Register for Green Paws - Spring 2022

Green Paws is a 12-week afterschool class offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. Students will meet each week from 2:30pm-3:30pm in the Science Lab to discuss, plan, and share the results of gardening projects, cooking and tasting challenges, garden art, and STEAM & environmental studies lessons. We'll also go on hikes and play in the creek :-)

Green Paws Apprentices - 2nd & 3rd Graders -

  • Wednesdays, January 26th - May 4th; FULL! Email Mr. Giunta to be placed on a wait list.

Green Paws Masters - 4th & 5th Graders

Green Paws Juniors - Kindergarten & 1st Graders

  • Fridays, January 28th - May 6th; FULL! Email Mr. Giunta to be placed on a wait list.

Class size is limited to 20 students. The program fee is $250 per semester.

Email Mr. Giunta at joseph.giunta@cobbk12.org with any questions.

What is red and smells like blue paint?!

What is red and smells like blue paint?!

Red paint! Kindergarten took everything they learned about engineering in the Science Lab this semester to create a new painting tool from scratch.

Along the way they learned about the Engineering Design Process.

  • ASK: How can we invent a new painting tool?

  • EXPLORE: What materials are available?

  • MODEL: Design and create your tool!

  • EVALUATE: Test them by painting a scene from the fairy tales we read.

  • EXPLAIN: Share your work with others and ask how you can improve your design.

Smith:

Garrett:

Freese:

Bower:

Rinehart:

Wiggins:

The landslide brings it down.

Third grade has been getting their hands dirty with earth science since August! After studying watersheds, wetlands, soils, rocks and erosion the students were ready to tackle a PLTW engineering project where they had to keep a landslide from taking out a local neighborhood.

Love:

Herman:

Turner:

Cook:

Baer:

Lamphere:

Infection Detection

We are kicking off Quarter 2 in Science Lab by watching how germs spread in our classroom. We did the same experiment as in the video below from Mark Rober. In our case we played Head Up Seven Up and tried to trace the UV powder back to the original couple of students.

This next video from MythBusters show has far the germs from our sneezes can travel!

How can the spread of a communicable disease be reduced?

Why might it be important for scientists to determine patient zero?

I'll huff, and I'll puff, and....

Kindergarten is studying science and engineering through fairy tales! After reading Jack & The Beanstalk we created skyscrapers with pipe cleaners and grew our own vines in the greenhouse. After reading The Steadfast Tin Soldier we tested materials that float & sink and then built our own boats for Benny the Lego man. Finally we read The Three Little Pigs, designed, built and tested our own houses!

Rinehart:

Bower:

Freese:

Garrett & Laushey:

Smith:

Wiggins:

Register for Green Paws - Fall 2021 (FULL)

Edit: All Green Paws classes are FULL, but you can fill out the form and I’ll holler if anything changes!

Green Paws is a 12-week afterschool class offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. Students will meet each week from 2:30pm-3:30pm in the Science Lab to discuss, plan, and share the results of gardening projects, cooking and tasting challenges, garden art, and STEAM & environmental studies lessons. We'll also go on hikes and play in the creek :-)

Additional optional opportunities include an off-campus hike in the CRNRA during Conference Week, Zoom cooking class leading up to Thanksgiving, and access to our Green Paws-only beds at Crossroads Community Gardens. T-shirts included while supplies last.

Green Paws Apprentices - 2nd & 3rd Graders - FULL

Green Paws Masters - 4th & 5th Graders - FULL

Green Paws Juniors - 1st Graders (Kindergarten may join for the Spring ‘22 Season) - FULL

Class size is limited to 20 students. The program fee is $250 per semester.

Email Mr. Giunta at joseph.giunta@cobbk12.org with any questions.

Tritt United Robotics Club is BACK!

Students in 4th and 5th grade can apply each August to join Tritt Elementary's VEX IQ Robotics Competition Team (Tritt United Robotics Club) for that school-year. Weekly mandatory practices allow the students to design, build, drive and program VEX IQ robots to compete with other schools in that year's challenge. This year’s team will practice on Mondays from 2:30-3:30, August thru March. The program fee is $150, which includes all equipment, a jersey, and tournament fees (excluding playoffs). Club size limited to 18 students. Interested students can complete this Interest Form and download the application here. See VEX Robotics on the Main Page for more information and to view this year’s challenge.

Canoeing with Mr. Giunta! #TigerPaddle

The Chattahoochee River not only supplies the drinking water for 70% of metro Atlanta, including the Tritt school community, it is also the heart of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) - 48 miles of river and parkland through a major metropolitan area!

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I spent 12 years leading canoe trips on the river with Chattahoochee Nature Center, and now I would like to invite Tritt families to go paddling with me! I can provide the boats, paddles and life jackets for up to 5 people.

On a two-hour canoe / kayak trip we can search for animals from Great Blue Heron and Kingfishers to White-tailed Deer and Beavers, all while learning about the history and importance of the river, and listening to frogs and insects call to us on this relaxing sunset paddle.

Take a look at what fun some of our Tritt families have had out on the Chattahoochee!

VEX Robotics Winners

Congratulations to the 40+ students who participated in VEX Robotics Challenge in the 2020-21 school year!

Most of these students had never used VEX before and only had twelve days to learn the system before their showcase. We kept score all year and here are your top 3 finishers:

First place (31 points): Alex M, 5th Grade

Second Place (tied, 30 points): Hanniel C and Austin W, both 4th grade

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Green Paws, Spring Session, Week of 5/17/21

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I can’t believe this is our last week together!

Regular scheduled meetings this week on Monday and Tuesday at the normal Zoom link.

Field Trips: This year we explored only 4 of over a dozen parks in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. I hope you enjoyed discovering these places: rock shelters at Island Ford, mill ruins at Sope Creek, old homesteads at Hyde Farm, and water wheels at Vickery Creek. This summer I encourage you to get out there and explore more of these incredible places!

Water Wednesday: We’ll pick sugar snap peas here at Tritt at 1:30pm and then head over to Crossroads to check on our broccoli!

Canoeing: As a thank you for participating in Green Paws all year, I’d like to offer each student a canoe trip! You can sign up here!

Summer Plans:

  1. Water Wednesday: Each Wednesday this June / July I’ll be hosting “Water Wednesday” here at Tritt. The time is TBD, but I’m looking at 11:30ish.

  2. Harvesting at Crossroads Community Garden: I’ll reach out to you all when the sugar snap peas and broccoli are ready to pick. Late May / Early June.

  3. Cobbler: When the blueberries and blackberries are ripe then we’ll all meet up to pick them and schedule a Zoom call to make cobbler together. Probably late Mid/Late-June.

Journal of Ingenious Science Experiments

The following Science Fair contributions were submitted by 16 of our incredible students! This year we weren’t able to meet in-person, but these dedicated students worked independently and voluntarily to create experiments to answer questions of their own devising!

A big THANK-YOU to our Science Fair judges!

A big THANK-YOU to our Science Fair judges!

The winners of the 2021 Tritt Elementary Science Fair:

  • 1st Place: Mira B (Blue Ribbon winner at the County Fair for 5th Grade)

  • 2nd Place: Hannah H (Red Ribbon winner at the County Fair for 3rd Grade)

  • 3rd Place: Amelia K (Blue Ribbon winner at the County Fair for 4th Grade)

  • 4th Place: Akshay C (Blue Ribbon winner at the County Fair for 4th Grade)

  • 5th Place: Sophia E (Red Ribbon winner at the County Fair for 3rd Grade)

Congratulations to all of our participants. A big shout out to Caroline, our first 1st grade participant!

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Green Paws, Spring Session, Week of 4/19/21

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Great job planting some of our summer crops this weekend gang! We’ll keep an eye on their growth over the next few weeks. We should have some more tomatoes and some basil to plant this week :-)

Regular scheduled meetings this week on Monday and Tuesday at the normal Zoom link.

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eARTh Project: Amphibians, like frogs, toads and salamanders, are important bioindicators - that is, they can help tell us how healthy a particular environment is. Have lots of frog calls at night? And lots of different kinds? The habitat around you is probably doing okay. We’ll create an Amphibian Monitoring Station to track these friendly creatures.

Field Trips: The next field trip is May 2nd, 12:30-2:00pm OR 2:30-4:00pm at Island Ford Park.

Water Wednesday: This week it is going to be Fertilizer Friday! With the asynchronous day changing, I thought it would be best to change the day.

This Friday, Noon-12:30pm to water / plant at Tritt, and 12:40-1:00 to water at the CrossRoads Community Garden.

We’ll do our next seed exchange on Wednesday the 28th for those who haven’t been able to make it yet.

Environmental Engineering: TBD…

Seed-to-Stomach: Our first live cooking show will be this Thursday from 5:30-6:00. We are making pesto. You’ll need:

  • carrot tops (provided by Mr. Giunta)

  • optional: fresh basil and/or fresh spinach and/or fresh parsley

  • grated parmigiana, pecorino or asiago cheese

  • extra virgin olive oil

  • nuts or seeds (Pine nuts are traditional, but I’m trying pecans!)

  • garlic, fresh or otherwise, and salt & pepper

You might want to make a small bowl of pasta to go along with the “sauce” and some ice cube trays for storage.

1st Grade #TrittAtHome - Science Lab Lesson 1

Natural environments are constantly changing due to the plants and animals that live in the area, human activity, and natural processes, such as erosion, severe weather events, and climate change. This can have a negative or positive affect on that environment.

Look at the following pictures of how living things change their natural environment to meet their needs. For each picture identify the plant or animal, identify the need that is being met, and describe how the living thing is impacting the natural environment, and whether it is a positive or negative change. Share your answers with your homeroom teacher, in the comments below, or email Mr. Giunta.

Watch these videos from Crash Course Kids. When you are done, answer the Conclusion Questions using the Comments box below. If you have any pictures to share of positive or negative impacts in your neighborhood, then please email them to me and I will be sure to share them!

Conclusion Questions:

Describe a living thing from the natural environment around your home. How does it impact the natural environment to meet its needs?

How do you think humans impact the natural environment to meet their needs? Is this impact positive or negative to the natural environment?

Family Connections:

Take a walk with your family around your neighborhood to identify the impacts plants and animals have on the environment in which they live. Use a camera to take photographs of what you find.

Green Paws, Winter Session, Week of 3/15/21

This is the last week of the Green Paws Winter Session! If you haven’t signed up for Spring, then I’d love to have you - new students are welcome as well!

  • Spring Session: March 22nd - May 19th

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eARTh Project: Great job on the mushroom seats / tic-tac-toe tables over the weekend! Tell your parents to follow Green Paws on Facebook in order to see pictures from the weekend :-)

Field Trips: Not only did you guys rock the mushroom seats and tic-tac-toe tables, but on the fly you built FOUR scarecrows with Ms. Beckie - great job! The next field trip will be at a National Park again for those signed up for the final session on Green Paws.

#WaterWednesday: But now on Fridays (for the next two weeks)! Last week we planted beets and sugar snap peas. The garden should get lots of water this week, but we are going to add the greens we picked out earlier this season, and yes, do a little weeding.

  • @Tritt Elementary, Friday the 19th, from Noon - 2pm.

There are extra leafy green seeds available to swap or take home!

Environmental Engineering: This Friday we are building wind chimes for the Nature Trail using upcycled (plastic bottles, cans, pvc) or natural materials (sticks, bamboo). I’ll provide twine. Anyone have a good supply of bamboo to share?

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Seed-to-Stomach: Cooking Show this Wednesday, the 17th, at 5PM. I’ll be providing the materials to create your own bouquet garni. I’ll find your kids afterschool to let them choose some things to take home. If you’re a zoomer, then we’ll make plans to meet up :-)The bouquet garni is intended to be added to a soup, sauce, casserole or poaching liquid of your choice!

Green Paws, Winter Session, Week of 3/8/21

Only two more weeks of the Winter Green Paws Session!

#WaterWednesday: Now that our soil is back in shape, we can plant our Spring crop: beets, peas and greens!

  • Tritt, 2:00 - 2:30

  • Crossroads, 2:45 - 3:15

As in the past few weeks, there will be extra seeds available to swap or take home.

eARTh Project: We will be painting ‘mushroom’ seats for our nature trail!

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Environmental Engineering: Music Chimes for the Nature Trail! Research DIY natural-made or upcycled wind chimes for our Wednesday, March 17th meeting!

Field Trips: This Sunday, March 14th, is our last ‘field trip’. As in the past couple of quarters, this time we will be staying at Tritt to work on our trail project. Meet me there from Noon-2pm!

Seed-to-Stomach: Our first cooking show of the quarter was super fun! We made Creamed Spinach. I wasn’t able to record the session, but you can recreated the recipe using the following steps:

  1. Cook down a 10oz bag of spinach (or some other green like collards, mustards, or kale) in a tablespoon of unsalted butter and set it aside.

  2. In two tablespoons unsalted butter, sauté 1 small chopped onion and 2 teaspoons minced garlic.

  3. Gradually add two tablespoons all-purpose flour to create a roux.

  4. Slowly stir in 1 cup half-and-half OR 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 heavy cream

  5. Add finely grated Parmesan, Romano, or Manchego cheese

  6. Optionally, add the following spices: nutmeg, ground mustard, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper

  7. Mix in your greens and enjoy!

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