyond the low-tide mark
July 29, 2019 Joe Verser Columns, The Legal Point 0
I live in Poquoson, which has approximately 85 miles of shoreline. As I scan the shoreline from the water, I see homes, piers and boathouses. Thinking like a lawyer, I cannot imagine that all those homeowners make for peaceful neighbors. What happens if a neighbor builds a pier or other structure that encroaches upon your enjoyment of the water? Just how far do your rights go beyond the shoreline? What can you do? This area of the law is known as riparian rights, which covers the rights that an owner of waterfront property has beyond his shoreline toward the line of navigability into the channel.
An owner of waterfront property, in legal parlance, is said to be a "riparian owner." By law, the rights and privileges of a riparian owner extend from the shoreline to the low water mark, but no farther. (See Virginia Code §28.2-1202.) Ownership of the subaqueous bottomlands beyond the mean low water mark is vested in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Only a landowner who has in his chain of title a grant from the King of England prior to 1873 can claim a right of ownership to the underwater flats beyond the low tide mark. Believe it or not, there are landowners in Virginia who have these rights by a King's grant.
Regulation of the underwater flats beyond the low-tide mark is vested, by statute, in the Virginia Marine Resource Commission (VMRC). A landowner who wishes to construct a pier or other structure must, in most circumstances, first obtain VMRC approval. However, the VMRC will be of little to no help in a dispute between neighbors. This is because the determination of riparian rights between adjoining landowners is within the jurisdiction of the Virginia Circuit Courts, and not the VMRC.
If you have a testy neighbor, or if you are worried about a neighbor who might build something that interferes with your use of the water, you may want to spend the money to have a riparian survey prepared to establish and confirm your rights beyond the low-tide mark. This is also sometimes referred to as a riparian apportionment. The survey "apportions" the area of water between the adjoining landowners beginning from the mean low-water mark out to the line of navigability.
Once the survey is prepared, a simple document can be filed in Circuit Court and the survey may be recorded. What does that get you? The area that has been apportioned in your favor is now recognized by the court. Your apportioned area remains a public waterway, and people can swim and drive boats through it, but no one may anchor a boat or build a structure in that area without your permission. Your rights to the channel are now confirmed and established. At that point, you have extended your rights beyond the low-tide mark. That area cannot be interfered with once the survey is recorded in the Circuit Court.
A riparian survey is an effective way to increase your footprint beyond the mean low-water line. It can also give you peace of mind knowing that an unsightly pier or duck blind cannot be built in that area. If you own waterfront property, this may be a wise investment and may also increase the value of your property for re-sale.
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News :: Toy or Food? Choosing Your Dog's Reward.
Many people (and all dogs) like that K9 Nose Work is an activity and sport where the dog is always rewarded for finding the source, whether it be self-rewarding on hidden food or a toy at the beginning stages, or handler-delivered reward for a correct find of a hidden odor at the highest level of competition.
Since a great deal of search and scent work for the dog is an expression of hunting instincts, it's important to learn what motivates your dog to hunt. Choosing the highest value reward for your dog in the beginning of your training will pay off down the road when the challenges increase.
The easiest way to tell if you have a toy dog or a food dog is to lay down both reward types side by side and see which one gets chosen first. Most dogs have a clear favorite, but if your dog likes both equally, just pick what will be easiest for you to handle and deliver to your dog as he progresses from searching for the reward only to searching for a target odor only.
Once you've discovered what reward type is most motivating to your dog, it's important to stick with it, especially in the beginning stages when the dog is self-rewarding and building his foundational skills for the activity and sport. If you notice a decrease in your dog's motivation to search, and have reason to believe the reward has lost value for your dog (rather than some other cause for lack of motivation, such as the searches becoming too difficult too fast), then a new reward can be introduced, but the process must begin again so your dog associates this new reward with all the foundational skills of the activity.
If you're having trouble choosing a reward, start by having your dog audition every toy and treat you own to see if something grabs his attention. If you still can't find that perfect motivator for your dog, attend a workshop or join a class and get some help from the K9 Nose Work pros!


All Irish Casino Review | New players get up to £1,000 free!
When it comes to slot games you will find that there is an abundance of specific ones with an Irish theme – this includes ones like Irish Slots and Rainbow Riches. As such, it is of no surprise that there is a dedicated Irish Casino site that has all of these types of slots and much more! All Irish Casino is a fantastic innovative site that has everything that any casino player is looking for. All Irish Casino no deposit bonus includes the fact that once you register you can browse as much as you want and when you do make your first deposit, the magic will start! Don't stop reading this All Irish Casino review for all the latest information of this site.
All Irish Casino free spins is what is on offer for people who take the time out to register and deposit on this site. Ultimately casino sites are doing their best to entice new players to join and deposit but also give them enough regular promotions and offers every day to keep them coming back for more. New players to this site will receive a bonus up to the value of £1,000! If that wasn't enough, they will reward the players with some handsome free spins (22 off) that can be used on slots such as Starburst.
All Irish Casino mobile capability is active and allows for players to play games and slots from either their desktop of their mobile device. When you log on to the site, you will be extremely overwhelmed with the amount of games and slots available to play. This includes live casino options. This is not available on all casino sites but something Irish Casino has. Ultimately you will have the chance to play against a real life person making the atmosphere and experience very much like you are in a real casino. In addition to this, you are free to interact with the dealer and the other players in the room. The live casino option covers poker, baccarat, roulette, blackjack and Texas Hold'Em. Even with other sites that offer live casino you will find that it is probably isolated to blackjack and roulette whereas on here you have it all.
If you prefer to play against the computer, you can do all of the above as normal. If slots are more your thing then when you get into the lobby be sure to filter for exactly what you are looking for as there are literally hundreds to choose from (with new releases added constantly to this library).
That's pretty much all there is to say about this casino site, if you want to feel the luck of the Irish, then why not head over there?


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'Our children are at the heart of everything we do'
Our YouTube channel has been designed to showcase some of the fantastic work we feel we offer to our students on a daily basis. You can find tutorials, highlights, areas of work and so much more! Children are at the heart of everything we do, and we hope you'll see this throughout our videos.
Checkout our latest video's right here!
But how did this all start?
During lockdown of March 2020 (due to COVID-19), we created the channel to make sure our children still felt connected to the school during the difficult times. Weekly Devotions and Active Challenges were put on, as well as a series called 'This is Us'.
The series, which ran every Friday, showed elements of our school that we feel it makes us unique. Families at home, and keyworker children at home could all tune into the channel 3 times a week at 1pm for new content that was released.
"The videos are fantastic, they are making my children feel really settled at home and they can't wait to get back to school!"
Everything that was put onto our channel was a glimpse of what happens in school on a daily basis. The content was never a surprise as everyone would see the content run through the school. A terminology using a 'stick of rock from the seaside' was mentioned...
"Just imagine this piece of rock is our school. Both ends of the rock it say's 'God's Love in Action', our school motto. If you were to snap it in half you would still see 'Gods Love in Action'. Our school motto runs through everything we do, including our YouTube channel." (quote from the End of Year Celebration video).
As children returned as normal in September 2020, we decided to continue the channels content with weekly devotions. Due to restrictions, we felt it was a great way to continue our devotions in class.
The impact of our channel has really benefited the children's learning through difficult times. As an easy tool to use and families to access, it's been refreshing for parents and communities to see what we do.
Make sure to tune in to the channel as much as possible! Weekly content is being realised for all those involved with All Saints Multi Academy Trust, Birmingham.
We would love to hear any feedback regarding the channel. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us...
St Johns & Peters CE Academy - stjohns@allsaintsmat.school
St Vincent Street West, Ladywood, Birmingham B16 8RN
stjohns@allsaintsmat.school


After a terrific year in 2014, Midmark Corporation is starting 2015 off with a bang! Midmark rolled out their Procedures Table promotion a month early and included a couple of Diagnostic products as well. There is no telling what other Midmark promotions will be available throughout the year so now may be the best time to buy!
The 630 HumanForm Procedures Table offers true natural movements that compliment the human body. By positioning patients in more natural positions, the physician gets a clearer view of the surgical area.
The 641 Procedures Chair gives versatile positioning with increased patient comfort.
The 647 Podiatry Procedures Chair offers a full range of movement including power height with a large foot section, perfect for podiatry procedures.
The 647 Podiatry Procedures Chair gives you a fixed height of 21" and a large foot section, perfect for podiatry procedures.
The 230 Procedures Table is universal for both examinations and procedures. Perfect for the office that is limited in space.
As a bonus, Midmark has included some select Diagnostic products to this promotion.
The Iqspiro Digital Spirometer focuses on speed, accuracy and simplicity making it a cost-effective diagnostic tool for any office setting.
The Iqvitals is an affordable, touch-screen, portable Vital Signs Monitor that is easy to use.
The Iqvitals PC is perfect for the fully digital office without the added cost of an expensive touch-screen or digital display.
This promotion from Midmark is valid for purchases between February 2, 2015 to May 29, 2015. For more information about this promotion, click here. Take advantage of this offer before it is to late.
A Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) is a respiratory screening test should be done in every office for every patient exam. The test is quick, easy to perform and can be helpful to detect current or possible respiratory problems. Performing these tests in your office will certainly improve your care offering and patient satisfaction. Plus pulmonary function tests are usually reimbursable by most insurance companies but always check with your local insurance companies for exact coverage.
When Midmark upgraded their original Iqmark spirometer to the next generation Midmark IQspiro system, one of the biggest improvements was the sleek, enhanced design. The IQspiro greatly improved pulmonary function test speed, accuracy and simplicity, three of the most important factors to healthcare professionals.
For starters, the IQspiro only weighs 9 oz and fits in the palm of your hand, giving you blazing speed without restrictions. Detailed test results, with auto-interpretation, are quickly relayed back to the operator, along with accurate diagnosis. Pediatric incentive screens help young test takers understand what they are supposed to do, while also letting them have fun and accomplish a goal. This allows the medical professional to spend less time explaining, and more time focusing on the patient. The quick release mouthpieces allow the user to dispose of the used mouthpiece without touching it addressing concerns of cross contamination. Add to that the IQspiro Digital Spirometer's seamless integration with most EMR/EHR systems for readouts and reports, so patient records can be easily accessed and stored.


We believe that manager initiated feedback is an over rated management tool. We see very few companies and even fewer managers who are good at giving feedback which results in improved performance. Here is a review of why and what can be done.
Those of you who read our regular newsletter will know we have views of the role of feedback that have, some would say been quite controversial. We believe that manager initiated feedback is an over rated management tool. We see very few companies and even fewer managers who are good at giving feedback which results in improved performance, which after all is surely the reasons for it. In our view it is amazing to us that feedback became such a key tool in business and even harder to understand why we persist in trying to get it to work. This is especially true in most organisations today where, we would argue the conditions are stacked against success. These doubts are backed up by a lot of research which calls into question the usefulness of feedback in organisations. For example, we have previously referred to the work of Denisi and Kluger (which dates back to the nineties) which suggests feedback either does nothing or makes things worse more often than it improves performance. My belief is feedback is useless and even damaging in the way most organisations are encouraging managers to use it. And at some level managers know this and that's why they resist all the attempts I made in the past and others have made to give more of it.
In this article I don't want to repeat our review of the science you can do that by looking at our article on The Feedback Debate and Brain-savvy Performance Management.
Here I want to review our assumptions about feedback and the conditions when it works and when it definitely won't, viewed through our understanding of how the brain works.
When feedback is un-solicited it creates a threat response and that in itself leaves the person receiving the un-solicited feedback in a state that makes it hard to hear and understand it and even harder to do anything constructive as a result.
When giving feedback most managers focus on what is wrong. Implicitly we believe poor performance comes from not understanding the right way to do the work or from 'getting it wrong' and that if people only knew better they would be able to perform. This I think is an outdated notion. In today's complex organisations managers can't know the details of every team members' work in sufficient detail. Feedback becomes more from their opinion of what should be done rather than based on knowledge of what will work. The premise that managers should give more feedback is based on a simpler world than that in which most people now work.
Part of a manager's, or colleague's motivation in giving feedback is a belief that they want to help the person perform. We, feedback givers believe we can help the other person, and in the brain that feels good. People get a reward response when they give advice. This of course encourages more advice giving and less focus on whether its helping.
Our other implicit assumption is that people want our help and will change behaviour when they are given it. Actually the research suggests that in anything other than small task oriented activities, like which button to press, people don't change behaviour because they are told what to do. People make changes to their behaviour when they have the insight for themselves. But creating insight in others is less rewarding for the manager and takes more effort, we have also probably not trained managers to ask the types of questions that generate insight.
The other factor is we are bias to notice what isn't working or what is different from what we expect. Feedback tends to be critical as our brain filters for what isn't working, it takes more notice of the things which do not match its predictions or assumptions about the world. Poor performance or carrying out the role in a way which is different to how the manager would do so triggers this bias. Hence in most organisations (our research says) employees get little or no positive feedback.
One type of feedback which can be useful is advice on what is working and what to specifically do more of. However, this is hard to do. Again our bias to notice what isn't working rather than what is makes it hard to say what would help.
When someone says 'can I give you feedback?' we feel uncomfortable. Mainly because it occurs when the giver if off-loading, or the manager is upset about something, often unrelated to the feedback or at the very least exerting power over the employee. In the CORE model the receiver is having their reputation threatened and their options reduced.
And finally, most organisations have a culture which leans towards a fixed mind-set, with this view of the world what is the point in feedback because people either have the ability or they don't and no amount of information or advice will change them much.
So can feedback be useful?
In our experience feedback works when people seek it for themselves. That is, it is asked for. Which we think explains why some people find it so helpful. Our work in organisations suggests if we can restructure the manager's role and remove the burden of collecting and giving feedback and instead train employees to understand the standards expected of them and to ask for feedback to help them meet these standards not only do you shift the balance of power, and hence the levels of threat, but you get happier managers and happier employees.
At the recent NeuroLeadership conference this was David Rocks 'revolutionary big idea.' I'm really pleased that David Rock has endorsed our idea and experience. NLI are advocating managers and organisations stop giving feedback and start asking for it. If you would like to read about some of our work with organisation to employ this approach take a look at our case studies.
So you can use this insight practically here are the conditions when feedback works.
When employees know the standards they are working to and are trained to seek feedback to help them meet those standards.
When feedback creates reward in the CORE elements, that is it gives greater certainty about how to succeed in the role, options for doing the role, an increased sense of reputation and is equitable.
When the receiver of the feedback can imagine how they will act differently and see themselves doing the role or task in the new way. Feedback works when the person can hold in mind how they behave now and how they would behave in the future. In effect this means people can feed forward and create a mental picture of the new behaviour. Scientist call this mental contrasting. The critical reason this is important is that the person can see all the elements in the new behaviour compared to the old. Scientists believe this mental contrasting helps generate both the insight that change would be beneficial, the motivation to undertake the change and the details of the different behaviour required. When people are undertaking mental contrasting scientist see they are thinking more complexly, it engages the prefrontal cortex as well as the temporal lobe which is essential for accessing the memory of the past (current behaviour) with a vision of the new behaviour in the future. The researchers also see activation in the visual areas of the brain.
This amount of processing is very energy draining for the brain. It requires a lot of mental resources so is hard when people are under threat, are very stressed or are focused on defending their reputation.
This research gives us some insight into why feed forward seems to work. A feed forward system which allows the employee to work out how they will behave in the future is likely to also be activating mental contrasting, and creating insight rather than telling the employee what to do in the future. Introducing this kind of feedback approach requires a shift in the power structure between managers and employees and training for both.
It tends to be more focused on what is really useful to the employee, especially when people are trained to understand the job standards. This enables employees to ask for the level of detail that will be helpful to them. The traditional model of feedback assumes that people will do better when they have very specific information which would make it easier to put new behaviour into action. But more recent research has found that this doesn't enable the involvement of the receiver, people are more likely to make change when they are engaged in the process of translating feedback into something they can actually do and see themselves doing. When employees are given too much data they discount it – egocentric discounting is the 'technical' term for this in psychology.
This type of approach to feedback sends a signal that work is somewhere the person can get better and if they get better the organisation gets bette In effect it begins to grow a culture of growth mind-set rather than fixed mind-set. We know from Carol Dweck research that cultures with a growth mind-set perform better against measures of business success like productivity and are also more agile and able to change.
Organisations that succeed in creating employee centred feedback help employees to feel comfortable with stretching their abilities. Whether that's using on line systems or a direct approach a balance of positive and developmental feedback initiated but the employee helps to draw out strengths, helps them to understand that to change. In order to change we first have to go through the uncomfortable feeling of the brain signalling we are doing something wrong- some pain must accompany creating new behaviours. When jobs provide developmental stretch they have an intrinsic benefit in increasing the employees sense of reputation – 'I am getting better' and helping people be open to growth and change, and the initial discomfort which goes with it.
Traditional approaches to feedback aren't working in the majority of organisations, making the system informal is unlikely to change that much. Shifting the power base and the premise that feedback comes from the manage to the employee is we find beginning to get better results. Employee initiated feedback and feed forward are the future.


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Q: Is it possible to Update the Build Definition name using YAML in Azure Pipelines I am trying to update Build definition name based on the YAML runtime parameters. I am able to achieve this like below
name: ${{ parameters.source }} to ${{ parameters.target }} $(Date:yyyyMMdd).$(Rev:r)

But I want to update the build name by providing conditional expressions.
Please let me know if this can be achieved.

A: You can do something like this
${{ if eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'master') }}:
    stageName: prod
Follow this link for full list of expressions you can use.

A: You can reference the documentation that describes how to set the run (build) number.
If defining your own variable, My.Variable, reference it the run number as:
$(Build.DefinitionName)_$(Build.DefinitionVersion)_$(Build.RequestedFor)_$(Build.BuildId)_$(My.Variable)


text:
@interface ViewController ()<UITableViewDataSource,UITableViewDelegate>

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSArray *items;
@property (nonatomic, weak) IBOutlet UITableView *tableView;

@end

@implementation ViewController

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.

    NSMutableArray *array = [NSMutableArray array];
    for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
        [array addObject:@{@"name":[self randomName],
                           @"image":[self randomAvatar]}];
    }

    self.items = array;
    [self.tableView registerClass:[UITableViewCell class] forCellReuseIdentifier:@"cell"];

}

-(NSString *)randomName{
    NSArray *first = @[@"Alice",@"Bob",@"Bill",@"Charles",@"Dan",@"Dave",@"Ethan",@"Frank"];
    NSArray *last = @[@"Appleseed",@"Bandicoot",@"Caravan",@"Dabble",@"Ernest",@"Fortune"];

    NSUInteger index1 = (rand() / (double)INT_MAX) * [first count];
    NSUInteger index2 = (rand() / (double)INT_MAX) * [last count];

    return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@",first[index1],last[index2]];
}

-(NSString *)randomAvatar{
    NSArray *images = @[@"bimg1",@"bimg2",@"bimg3",@"bimg4",@"bimg5"];
    NSUInteger index = (rand()/(double)INT_MAX) * [images count];
    return images[index];
}

#pragma mark - UITableViewDataSource
-(NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section{
    return [self.items count];
}

-(UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath{
    static NSString *ID = @"cell";
    UITableViewCell *cell = [tableView dequeueReusableCellWithIdentifier:ID];
    if (!cell) {
        cell = [[UITableViewCell alloc]initWithStyle:UITableViewCellStyleValue1 reuseIdentifier:ID];
    }

    NSDictionary *item = self.items[indexPath.row];
//    NSString *filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:item[@"image"] ofType:@"png"];
//    cell.imageView.image = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:filePath];

    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(0, 0), ^{
        cell.imageView.image = [UIImage imageNamed:item[@"image"]];
    });

    cell.textLabel.text = item[@"name"];

//    cell.imageView.layer.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0, 5);
//    cell.imageView.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.75;
    cell.clipsToBounds = YES;
    cell.textLabel.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
    cell.textLabel.layer.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0, 2);
    cell.textLabel.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.5;

    cell.layer.shouldRasterize = YES;
    cell.layer.rasterizationScale = [UIScreen mainScreen].scale;

    return cell;
}

@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


NOTE: Performing this installation will erase the storage and reinstall Windows from scratch on your GPD Win so please ensure you have backed up any important files before proceeding!
The GPD Win should be fully charged before starting this procedure. You will need a 8GB or larger USB Memory Stick to copy the files onto.
Connect your 8GB or larger USB Memory Stick to your PC. In Explorer, Right Click on the USB Memory Stick and choose the Format option. Change the File System to NTFS, and the Volume Label to WINPE as shown below or the firmware flash will not work.
Extract the contents of the GPD Win firmware file to the root of the USB Memory Stick (so don't put the contents in a new folder, just at the very beginning of the drive). This process may take some time to complete.
Once completed, you can right click on the USB Memory Stick and choose Eject.
Connect the USB Memory Stick to the USB 3.0 port on the back of the GPD Win.
Switch the GPD Win on, immediately hold the Fn button and repeatedly tap the F7 button until the Boot Manager screen appears. NOTE: The display will be rotated 90 degrees and is perfectly normal in this process.
Using the Up/Down buttons on the GPD Win keyboard, navigate to your USB Memory Stick and then press the Enter button to choose it.
The firmware reflash will now proceed and is automated – you can now leave it until you see the Windows desktop again. The process will take around 20 to 30 minutes, do not switch the device off or press any buttons during this time.
Once you are on the desktop, press the Cancel button on the Window that appears, do NOT press OK!
You can now double click on the Cleanup Test icon on the desktop to run a clean up.
The GPD will now perform some cleanup tasks, let them complete, and afterwards the device will switch off. Once this is done, you can now switch the device back on and it will boot to the Windows first use screen, it is now ready to use.