10/28/14

This week we started with a little game called "Fruity". We set up garden categories (fruit/vegetable, animal/insect etc) then thought of a letter and students had to fill in the categories as quickly as possible and the first one done shouts "Fruity". Students really enjoyed the game and it and forced them to think hard for a little while :) Then we went to the garden and pulled out more plants and cleared away some leaves. We left some kale that was still producing so that we can add it to our compost pile.

I also found a great book for students aged 4-8. "Some Bugs" by Angela Diterlizzi and Brendan Wenzel is a humorous rhyming story about the different types of common bugs. The beautiful illustrations and simple language makes it a great read for this age range! Students will be excited to get out into their backyard and go exploring!

Two weeks ago we dedicated the class to those who have helped our garden flourish. We made treehouses that we will send out as a Thank you's.

10/21

This week we got our hands dirty and started cleaning up the garden beds. We gently pulled out our herb, pepper, tomato and some of the kale beds. We left some plants that were still healthy, but plan on removing everything within the next few weeks.

When the first bed was weed free and everything was gone, we sprinkled some rye as a winter cover crop. This will help nourish our soil so that it will be rich with nutrients in the spring.

I found a book called "Local," by Douglas Gayeton. The picture below highlights exactly why it is important to teach children the importance of the food movement not only through classroom instruction, but also through doing.

 

 

9/30/2014

 

Hail the Kale! In honor of National Kale Day on October 1st, we learned about everything kale. Below is a recipe Haven's group made for kale chips. They are so delicious and taste like potato chips. The most important part of the recipe is to make sure you dry the kale thoroughly so that it doesn't get soggy in the oven.

 

 

We split into groups and learned all about kale. Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef, more calcuim than milk and 10% more vitamin C than spinach! We wrote stories and poems

 



 and  even made art with kale. Some of the work included a fish, a bunny and Pacman (which had nothing to do with kale, but was cute).