February 2020

PLACENTINO POLLINATES

The Placentino Pollinates Kick-off celebration was hosted by Placentinkers this month!  We read the book Flower Talk by Sara Levine. This delightful and informative book features a snarky cactus who reveals the significance of different colored flowers and how pollinators are attracted to them.

PlacenTinkers love coding, so to celebrate our new Pollinator garden we coded Bee-Bots (cute little robots) to pollinate flowers around the room. In the process we learned about pollination as well as cause and effect, directional language and early programming.  

Bee-lieve it or not we also inspected our pollinator friends up close and personal through Augmented Reality with Google Expedition and iPads.  It had us buzzing with delight!

Placentino Pollinates is a school wide project intended to encourage inquiry and develop an understanding about pollinators and their importance to our community and the world.

About the Sam Placentino Pollinator Garden

Just in time for the start of the 2019-20 school year a 64 foot long raised garden bed was constructed to house over 500 carefully selected plants that will attract and nourish Monarch Caterpillars and Butterflies. The Holliston Agricultural Commission worked together with representatives of the Sam Placentino Wellness Committee and administration to raise funds for a pollinator garden at the front entrance of the elementary school. The goal was to create a living classroom where students, teachers and parents can witness first-hand the complete lifecycle of the Monarch Butterfly. For the 2019-2020 school year integrated curriculum has been developed for pollinator education in science, math, reading, writing, and art.

Many thanks to local businesses and organizations that donated their time and resources, including: Holliston Garden Club, Kamataris Landscape, Official Tree Business, Weston Nurseries, Broad Hill Lavender Farm, and Upswing Farm.