Radicle Roots Series
  • Radicle Roots
    • About
    • Author
  • Books
    • Come Plant a Seed
    • 30 Day Design Adventure Journal
    • ABCs of Land Arch
  • Activity Blog
    • Free Activites
  • Teachers
    • Author Visit
    • Classroom Activities
    • Testimonials

investigate with jam

Jam investigates his neighborhood

6/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Jam and some friends took a closer look at their neighborhood. I asked them to write things they thought every neighborhood should have. We did this outside so I told them not to cheat by looking around. They came up with some general good stuff like trees, houses, and playgrounds. To encourage them to think harder I asked them questions to lead them to other items in our neighborhood. Our dialog went as follows: I asked, “If you changed Kal’s stinky diaper where would you put it?” They answered, “In the trash.” I asked, “Would you want that trash to stay inside and stink up the house?” They yelled “NO!” Then I said, “So what do you need?” Before I finished my question they yelled dumpster, and pointed to the dumpster by our cars.  Then I asked, “So do you think that is important for a neighborhood to have? Why?” Some repeated back to me the same diaper scenario back to me and some gave me other reasons. We talked about street lights, fire hydrants, and electric boxes and poles. Once they made their list we searched the neighborhood for them. 
Picture
Picture
​The best find was when one of the kids pointed out the storm water inlet and manhole. He said it was important because the inlet kept the road from flooding. Such a smart answer moment hilariously transitioned into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sewer conversation. It’s funny how TMNT sneaks in every conversation.  
The kids got side tracked checking the playground off their list because… well you can see why. Overall they had a blast running through the neighborhood, and asked me when they could do the next activity. So I guess Investigate With Jam has extended to With Jam and Friends.
Picture

Activity


Investigate your neighborhood.
​
Case study #11: Try to find the items on the list. Discuss why they are important to have in your neighborhood.
Picture
Download
0 Comments

Garden Center

5/30/2016

0 Comments

 
​This investigation is taken straight from our Come Plant a Seed book launch. We held the book launch at Behnke Nurseries Garden Center in Beltsville, Maryland. This was a perfect opportunity to see plants in different growth stages along with other fun garden items so we did a scavenger hunt. It rained sporadically throughout the launch day so I know this activity will work in any weather. 
Picture
Picture

Activity


​Visit a garden center. Look at the different sizes of plants and guess how long it took for it to grow.

​Case study #10: Go on a scavenger hunt. Attached is 2 scavenger hunts. The first hunt is specifically for Behnke Nurseries.  Use the second hunt for any other garden center if you are not in the Baltimore Washington area.

Picture
Download
0 Comments

Jam investigates the air and space museum

1/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Winter Saturdays are the best days for a trip to the Smithsonian. Jam had his first investigation of the year at the National Air and Space Museum. It was fun to look at the full scale planes and see the equipment, uniforms, and even bombs. 
Picture
Picture
However due to Star Wars the real excitement was found in the space exhibits (Thanks Disney).  In one area the Museum team set up a story and craft time. We missed the book reading but still got a chance to draw. They gave scratch paper and sticks to draw the plants discussed in the story. Both of the guys enjoyed it. We made it to most of the exhibits but after 2 hours, lunch, and the crowd it was time to call it a day.
Picture

Activity


Visit the National Air and Space Museum – hey it’s free.
​
Case Study #9: Enjoy this out-of-this-world word search.
Picture
Download
0 Comments

Jam investigates street art

8/29/2015

1 Comment

 
We drove around Annapolis Maryland to check out some murals. We talked about how artists are commissioned to do these paintings and the difference between murals and graffiti.
Picture
Picture
One thing I was surprised to see around the city was these fun giant chicken sculptures. Throughout Baltimore you can find giant crab sculptures, and in Norfolk, VA they have mermaid sculptures. I understand crabs for Baltimore and mermaids for Norfolk, but the Annapolis chicken?? I will have to look up the history and the city’s connection to this bird. I love these types of sculptures and how they are used to define and bring identity to a city. I think our City of Laurel should have something but what should it be? Let the ideas begin.
Picture
Back to the blog- So we talked about how murals are made. They typically start with a smaller sketch. Once the artist is finish with the design they create a grid over it to understand the proportion and scale in relation to the wall that it will go on. Lastly the sketch gets translated on to the wall. For this blog activity we took this concept and applied it to the sidewalk. This is what I call color by number at its simplest. You gotta love street art.
Picture
Picture

Activity


Search your city for street art. Keep an eye out for murals, sculptures, and fun pavement designs.

Case study #8: Create your own street art. Use sidewalk chalk to recreate the case study picture on the ground.
Picture
Download
1 Comment

Jam investigates directions

8/21/2015

0 Comments

 
When we don't know how to get to where we want to go we use directions. Jam and I discussed what directions look like on the phone and printed. We discussed how directional words help us communicate our actions, and how to represent them graphically.  We talked about the importance of our address and how it is connected to our streets system, and then we did the activity sheets for this blog. 

We talked about common road names like road, court, lane, and street. I asked Jam to make an address for his room and he picked “Sewer road” for a street name because everything we do has to be connected to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Picture
 I asked I'm where he wanted to start giving directions from and he picked our red car. I proceeded to walk him though the path to his room. 

We stopped at every changed in direction and discussed what should be written down. When we got to steps I would ask him things like what is the next step? He would say turn left then I would ask him questions like should we say walk up steps or just say turn left?

After we finished the sheet Jam gave it to his father to see if they worked. After a silly start his father made it to his room, and then gave some suggestions on how to make it easier like adding step counts.

 



Activity


Print out directions to your next destination and review them with your child. Ask them to help you find the streets and turns.

Case #7: Create an address and directions to your room from your parking lot. Give them to a friend or parent to see if they can find your room.

Picture
Download
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>
    Investigate with Jam is an activity blog in the 
    Radicle Roots Series. Our mission is to get out and explore our environment.

    #iwjFun

    Join the investigation & share your fun with  
    #IWJFUN on Instagram

    Author

    Courtney McQueen is a landscape designer and children's book author from Columbia, MD

    Picture

    Archives

    August 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All
    Animal
    Design
    Drawing
    Museum
    Nature
    Navigation
    Plants
    Pre-school
    Space

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Radicle Roots
    • About
    • Author
  • Books
    • Come Plant a Seed
    • 30 Day Design Adventure Journal
    • ABCs of Land Arch
  • Activity Blog
    • Free Activites
  • Teachers
    • Author Visit
    • Classroom Activities
    • Testimonials