Coles County SWCD’s Education Coordinator Misti Neal Lewis has been busy visiting area schools and delivering hands-on conservation and agriculture education to Coles County’s students. Last quarter, she visited second grade classrooms around the county and led the students in learning with seasonal themes. In October, the lesson centered around pumpkins and life cycles, and featured the book “Pumpkin Jack.” November’s lessons started with the book “Time for Cranberries” followed by a hands-on “cranberry bounce” activity where the students used the scientific process to make predictions and test their theories by bouncing cranberries on their desks and recording the results! The lesson in December featured wheat, which can be seen growing around the county over the winter. After mixing up a yeast solution in a water bottle and capping with a balloon, the classes read “Still There was Bread” while the balloon inflated due to the carbon dioxide released by the yeast during fermentation, the process that makes bread “rise!”
If you’d like Mrs. Lewis to come to your classroom, email info@colescountyswcd.org!
