OUR LEARNING EXPERIENCES

People in our neighborhoods do not like to practice the things that they learn when they were kids. (Mariano) In our schools, in Abraham House and everywhere there is always somedody teaching us the right thing.(Jhenny) For example, in the school we learn about water and energy conservation, but not everybody follows those advises. (Oscar)

We are lucky because we are part of many initiatives to improve our environment. We attend workshops like the ones held on the Ney York Botanical Garden. Also, on Greenthumb Grow Together city gardeners from everywhere get together to learn from each other, organize competitions among gardens and Harvest Festivals. We also have family events in the community garden that include story telling, birthdays and anniversary celebrations, movie nights, barbecues and table games. (Juana and Oscar)

We hope to accomplish many things with our garden, especially to make our neighborhood look nicer.(Orlando) We hope to make our garden one of the resources that can bring people together.(Gaby) We are also trying to tell people the importance of living in a clean environment.(Jhenny)

From the Garden Mosaics program, we have learned that science can be fun if you have the proper way to learn it. Through our work we have learned how to value our environment, the plants and the animals, but the most important ting is how to take care of them. We are not the same kids taht started the program. Now we are more aware of environmental and ecological issues. (Juana and Orlando)

We are able to recognize some weeds, name some birds and of course we don't throw rocks at them!!(Lilly, Ana and Angelica)

The people in our community are always trying to teach us something new. Now we are more alert to certain signs in the community. (Gaby and Genaro)

We dont "chase" chickens, but we play with them. (Genaro)

We don't just pull out the weeds, but we try to relocate them. (Juana and Ana)

We are also more careful when we are walking on the streets and where we dispose of our garbage. When we were cleaning our Community Garden, as part of the Action Project, we learned how to value the tidiness.(Orlando and Gaby)


This blog has shown us a culture and an environment that we did not know. Week by week we discovered something new. We got to know each other and we discovered a new culture.




We have learned that they have a different alphabet with many letters. (Pablo)

They also have inmigrants the same as us. Maybe inmigration comes from different countries, but still that is a topic that we share. (Gabriela)

Siberian kids know about their history and are very proud of it. (Orlando)

Their city has old houses made of wood, but are getting replaced by new ones. (Genaro) People over there want to preserve them because they are part of their past, memories and art work. (Orlando)

Although they have a short period of gardening, they still have beautiful gardens and are not afraid of the problems created by the weather. We thought that they would have unknown vegetables and fruits. They might, but still we share a considerable common variety of them. (Juana, Lilly and Ana)

At the end of this blog we realized that we share more common things than differences. (Orlando) Even though we are from two different countries and have different custums we are united by our desire of having a better world where to live.(Oscar) We have realized that we are not alone and we are capable of changing our environment if we come together. ENVIRONMENT ROCKS!!


The kids of Abraham House

My Neighborhood: the Bronx

Our neighborhood is full of surprises that engage us to contribute some part of ourselves. We enjoy attending AbrahamHouse we feel at home and everyone there is really nice. Abraham House helps us with our homework and how to improve our educational skills. It also offers program that no other place in the SouthBronx may offer. They have arts programs that include art dance and music. They also offer yoga, media class, gardening and Garden Mosaic activities. We are fortunate to attend this after scool program because we are able to see that there are many fun things to do in the neighborhood.

With AbrahamHouse the children who attend the after school program and the summer program have the opportunity to attend Randall's Island, which is a place where we practice sports. Abraham House also offers speech teraphy for children who are having difficulty learning how to talk and they have counseling for the children and their families. Beside all of this fun activities they offer religious services on the weekends and many other related issues. Abraham House is located on 340 Willis Ave. between 141st St. and 142nd St. in the Bronx.

My neighborhood does not have many fun places to go but it does have places to go and eat if you are ever in the mood to try something new (because our cultural diversity). Everyone gets along like a family and they all know each other. The neighborhood has parks that are always full of childrens and their parents. We love our community garden because we can plant our vegetables and have fun with our friends. We do not only go to the garden to plant and take care of the plants but also to share our happiness with the plants as we play for a little while. We also learn a great amount of nature and science through workshops held there.

In the neighborhood exploration we learned so much about where we live. We all actually saw what our neighborhood was really like. We didn't like to see ugly things, but all the things that we , the neighbors , can do better if we do the right things. For example if we stop throwing garbage on the ground and start to throwing it in the garbage can then we can make it look nicer. We need to make our neighborhood a better place for all of us to live in it. We are glad that we did the neighborhood exploration.

Tomsk environmental activities

Hello, our friends!
We would like to tell you about ecological activities in Tomsk.
The dwellers take part in ecological life of our city. For example, they make “Green zones”, places for rest; they make wooden benches, lay out flower gardens.
There are a lot of “competitions”: “The best flower bed”, “The best playground”, “The best porch”, “Tomskiy dvorik (yard)” and others.
This competitions became the pleasant tradition of Tomsk.
Children, pensioners and other activists take part in this activities.
All of this competitions are supported by administration of our town.
July, Neonila, Anastasia L., Galina.

Green spaces in Tomsk(Types of gardens)

Hello, friends!
We would like to tell you about diffrent kinds of green spaces and gardens in Tomsk.There are 4 types of gardens:
First type includes city-owned gardens.
Lagerny garden(foto left) is situated on the bank of the river Tom. It looks like forest with walking pathes. In the middle of this park the Monument to Unknown Soldier is situated.


City-garden includes attractions for children, walking place, alleys with wonderful trees. In this park there are many cafes.

Second type includes orangerees
Botanical garden.(fotos below text)It is one of the most famous in Russia. This garden is very beautiful. Unfortunately, it’s close now, you can get there only with excursion.


Third type includes green streets.
Tomsk had a birthday two years ago, because of this date Duma (parliament) decided to plant a lot of trees along many streets.

Fourth type includes private gardens. (fotos below text)
This is the most spread type of gardens in Russia. Private garden is small part of the ground, where people usually grow trees, fruits and vegetables.

Anastasia and Galina

Green Spaces in the Bronx

In the Bronx we have Commnunity Gardens, school gardens and home gardens. We also have Public Parks like St. Mary's Park, and the Botanical Garden, not to mention our huge Bronx Zoo.

People enjoy them, because they not only help to clean our environment in a polluted city, but provide a healthy and safe place for activities for our families. NYC is an overcrowded city and the size of the apartments and the number of the buildings reflect it. That is why people, but especially young people, need green spaces to run, play, yell and screram without bothering anyone.

We can play our favorite sport (usually soccer, beisball or football) and do any physical activities. People can ejoy nature, learn from it, and if you are lucky you get to plant different kind of plants some of them from your own country.

In addition, you can see animals that you have never seen before. Our Community Garden acquired some hens. We knew about them because we eat them at home or because we saw pictures of them. Since we got them we have been running after the slippery hens and had a lot of fun. Some kids were also afraid of worms, but now it is something we are used to.

The best thing is that green spaces provide our community with a place where you can spend time with your friends and family in a safe environment.

Garden Mosaics activities in the Bronx

Orlando Velez: In the garden we plant and grow vegetables. We did many projects like Bird Watch, Weed Watch, Gardener Story, Neighborhood Exploration, Gardening Enhancement and Garden Inventory.

The project I liked the most was Weed Watch, but it was very challenging. It was very challenging because we had to estimate a lot, and it was a close estimate. It was hard because wehad to keep quiet and sometimes I am not that patient.

I also liked Neighborhood Exploration. We saw a garden near to a Senior Citizen House and I thought that we can help them in taking a better care of it.

Gabriela Cisnero: What I have been doing in the Garden Mosaics is planting the plants, pulling out the weeds, harvesting and also cleaning the garbage that we found on the garden as part of the Action Project program.

I went to Saint Mary’s Park with Milagros and the students that go to the garden and we did Bird Watch. The part I liked the best was watering the plants, and

taking care of our community garden among other things, because that is how I know that I have a direct influence in my community.

Jhenny's Memories: I would like to tell you some things about Garden Mosaics. My friends and I have been learning about Weed Watch. We learned that many plants are weeds. We also learned that a strawberry is a weed .When we found that out we were all surprised.
We also did Bird Watch and learned about many birds that live in ourneighborhood. The birds we saw were House Sparrows, MourningDoves, American Robbins, and many other birds. I also worked last year in a couple of wonderful progr ams called Gardener Story and Garden Inventory.
This year I am working in the Neighborhood Exploration and Action Project. We worked a lot this past summer in our garden. I know you will have fun!

Mariano Velez: In the garden I was having fun especially when the water fight started!Everyone was getting wet. But the best part s were planting and harvesting. Sometimes we got to play but then we had to keep working and that was what was fun about the garden.
So why don't you join us! If you can't, try next time, because you canalways learn new things. I learned a lot from Weed Watch, Bird Watch and Gardener Story! From our last Neighborhood Exploration I learnedthat our community needs to work on some issues.

Juana & Ana: We were working very hard in the last three years and now we can say that our Community Garden is our favorite place to be. Our favorite activity was the Gardener Story. We had a lot of fun with Paco’s stories. He is an old Puerto Rican gardener who taught us many of his tips on how to plant. On Weed Watch, we worked hard too. Collecting and classifying data can be a learning experience. Also we were able to meet important people who helped us to understand better about weeds, not only the problems that they create, but their benefits too.

Greetings

Hello. My name is Oscar Estrada. I am 10 years old and I am in 5^th grade. My birthday is on March 12^th. I got a scholarship to attend to St. Jerome and I like coming to Abraham House because I learn many things here. We have Mass on Saturdays and Sundays where I have an important mission as an Altar Person. I love to play soccer and I practice as much as I can every time that I have a chance.

Hi. I am Lillian Martinez, but you can call me Lilly. I am in the 5^th grade and I am 9 years old. My birthday will be soon (on November 25^th). I have two big brothers and a little sister. When I grow up I want to be a doctor. My favorite hobby is to play soccer. My brothers and other relatives also play soccer with me. My bestest friends are Jhenny and Noemi, but she is not part of this program because she lives far away and is difficult to come every day.

Hi everybody. My name is Angelica Chavez and I am in the 5^th grade. This is my first year working in the Community Garden and in the Garden Mosaics program. I am a very happy to be part of this program and get to know people abroad. I have an older brother and two little sisters.

From left to right:

Genaro, Angelica, Gabriela and Lilly

Hi. My name is Gabriela Cisnero, I am 15 years old. I attend to Community High School for Social Justice where I am in the 10^th grade. My family is from Dominican Republic and I visit them on vacation. This is also my first year working with the Garden Mosaics program and I am very happy to have been selected because it is a wonderful experience. My hobby is to write poems and when I grow up I want to be a nurse. I look forward to learn more things about you!

I am Genaro Chavez and I am 10 years old. I am in 5^th grade and my favorite subjects are Reading and Spelling. My family is from Mexico and we come here to Abraham House to get help. They also come to get English classes. I come here to get help with my homework and to help during Mass as Altar Person. I hope to hear from you soon.

The Bronx

New York City has five boroughs or divisions. Manhattan is the smallest borough, but also the most known and center of New York City. Because Manhattan is an island, you can take a boat all the way around it. The Bronx is across the Harlem River from Manhattan. It is the only borough on the mainland. In other words, it is not an island or part of an island. Queens, across the East River from the Bronx, is the largest of the five boroughs. Queens is part of an island that is 118 miles long. That is why it is called Long Island. Brooklyn is just south of Queens and is also part of Long island. Staten Island is across New York Bay to the west of Brooklyn.

No matter where do you live in New York City, you are never far from a river, a bay, or even the ocean. Thanks to our harbor, NYC became an important port. In fact, it is the largest port in the United States.

The Algonquians, a Native American tribe, were the first people to live in NYC. In the Algonquian language Manahatta (now Manhattan) means “island of the hills”. Since then, many immigrants have populated NYC. In 1639 the colonist Jonas Bronk bought 500 acres of land from the Algonquians. Known as “Bronck’s Land”, it was later called the Bronx.

Until the late 1800s, the Bronx was an area of farms and villages. In the 1940s, immigrants moved to the suburbs. Today, the Bronx is home to many Hispanic people and it probably hosts them more than any other borough.

In the 1970s, the Bronx experienced poverty, run-down buildings, and increased crime. Nowadays, the Bronx has been made better by the work of community and church groups.

On November 4, 1989, New Yorkers made an historic decision. They gave African-American, Hispanics, Asians, and other ethnic groups a better chance to elect council members from their districts.

In 1997 the Bronx was named a winner of the All-American City Award. This award is given each year by the National Civic League to ten communities that have worked hard to solve their problems.

Our Team

Hello!

My name is Juana Barroso and I am 14 years old. I am in 9th grade and my favorite subject is Social Studies. I have been reading about your city and it seems to be a nice place to live. Here in the Bronx we have many nice places to go too. My favorite places to visit are The Botanical Garden, The Bronx Zoo and St. Mary’s Park.

Hi everyone.
My name is Ana Barroso. I am 12 years old and I am in 6th grade. My favorite subject is Math. I live in the Bronx, but I am from Mexico. I love to play soccer and I dedicate a lot of time to be a better player. I like the Garden Mosaics activities because they remind me of my country.

Hello. My name is Orlando Velez and I am 11 years old and I like playing football. I go to Abraham house for help. The teachers help me with my work. I am in 7th grade. They give me hard work at school, but it is worth it because it helps me learn new things. That is why I still attend to to the Community Garden activities. We have many things to do that help us to improve our community.

Hello

My name is Jhenny Jimenez. I am 11 years old and I go to St. Jerome school. I am in the 5th grade. My birthday is in June 08th. My favorite subject is Math, and my favorite hobbies are swimming and playing basketball. I was in a public school before entering into St. Jerome school. I got a scholarship that helped me go to St. Jerome.

Hi!

My name is Pablo Velez. I am 10 years old. My birthday is in August 15th. I go to St. Luke School. There are 7 people in my family plus me is 8, and if I count my parents we are ten. I am in 5th grade. My favorite sport is Olympic wrestling. I hope to be on a team when I grow up.

Hello. My name is Mariano Velez. I am 10 years old and I am in fourth grade. My favorite sport is basketball. My birthday is on October 14th. Some people think I am Chinese but I am Mexican. My school is St. Luke. It is a great school. I live in the Bronx. The Bronx is in New York. There are many great parks in New York and I enjoy going to play there.

Our Garden Mosaics activities

Dear friends,

Hello! In this message we want to tell you about our Garden Mosaics activities. By the time we have explored the garden, which is situated near our school. We were interested in this garden, because it was founded by a teacher of our gymnasium. It is a very small and terrific garden. You will see its photos in our future messages.

There are a lot of parks in our town: Lagerny garden, University grove, State garden, Michailovskaya grove, Buff garden, and others. We have total about 45 gardens and parks in our town. Every person in our town can relax there and enjoy fresh air and natural beauty.

Many inhabitants of Tomsk have private garden sites out of town, on which they grow vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and others. Near our gymnasium there is a park, which is called “White Lake”(we will tell you about it next week). It is one of the most favorite places of inhabitants of Tomsk, in which there are a lot of trees, bushes and beds of flowers. The park is situated around the lake.

We are interested to learn a lot of interesting things about our gardens and environment through Neighborhood Exploration, Gardener Story, and Community Garden Inventory – which we are planning to conduct these weeks.

We hope to hear from you soon!

Neonila, Yuliya, Artem, Yura

Information about Tomsk

In this message we would like to tell you about our beautiful city.

Tomsk is an old Siberian town. It is situated on the bank of the river Tom, in West Siberia. Tomsk got its name of the river on which it stands. In the Ket language the Tom means “main river”, “big river” or “the centre of life”. The name has also another translation: “Tom” means “dark”. Haven’t you noticed that deep water always seems dark? “Dark” means “clean, mountainous”.
In the winter of 1604, from the banks of the “Dark river”, the chief of Eushtin Tatars, Toyan, arrived in Moscow and addressed the Russian tsar, Boris Godunov, with a request to defend his tribe from the enemy. Therefore, in September of 1604 by the order of Boris Godunov Russian soldiers began to build a fortress intended to defend Russian borders at the highest place, on Voskresenskaya Mountain. So, Tomsk was founded.

Since the middle of the last century Tomsk has been called “Siberian Athens” as Lunacharsky first put it. Indeed, Tomsk is the centre of culture and education of Siberia.
Tomsk is often called a Students’ Town. It is really right. Tomsk University, the first in Siberia, was founded in 1880. There are now seven higher educational establishments in Tomsk: State University, the Polytechnic University, the Medical Academy, the University of Civil Engineering, and the University of Automated Control System and Radioelectronics.
There are over thirty technical colleges. They say that every eighth person in Tomsk is a student. In the streets of Tomsk you can see many young people. The students in Tomsk have everything at their disposal: comfortable hostels, sport palaces and clubs; libraries, labs, and well-equipped workshops. In the evening they may have a good time in the cafes, cinemas, theatres. The students are proud of their “Alma-Matter” and after graduating from the Institute they often come back to Tomsk to meet their teachers, and friends, or to have a walk along Tomsk streets and to say “Thank you” to their teachers and universities. It’s a wonderful tradition.

Tomsk is proud of its wooden houses with their “wooden laces”. In Krasnoarmeiskaya, Gagarin, Shishkov streets one can see a wonderful fairy-tale. You will see wonderful wooden palaces with numerous cupolas, windows, and balconies richly decorated with traditional Russian woodwork, so-called “wooden laces”. Tomsk is famous for its wooden architecture. All these wooden wonders were made by unknown Russian masters. They worked from early morning till late night, but they lived under very difficult conditions. They did not leave their names for us but left these masterpieces for us to admire. Now all these monuments are under state protection and are being carefully restored so people will be able to admire them for centuries to come.

Let us know if you have any questions about our city.

Our information

Our dear friends,

We would like to tell you some information about team. Our team consists of students from different student groups (9^th – 10^th grades) who are interested to learn more about environment and cultures in different countries. You will find information about each of us below.

My name is Artem Mironov. I’m 14. I’m a pupil. I live in Tomsk. I study at Gymnasium #24 in class 9b. My hobby is swimming, drawing and skiing.

My name is Zhenya Chemodanova. I’m a pupil. I live in Tomsk I study at Gymnasium #24 in class 9b. My hobby is swimming, theatre, musik

Yulia Ogurtsova
Hallo! My name is Yulia, but you can call me Julie. I play the piano and the guitar. My favourite subjects are English and History. I love them =)). My favorite band is “Grim Twins”. If you saw “Russian Winter Festival” in London you could see them. Waiting for your answer! =)))

Neonila Khismatullina
My name is Neonila. My hobby is bead knithing. In my childhood I used to play the piano. My favourite subjects are English and Chemistry. To tell the truth, I love pets and at home I’ve got 2 lizards.

Gleb Arv’e
My name is Gleb. My hobby is tourism (yachting). My favourite subjects are Chemistry and Geography. My great-grand father was the leader of the group of geologists who found the first oil in Siberia.

Natasha Shepeleva
My name is Natasha. I am 14. My hobby is drawing and playing guitar. I have no favorite subject. I like reading and pets. Konitchi wa to peoples who like anime.

Olga Kabanova
My name is Olga. I am 14. My hobby is dancing and watching movies. I like reading.

Anastasia Lazareva.
My name is Anastasia. I’m 14 years old. I like literature. I read a lot of books and write poems and stories. I’m interested in computers, Internet and web-design.
I have a cat. His name is Simba.
I study at Benedict school twice a week, where I study professional English.
And I’m also interested in Japanese culture.
My best friend is Galina Vesnina.

Galina Vesnina.
My name is Galina. I’m 14 years old.
I study in the 9th form. I have different hobbies: reading, playing the violin, painting, writing poems.
I am interested in ecology. I like Russian rock music.
My best friend is Anastasia Lazareva.

My name is Gashkova Olga. I am 14 years. I live in Tomsk , I study in 24 grammar schools. I like to draw (I studied at art school) .I like to listen to music. I have the aquarium and my favourite cat, and so I the most usual child with my mentality.

My name Jura. I love sport, games and TV. I fond of Break dance. I love hip- hop and R’n’B music. For example, 50 cent, x-zibit and others. But I have some strangers. When I feel me bad I like to listen same groups as Bon Jovi and Scorpions to relax. My favorite subjects are Mathematic, and English.
My name is Artem. I play guitar. I go in for sports. I found of Break dance too. I love rock music. For example, Bon Jovi and others. My favourite subjects are Engish and Russian.

We are waiting for your message about your team. Please feel free to ask us any questions!

Your Siberian friends.

Greetings from The Bronx

Hello everyone!
My name is Milagros Alegre and I am a Counselor in an After School Program located in the South Bronx, New York City. Our organization, Abraham House, hosts grades Pre-K to 12th from a primarily latino community. This is an integrated Program that focuses both on academic and non-academic life skills. These skills include environmental awareness, the arts, wellness and spirituality. By taking a more holistic approach we further develop the capacity to succeed with our children and our community.

Educators' message

GARDEN MOSAICS
TEACHERS-PARTICIPANTS’ NEWSLETTER

We are the teachers from Russia. We live and work in Tomsk. Tomsk is a beautiful ancient Siberian city. We teach different subjects at Tomsk gymnasium #24. There are a lot of talented students who do research in ecology and take part in nature conservation projects.

Let us introduce ourselves:
Nadezda Usova – a teacher of chemistry and ecology
Tatyana Konovalova – a teacher of biology
Margarita Soldatenko – a teacher of English
We would be glad to share our experience, learn a lot of new things and meet new friends!