Outside and Online
Family Centered Innovative Education
March 2021
SMART Family Literacy engages children (ages birth through eight), their parents and teachers, with innovative outdoor and online educational activities.
SMART = Science, Math, Art, Reading, and Technology
For more information, email SMARTFamilyLiteracy@gmail.com or text (409) 771-4155.
Growing Brains and Vegetables
So excited about weeding and composting! This purposeful physical movement is great brain building. Many decisions are required to finish the task. Which weed should be pulled? When I dig in the soil, should I aim down or sideways? Did I shake the soil off the roots so it stayed in the box? Should I walk or run to compost?
Warning: Corny Jokes Here
Why can't you keep a secret on a farm? Because potatoes have eyes and corn has ears! Ha ha ha. When potatoes have eyes like these in the photo, we stick them in the ground to grow more potatoes! Nothing is more fun than digging in the dirt when it's time to plant and also when it's time to harvest four months later. For more veggie jokes from SMART, visit https://www.smartfamilyliteracy.org/alphabetical-garden-.
Carrot Talk
When kids and their parents pull carrots together, words like roots, leaves, stems, colors, dirt, and crunch become hands-on and minds-on. Families with young children harvest weekly with SMART on Tuesdays. Participants wear masks and remain distanced. To save your spot for 11 am March 30th, email SMARTFamilyLiteracy@gmail.com.
SMART Family Party ONLINE
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
6:30 to 7:00 PM
Families with young children (0 to 10 years) join this party for spring food gardening tips. Find out how to receive a gardening kit or home library of children's books at this online event. Garden boxes are painted by artists Catherine Stroud, Derek Anderson, or Elizabeth Punches.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpde-rqjsiHdB4T2qd8mFMRppOq-bsMeAs
Nitrogen Fixing?
Is your nitrogen broken? Then why does it need fixing? (Just kidding...again!) Nitrogen is needed by plants for photosynthesis. "Nitrogen fixing" is when beans and other legumes pull nitrogen from the air and move it to the soil. This is one of the many benefits of beans. Another bean benefit is eating them raw or cooked! Here's a tiny tip...Small gardeners can grasp bean seeds, even with limited fine motor ability.
ONLINE Art Wednesdays
Catherine Stroud, Artist-in-Residence at SMART, presents online drawing classes for kids from age 4 to grade 4. If you want to draw the details of zinnias, turkey feathers, and snowy forests, you will be surprised at how fast it happens with Catherine Stroud guiding the way. Classes are free for Galveston children. Sign up in advance for 11:00 am, 4:00 pm, or 4:30 pm classes https://www.smartfamilyliteracy.org/home.
Go Outside!
What will you discover outside? After the February freeze, our friends found ladybugs keeping warm underground and a grasshopper hiding in the Brussels sprouts. Bees searching for flowers buzzed around our heads, attracted to shampoo fragrances. Resilient wild creatures adapted to the cold in a variety of ways. Do you want to become more resilient? Going outside to a garden or park is a fun way to start!