Third Graders labored hard to start a new Native Plant garden bed next to the play structure in the garden.
Weeding the Kinder-Garden February 5, 2010
Kindergardeners in Ms. Schultz’s and Ms. Hawke/Manguil’s classes went out to check on their plants and weed in January. Boy are the veggies getting big! The weeds aren’t quite as big, but children used garden rakes to pull them out. And sometimes, they accidentally pulled out some veggies, as well!
What’s Cooking, Good Looking? February 5, 2010
Several classes have been cooking this month!
On two cool, winter days, Mrs. Feitelberg’s Fourth Graders and Mr. Sarda’s Kindergarden buddies went to the garden to collect herbs for cooking. The first group — half of each class, grouped as buddies — gathered mint and garlic leaves from the garden and used a tangerine (in place of a missing lemon) cracked wheat (as they are growing wheat, which may never get high enough to harvest), olive oil, a bunch of parsley, and a bit of salt to make tabouli, a middle-eastern salad.
The second group made herbed sorrel soup and herbed wheat biscuits using sorrel, sage, thyme and garlic from the garden.
In Ms. Manguil’s kindergarden, gardeners made chicken-sorrel-rice soup, gathering herbs such as rosemary, thyme, garlic and sorrel from the garden, and adding rice, canned chicken meat, and chicken broth to the pot.
The conclusion? Sorrel, a tart, lemony green, is great added to soups to give it extra zip and nutrition. Our children are so willing to eat nutritious food when they pick it and cook it themselves!
It’s a Mystery! Who’s been eating the Peas? February 5, 2010
Mr. Sarda’s Kindergardeners are on the trail of a mystery!
Someone has been nibbling on the pea plants in Mr. Sarda’s class’s Pea bed! While the inedible sweet pea plants untouched, the edible peas have all been nibbled on. Stems are broken off, leaves have bite marks out of them.
Before going out to the garden, the class hypothesized about who might be eating the peas. Then the class went out to look for clues. This is what they found:
Holes in the ground.
One hole with a spider in it.
A borage plant with large holes eaten out of the middle.
A track next to the sandbox.
Bite marks on the peas.
A chewed off stem.
A broken tree.
Someone saw a squirrel go down into a hole one day.
People.
Speculation as to the culprit ran from Beavers — the broken tree was the most certain evidence; to spiders — one was in a hole near the plants; to rabbits — rabbits like to eat green things; grasshoppers — they have been seen in the garden before; there are a lot of people around, so it could have been people.
After a classroom discussion about where beavers live, what spiders like to eat, what animals we’ve actually seen in the garden, and what people do in our community, the conclusion was that it was probably a squirrel who ate the peas.
Mystery solved!
Second Graders’ Use Venn Diagrams to Examine Water’s Effect on Plants February 5, 2010
For several months, a water leak at the end of one of the drip system lines wreaked some havoc on the garden. Two beds were constantly overwatered from a series of small but significant punctures in the drip lines, while other beds did not get enough water. After finally figuring out how to fix it — which involved replacing the drip lines in one row of beds — the second grade classes assessed the damage done.
Ms. Endoso’s and Ms. McCall’s classes took a look at their veggie bed and discovered that the vegetables in one bed had grown much more than the veggies in the second bed. Using Venn Diagrams — one circle for bed one, one for bed two — they took a look at differences in the two beds. Differences included very small plants in the overwatered bed, and larger ones in the bed receiving less water. They noticed plants in neat rows in bed one, while the plants in bed two were pushed every which way, and clumped together where the seeds had landed in the water. They noticed more weeds in the second bed, and more compact and “slimy” clay-like soil in the second bed, and more crumbly and dark soil in bed one.
Fifth Grade Colonial Fiber Arts Garden December 29, 2009
Fifth Graders, as part of their study of early American history, began planting a fiber arts garden. They learned how colonial Americans had to create their own cloth from fibers they grew, such as cotton, flax, and wool, and then spin, dye, and knit or weave the fibers into cloth. Cloth was then used for clothing and other household goods, then reused and repurposed when it wore out as clothing. Old clothing might become a quilt, curtains, a woven rag rug, or some other article of clothing for another family member.
Fifth graders viewed some samples of cloth that was soaking in the juice of red sorrel, which grows in our school garden, as well as turmeric, a common yellow spice. Prepared silk, which had been soaked in mordants of cream of tartar and alum, was soaked in the ground up plants, and an hour or so later, had turned a bright pink and deep yellow color. Beets were also introduced as a dye plant, but surprisingly as a tan dye, not a red dye.
Students then went into the garden to plant flax for fibers, purple cabbage, and yellow onions. Later in the year, they will experiment with making more dyes and dying more cloth, just as colonial Americans did.
Kindergardeners Measure Plants for the first time December 29, 2009
In late November and early December, the kindergardeners began measuring their plants using yarn, and recording the plants’ appearance through drawing.
Mosaic Signs for the Garden December 29, 2009
The butterfly buddies will not only be studying butterflies and planting a butterfly garden this year, they will also be making various projects to make our garden more beautiful. In December, they began making a mosaic sign to hang in the garden.
Ancestral Gardens are Growing! December 29, 2009
The Second Graders Ancestral Gardens grew in November and December. Students measured their plants with rulers and recorded their growth over time through pictures.
The Peas are Growing! December 29, 2009
In December, Mr. Sarda’s class went out and measured their peas. Then they drew pictures of their pea plants. My, how they have grown!
