Week 3: Planting

On Monday, we did a lot around the garden with the first graders. At the beginning, the students learned about plants and the four main parts of them. The students were all able to identify the root, stem, leaf, and flower of a plant! After filling out a quick worksheet, the kids walked around to look at plants in the garden. After learning about plants the topic was changed to seeds. The students learned where seeds come from and how they travel then grow. After this all of the students got to plant a seed, that will grow throughout the next few months by working in the garden! After planting, one student was given the chance to water the plant bed, finishing up the fun class day.

Week 2: Ms. House's Class

Wednesday was the second week working with Ms. House's kindergarten classroom in the garden. This week the students learned about soil! First, the students took turns in a big group discussing what they thought soil was made up of and why they think soil is important for plants. Then, we taught them the four main components of soil. Next, we broke into our smaller groups. Each group went to a different section of the garden to examine different types of soil. Each group got the opportunity to look at and feel the soil on the ground, in the garden bed, and the compost. Within all three groups, students were able to distinguish that the soil in the garden bed appeared to be the best condition for growing plants. This was because it felt "softer" to them and looked darker. Overall, the students enjoyed being able to look at and learn about the soil. Their favorite part was looking at and holding the worms and different types of bugs that live within the soil. Next wednesday we will return to the garden to teach Ms. House's class about seeds!

Campbell Park Elementary School

Today in the garden at Campbell Park Elementary School, we learned about soil. The students talked about what they thought made up soil and then we went over the four major ingredients. These are ground up bedrock, organic matter, water, and air. We took a nice walk around the garden and looked at how soil changed depending on where it was in the garden. The soil in the garden bed was richer and hotter than the soil on the ground or in the compost pile. The kids said what they found in the dirt and compared the dirt from different places. The worms were still the most exciting part of the garden for the kids! Next week we get to learn about seeds!

First Day at Campbell Park

Today at Campbell Park Elementary it was our first Edible Peace Patch class with the first graders. Many of them had been to the garden before when they were in kindergarten so they were very excited to come back out to the Edible Peace Patch. My group and I started by asking them what they thought the rules of the garden should be, and they were all very excited to give ideas such as "no touching the plants without asking" and "no picking the plants until they are fully grown." Then, we separated into four smaller groups to talk more about the garden and what the students wanted to grow. We gave them a work sheet where they walked around the garden and wrote down what they heard, felt, saw, and smelled. This was their first chance to interact with the garden and think about how being in the garden affected all of their senses. Today was really great to get to know the students and I look forward to them learning more about the garden and planting food.