April, 2012 - Time to Build the Garden
- This garden was proposed by Christine Palmer (Fourth Grade Teacher) and Penny Sanders (Kindergarten Teacher). Both teachers wanted to extend the classroom learning experience and felt a garden would be a great way to enhance concepts being taught in science. It was also a great way to follow up on nutritional facts being taught through the lunch and snack programs at St. Thomas.
The following procedures were followed to prepare the garden for student participation:
1. Lumber was used to construct a 5 X 10 raised bed frame.
2. An ideal spot was located for our garden and a 5 X 10 sheet of landscape fabric was placed to keep out weeds and grass.
3. The wooden frame was placed on top of the fabric and secured with stakes.
4. The bed was filled with a specific soil composition recommended by Snavely's Garden Center.
That composition included the following: 20% vermiculite, 40% peat moss and 40% soil.
5. We stapled string to create a grid that would help us plan and plant. This grid also helped us know exactly how many plants
were needed.
May 22, 2012 - Kindergarten and Fourth Grade Get Planting
The students were eager to get the garden started and to learn what it takes to have a successful garden. In order to prepare, students in Mrs. Palmer's class created a scale garden on graph paper. They determined the spacing of the plants based on the recommendations of "Square Foot Gardening". They also used the template to learn about area, perimeter and volume. The students used the information they gathered to determine how much soil we would need as well as how many plants our garden could cultivate.
On May 22, 2012 students in kindergarten and fourth grade worked together to plant our garden! Over 50 plants were placed in our 10' x 5' raised bed. Among the plants are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and onions. It was lovely to see the fourth graders assist the kindergarteners as our garden came to life. This experience definitely gave our students the opportunity to learn about team work!
On May 22, 2012 students in kindergarten and fourth grade worked together to plant our garden! Over 50 plants were placed in our 10' x 5' raised bed. Among the plants are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and onions. It was lovely to see the fourth graders assist the kindergarteners as our garden came to life. This experience definitely gave our students the opportunity to learn about team work!
July 2, 2012 School's Out for Summer
While students and staff are enjoying their summer vacation, our plants are hard at work producing some delicious fruit. Tiny cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes are visible on the plants! It is only a matter of time before our first round of fruit will be able to be harvested. Due to some extremely dry conditions and high temperatures, a little extra watering has been necessary. It's been fun checking in on the plants to see how they are doing.
July 13, 2012 - Our First Cucumber is Harvested
Friday the 13th was a glorious day for our garden! The first cucumber was harvested and isn't she a beauty? From here on out we should begin to have a steady flow of fruits ready to be enjoyed. Since students are not in school, our fruit will be available to students who come to enjoy lunch through our summer lunch program. We are not sure of how much fruit we will have on a given day, so it will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.