Entrepreneurial Activity

When our building principal suggested at the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year that student groups initiate a millennium project, the seed of an idea for a garden calendar was sown. The garden club, composed of 6^th and 7^th graders, formed 12 small teams, each taking a month of the year to focus on. Using holiday dates and the Farmers Almanac for gardening facts, the teams chose the information they wished to include on their calendar month. This activity reinforced the scientific studies they had been doing of the moon, it’s gravitational pull on Earth’s land and water masses, and how man has put this information to practical use to facilitate the growing of crops. Skills in reading and interpreting chats were implemented. Students selected pictures to compliment their month and used computer skills to type information and scan and enlarge photos to be used. Thirty-five colored and fifty black and white copies of the completed calendars were printed at the district’s high school. The colored copies, being most expensive to duplicate, were distributed to greenhouse and nursery businesses which had donated time and materials to our school gardening project. Each garden club member building principal received one. Although our school’s policy does not allow student groups to "make money," the remaining calendars went for a donation for $1.00 each, the proceeds being spent on garden supplies for the summer — seeds, fencing material, and plants.

The end product is a keepsake for the beginning of a new millennium, a photo essay of student work and creative activities of their youth gardening years, and a way to share their experiences with the community.