IN MEMORY OF REX

It is with great sadness to say that my beloved turtle, Rex, died this morning. His age was unknown, but he was at least 10 years old, maybe as old as 20. Rex had been acting lethargic the last few days and wasn't eating much. I was worried about him, so I kept checking on him throughout the day. When I got to school this morning, he looked fine from a distance, but on closer inspection, and then with a gentle nudge to the shell, I realized he was just floating, not swimming. He was dead.

I reacted emotionally, not just with tears, but with audible grieving. It may seem odd to mourn an amphibian this way, but Rex was special. I got Rex eight years ago, when I first became a teacher. My first job was at P.S. 38 in Brooklyn. An anonymous donor sent Rex to me through Donorschoose.org. He arrived at the school in a box through the mail! I remember picking him up at the school office, along with three other large turtles. (I gave two away and one ran away in my yard; but Rex was always by my side). Rex was named through a contest I held at P.S. 38. Students suggested various names and then voted on their favorite.

Of course, Rex came with me when I got a job at P.S. 230, and has been with me for the seven years I've been teaching at P.S. 230. He wasn't the friendliest turtle sometimes. He actually bit a student and wasn't welcoming to other turtles I tried keeping in his tank. He probably had his reasons, but I don't know what they are other than that he is simply a territorial male turtle who defends himself when he thinks he has to.

When school was out for the summer, Rex always came home with me, although he did spend one summer in the school basement, where Matt, the custodian, took care of him. Other people also watched Rex when I went on vacation, but as soon as I got back, Rex came home to me.

I was going to clean out Rex's tank on Friday and bring him home again, but this won't happen now. Perhaps Rex's death is closure for me as I leave P.S. 230 for new challenges at another Brooklyn school. I will miss watching Rex just swimming around being a turtle or eating the occasional goldfish I'd throw in his tank to be reminded of the food chain. I will miss him basking beneath his turtle light and staring out at students as they took the New York State science test. I will miss the simple hum of his tank filter and the fishy smell of his pelleted food. Most of all, I will just miss Rex.

VISIT TO BROOKLYN GRANGE AT THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD

Arriving at the farm

If you want to visit a farm, look no further than....Brooklyn, New York! That's what some of P.S. 230's fifth-graders learned during a recent after school trip to Brooklyn Grange. The farm, which opened in 2012, is 12 stories up on Building 3 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It's a commercial farm, which means it grows its produce to sell. Some area restaurants are buyers and the farm has a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. As a CSA member,  you pay a membership fee in the winter, which helps to support the farmer during the growing season. Then each week, the farmer delivers freshly-picked produce to Brooklyn, where its picked up by the member.

The farm also has an apiary, which is another word for bee hives. The honey made by the bees is also sold by the farm. Fresh Brooklyn honey!

The colorful boxes in the background house the bees

There are rows and rows of vegetables, especially all kinds of salad mixes

The farm overlooks the waterfront. After all, this used to be the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Our tour guide, Nicki, was quite knowledgeable

Sarah and Maddy sharing their worms

 We also got to poke around the farm's worm bin. Students picked their favorite worms and watched them squiggle and wiggle before putting them back.

Tasfiya seems to like her worm

Fatima is protecting her worm from the sun

Sanjida shows off her worm for the camera

Hasib checking out Tasifya's new friend

Robayah wants in on the worm fun

Worms make people happy, right Taosif?

Kaseng and Taosif share worms

Nicki then took everyone over to the farm's chicken coop. Here she explained that egg colors vary...blue, brown, beige white...and that is because of the color of the hen's earlobes. I never even thought about chicken's having earlobes!

Estrella has a question for Nicki

Students also got to taste some lemony sorrel and spicy arugula and smelled licorice-scented anise and refreshing mint!

Yes, that's the Empire State Building in the background. I bet no Iowa farm can top this backdrop!

The farm was amazing and so large. And this isn't the only farm run by Brooklyn Grange. Their flagship farm is in Long Island City, Queens, where they host free open houses on the weekend.

 Click here for more information.

NEW CAM - LIVE FROM AFRICA!

I can't believe that I am watching LIVE some elephants drinking from a river in Kenya! It's almost like being on safari. It's pretty amazing. And there are three cams to choose from: the aforementioned African River Cam, the Animal Lookout Cam, and the Watering Hole Cam.

Just click on this link to check them out

This site has even more cams to explore, including grey seals on Seal Island, Maine

WHAT IS THIS PLACE?

Any guesses?

Kind of Crazy!

Blue Jays are a common sight around Brooklyn. But a blue jay eating a baby bird? Well, that's another story. While blue jays may eat bird eggs and nestlings, they most often go for acorns, nuts, seeds and insects, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. But today, in front of PS 230, a blue jay swooped down and snatched a nestling.

Blue Jays often eat nuts, but they are omnivores!

According to custodian Matthew Farrell, who saw the whole thing, a man had found a baby bird and was tucking it safely in a corner when out of the blue came the jay and scooped that baby bird right up! He tried to get a photo, but it all happened so fast!

FLOWERING CACTI

Each year, in April, two of my cactus plants bloom. This is the only time they have flowers and I love them because they are so vibrant and showy. I keep my cacti in a greenhouse window in my bathroom. A greenhouse window is not flat like a regular window. It is like a box that juts out. My window faces south so it gets great sunlight all day long.

Cacti do not need to be watered as often as regular plants. They can often go without water for two weeks! Did you now there are more than 2,000 varieties of cacti? And cactus spines are actually the cactus's leaves!
It is really difficult to get cacti to bloom indoors, mostly because they need intense, long periods of sunlight. Another reason is that some cacti grow slowly and won't mature for decades.

This is true of the very hairy old man cactus, which is native to Mexico. I have one of these too, but will probably never see its whitish-yellowish flower. It takes 20 years before they flower and they usually flower only when they are outdoors. But that's okay, it's messy, carefree hairstyle is flower enough for me!

I'm not sure of my cacti varieties, but I'm researching it and think that perhaps the one above is a pincushion cactus, while the one on the right is still a mystery to me. It's funny that they both have shocking pink blooms.

I really like the green fingers that protrude from the center of this flower.

HAPPY EARTH DAY FROM RANDALL'S ISLAND

A good time was had by all on Randall's Island today, where four students from the Urban Nature Club planted blueberry bushes in the island's freshwater wetlands. Students were chosen by lottery and I'm so sorry that I couldn't take the whole club. I wish I had a bus rather than a car that seats five. (We do have a trip coming up to a farm at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and I hope everyone will come....details to follow.)

Digging in the deep!

One hundred blueberry plants, the "Elizabeth" variety, were planted by various groups, including ours, which planted six blueberry plants in all.

Kaseng and Julian with one of their plants

Maddy and Sarah with their first planting

 Randall's Island is in the East River, between Manhattan and Queens. Together with Ward's Island, to which it is attached, it encompasses about 500 acres. During the nineteenth century, the island was an institutional island, with an insane asylum, infectious disease hospitals, and a potter's field (or cemetery for the poor or unclaimed bodies. Today, it is a hodgepodge with a fire training academy, sports fields and facilities, nature, parkland, a homeless shelter and water treatment plant.

We found lots of worms, pill bugs and snails

Julian and Kaseng watch the snail crawl
on some invasive phragmites

Sarah holds the fattest worm found

Click here to see the book on Amazon

If you want to learn more about Randall's Island, or any of the other islands in New York City, check out the aptly named "The Other Islands of New York City," by Ms. Seitz and her husband, Stuart Miller.