Wednesday March 19, 2014.
It could have been one of the ten best days of the year
today. The morning was perfect when I
found Matt and Nikki at Sanderlin. Today’s
assignment was, to discuss the parts of a plant with our fourth graders. Matt came up with a great idea for the kids, he
sent them over to the mulch pile and had them pick saplings that drop from the
oak tree overhead. Then he had them
point out the parts of the plants. Both
classes had a perfect score when naming the roots, stem, leaves and
flower. They were able to identify the
root having a duel role, as root and flower in this case. We then dispersed out into the garden, to
further identify plants and plant parts.
We have been really trying to impress on the classes the necessity to
make daily or weekly observations in the garden, changes, even minor changes in
the garden can be really important. I
know for me, changes in the garden are the first things I like for. And whether the changes are good or
discouraging, they are part of our garden. My group was really excited about the corn,
and named its parts even though they realized we still had some time before we
would see flowers on it. When then found
some plants such as tomatoes, and eggplant, and discussed the flowers. We talked about how the flower was the
reproductive part of the plant, and that it was necessary to have pollinators
in our garden for the fruits to grow. I
was thoroughly impressed to have kids in both classes, Ben in the first, and Toby
in the second explain the process of photosynthesis. How the plants leaves take in energy. They both almost perfectly detailed the
intake of carbon dioxide for food and the release of oxygen as its waste. I might be embellishing a bit but, they did a
great job. Other children obviously knew
the process of photosynthesis as well, and it is truly a credit to their
teachers. Of course we talked about the importance
of the roots and the stem, and then it was time to casually lollygag around the
garden. This is fun because this is
when a flurry of off topic questions come out. These
questions today concerned when the pineapples and bananas will be ready, or can we look for bugs? And of course we eat! We ate a lot of herbs, green onions, some
tomatoes, and kale. I have never seen
such an enthusiasm over kale before, it’s so funny.
We seem to be making an impression of the children. I do
more hand holding now then a few weeks ago.
I think the time in the garden is important to the kids, I know it is
for me. To think that this program, our
time in the garden with these kids could help shape their future ideas; To help someone make good decisions concerning their education, or their career, or just choosing to be sustainable when they're older makes me really emotional. I’m fully in!
KALE FOREVER!!
Wes
 |
| Waiting on bananas! |
