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 The gardens at our elementary school are in front of the school and bedside the parking lot. During the annual Memorial Day program the speaker commented on how the school children show pride in their school by taking care of the plants surrounding the school. Each classroom including a multi-handicapped classroom participated in planting and caring for the seeds, cuttings, and growing plants. As part of our environmental and agricultural curriculum the garden is the natural hands-on place for the teachers to relate science to their students. Teachers teach math by having the students measure plants, plot the garden, and test the soil with chemicals for accuracy. The students write across the curriculum with plant journals. The fourth grade students put on a play for our annual "Soup Day" during the harvest celebration. This year at the harvest celebration we made vegetable soup, corn bread, and homemade butter to celebrate the harvest of our garden with a play about the book "June 29, 1999". All classes came to the auditorium/cafeteria for the play. After which the soup was cooked in classrooms, while cornbread was baked, and butter was churned. In the afternoon the students sampled the ‘feast’ with great delight. This year the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) published a recipe book using the students’ favorite foods of the year. Our recipe book included the harvest soup recipe. In early spring as the students make plans for measuring the garden rows, they learn about the crops that make good companions. Many of the plants are raised in the classrooms and then the seeds and plants are set in the garden by individual classrooms. The students decide what they want to plant from the general plan. During the summer months students and their parents maintain the garden one night a week with volunteer teachers supervising the getting of tools, turning of the compost pile, using tools correctly to get rid of weeds, harvesting of vegetables, cleaning up the spent flowers, and replanting of later crops. In order to maintain the gardens with seeds, tools, plants, and provide educational resources, the students and teachers hold a plant sale during the spring concert. The students plant seeds beginning in February, make houseplant cuttings, transplant seedlings, and care for their plants under grow lights in classrooms. We use our excess vegetables from the garden in different ways. The cafeteria staff used the lettuce for salad. Since we have planted so many potatoes this year from our own seed potatoes, we will donate some to the local food bank. We also enter the local county fair to teach the summer gardeners how to select the premium vegetables and flowers for display and exhibit. After gardening, one fourth grade student remarked that the experience in the garden had helped her participate more in the classroom discussions because of the hands-on garden experience. Many students have started their own home garden because they have gained the knowledge of how to start and maintain a garden. The garden experience provides the children with a positive learning environment. By using peer helpers we are experimenting with using cross grade level differentiating instruction. |
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