Lessons in the Garden: Discipline and looking ahead.
It is a Friday and we are going into a warm weekend. The sun will be out tomorrow.
These are the critical moments for our students. These are the times when we have to talk to our kids about the things that go on when we are not around.
We use the garden to promote an awareness of the world around us. Weeds grow over the weekend too. For our public school students, they have to know that things are going to go on when they are home at night and for the summer and so on.
Last year, one of our students started growing avocado plants that we found growing in the compost. We let him know that he probably would not see an avocado until he was graduating high school and he was ok with that. Audrey Hepburn once said, "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."
One of the first things that we thought about when we conceived of this garden system is what will happen next year...and five years beyond that and so on and so on. The key was to have things that will show immediate results yet still get them focused on the future. We are dealing with ages 6 to 9 years old now but we want the things we are doing to be on their minds for years to come.
The bok choi experiment
One of the first things we had to think about was seeds and not just seeds for this year, but seeds for years to come and our students needed to understand that. We started with bok choi because, we had access to A LOT of little heads of bok choi and we knew how fast they would/could grow.
We placed a few little heads of bok choi in shallow water until they began to form roots. When the roots got long enough, we placed the plants in soil. From there, as the weather got warmer, they did what plants do. Each day, the plants shot up a little more and a little more. Flower heads began to form and then flowers. They were pollinated by our flying friends and seed heads began to form.
Now...even though this season just started, we have seeds for next year and one less thing to worry about. Carrots, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. etc. etc... are on the horizon!
We are going to continue to talk about our last post (the problem with the peas and the scientific method) and let you all know how that unfolds!
These are the critical moments for our students. These are the times when we have to talk to our kids about the things that go on when we are not around.We use the garden to promote an awareness of the world around us. Weeds grow over the weekend too. For our public school students, they have to know that things are going to go on when they are home at night and for the summer and so on.
Last year, one of our students started growing avocado plants that we found growing in the compost. We let him know that he probably would not see an avocado until he was graduating high school and he was ok with that. Audrey Hepburn once said, "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."
One of the first things that we thought about when we conceived of this garden system is what will happen next year...and five years beyond that and so on and so on. The key was to have things that will show immediate results yet still get them focused on the future. We are dealing with ages 6 to 9 years old now but we want the things we are doing to be on their minds for years to come. The bok choi experiment
One of the first things we had to think about was seeds and not just seeds for this year, but seeds for years to come and our students needed to understand that. We started with bok choi because, we had access to A LOT of little heads of bok choi and we knew how fast they would/could grow.
We placed a few little heads of bok choi in shallow water until they began to form roots. When the roots got long enough, we placed the plants in soil. From there, as the weather got warmer, they did what plants do. Each day, the plants shot up a little more and a little more. Flower heads began to form and then flowers. They were pollinated by our flying friends and seed heads began to form.Now...even though this season just started, we have seeds for next year and one less thing to worry about. Carrots, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. etc. etc... are on the horizon!
We are going to continue to talk about our last post (the problem with the peas and the scientific method) and let you all know how that unfolds!
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