June 14 and June 15

Yesterday students finalized the painting of rocks and lined them up to spell "Washington Lee Go Generals." After rock were placed students added the finishing touches by adding mulch and cleaning up the area. Students then worked together to water all the plants in preparation for the warm weather ahead.
Today invitations to the ribbon cutting ceremony were finished. Plants were watered by four students while others worked on creating a video to show all the work that went into creating the garden.

Wednesday, 6/15 period 4/5

Students admired their hard work after a long, fun experience. More admiration later.
Number of cards were determined for plant specification. Smartphones will be able to determine types of plants if the viewer is interested!

Tuesday 6/14 period 4/5

More work accomplished today! More plants were delivered. All plants were placed and readjusted to the level of the soil. Boulders were set in place from dirt or with pea stone rocks. Final touches are going to be done later. Almost complete!

Monday, 6/13 period 4/5

Tons of work completed! Plants arrived, lots of hard work put in. Leaf mulch was mixed with the top soil and plants were laid out to their correct positions. Dirt was placed as a barrier around the rocks to keep them in place.Great work today! A lot was accomplished today. More work to do!

Video update

Just a quick post to share the video that Raleigh created to document the progress of the project!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2132584637826

Update for Period 6/7

Yesterday, June 7:
We finished filling the stream bed with the blue/gray rocks. At one point we got delicious brownie cookie things and grapes. Brooke, Camille, Alison, Brendan, Raleigh went on a rock hunt and found 2 large rocks.

Yesterdays product ----------------------->

Today, June 8:
Raleigh worked on the video we're going to put on the announcements. Karen, William and Casey worked on the press release and Brendan, Casha, Abby, Brooke, Monica and Alison went on a successful mission to get more rocks.
Pop edited the t-shirt designs and added the sponsor names.

Tuesday June 7th period 4/5

Tons of work completed today! Stream bed was entirely dug out and measured with a downward slope flowing towards the drain. A large strip of wood was used with the level allowing for the most precise measurements. The board was laid in the middle with the level on top. Cloth was laid out covering the stream following the curves and turns. The land next to the stream was flattened out on both sides. More work to be done, but the progress has been great! A big thanks to The Front Page for donating sandwich wraps that were exquisite!

Monday June 6th Period 4/5

We started off the week by digging out the stream bed moving dirt to the beginning of the stream. It was a nice day out and much was accomplished. Plants were watered again by refilling water bags. Big thanks to Chick fil A donation of sandwiches that were delicious!

Donors believe in our students: why this is important

Today, I got emails from Natalie and Jack who continued over the weekend to network with people to support this project, so we can do more with a small budget. People who are closely involved in supporting the students comment on how impressed they are with the initiative and the problem solving skills shown by our students to find ways to make this project increasingly impressive through donations. I hope our students view these donations as evidence that people believe in the ability that our students accomplish this major undertaking.

I want to compile an updated list of support we've gotten so far:
..The PTA and Washington Lee both donated significant amounts of money for materials to complete this project
..Design and project management services donated by Early Space landscaping
..Drilled boulder fountain, we are seeking donations from Merrifield Garden Center
..WV fieldstone from Sislers Stone, discounted at 50% off
..2000lbs of pea gravel from Sislers, discounted at 50% off
..Plants - we are still seeking donations from wholesale plant nurseries like Babikow Greenhouses in Baltimore

In support of the students for their hard work, food and drink have been provided by these groups:
6/3 - Crystal City Sports Pub
6/6 - Chick fil A in Ballston
6/7 - Front Page Ballston - Burgers
6/8 - Front Page Ballston - Wraps
6/9 - Front Page Ballston - Pizza

We are expecting press coverage of the installation and ribbon cutting on June 16, and any donations will be acknowledged in the Arlington Public Schools Community Partnership newsletter. A similar summary of the project and the press release will be offered to Ballston Patch, Arlington Sun Gazette, and others who may be interested.

I know our students will continue to aim high and perform well, and people are putting money where they believe it will make a difference. That is something we can all take time to feel good about.
-Philip Cooke

Period 6/7 updates from Friday 6/3

Pop and Brooke received the first of many food donations from our generous and supportive community businesses! Delicious chicken tenders today from Crystal City Sports Pub - thanks Billy Bayne for your support!

Next week on Monday, we look forward to more donations to our hungry, hard working students from our local Chick-Fil-A. It's very validating to have vendors believing in and supporting this project.

Alison and Nina went on a scavenger hunt with almost no hints, and still found the replacement handle for the shovel. Brooke, Casha, and Abby replaced the shovel that was too wimpy to be useful to our strong, determined students.

Karen, William, Nina cleaned up all the rest of the vegetation - the place looks great.
Brendan got a rock and did great digging. Susan secured plenty of cold water to keep our thirst quenched.

All the students pitched in and the digging the stream path is now 20% finished. The digging was never dull - we would occasionally find mysterious bricks, a rusty screwdriver, and old pipes under the mulch.

Looking forward to finishing the stream by 6/8, and starting to lay down the rock and gravel to build the stream by 6/10.

Updates from 4/5th on 6-3-2011

Pleasant day, 80* degrees, so we got lots of time outside. We were able to reallocate 9 water bags from trees that didn't need it, and fill up 3 bags to feed the 3 yews we transplanted last week.

Since Arlington County wasn't able to pick up and compost the plants we removed, we put them in an area here on campus where they could degrade naturally. This was hard work, and big thanks to the staff in the main office for letting us use a cart to transplant these heavy shrubs.

Big thanks to Rockbottom Restaurant for scheduling a food and drink donation to the hungry thirsty workers in this early summer heat! We are also excited for every student to bring a rock to paint their name on. Jack made contact with Patrick Wegeng with Arlington County Parks and Rec, and they hope to donate some gravel and rock to the cause.

6/1 Updates from 6/7th period

Sent off the T-Shirt design to La Tee Shirt on Lee Highway in Arlington - they are working on giving us a quote.


We made a mix up with one of the plants that we picked: the "New Guinea Impatiens" isn't native to VA, and it's not a perennial. Casha picked " " to replace it.


Monica, Abby, Karen, Susan contacted quarries to have rock and gravel delivered to WL, and asked about potential discounts/donations.

Update from 6/1, 4/5th period

Today, we sent final tee shirt design to LA Tee Shirt. Also, posted the picture of the plaque on Facebook, and we are working through ways to get pictures posted.

Donorschoose.org limits us to only products that they sell, so we posted project applications with two other sites that offer donation options - www.kickstarter.com and www.iloveschools.com.

We don't have class on Thursday 6/2, but we'll be hard at work again on 6/3!

Updates from 5/31, 5th Period

Milestones:
6/3: order all materials for delivery 6/8
6/6: start digging the irrigation stream and the location that will hold the underground cistern
6/8: spread the rock and gravel, and start painting the "Washington-Lee High School - Go Generals" rocks
6/10: done with the stream
6/13: dig holes for the plants
6/14: put the plants in the ground
6/16: FINISH THE PROJECT!

Today was very hot (32*C, 92* F, so we stayed inside and did some research on companies that could deliver materials like rock and boulders. We also got a message from Nancy and Hillary with Rainwater Harvesting Collection Systems, (www.rainxchange.com), with some advice regarding plants. We should start digging in a few days!