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“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Buddha |
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Garden Adventures are a collection of activities and lessons
used in our programs plus additional information and resources. Think of
it as a crash course for those who want more information. |
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Bulbs are
an important part of our program. Students plant them in the fall
and some are used for dissecting in the spring. Our campus is a
mass of tulips and daffodils in the spring, and we plant about 2,000
more each fall. So there are plenty for each child to pick one to
take home, deliver to the supporting businesses nearby and still leave
the school grounds a riot of color. Thanks to Mary Lou
Gripshover, former president of the National Daffodil Society
we even have a daffodil
registered to Loveland Elementary School. |
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Compost
for the gardens
can be created using three primary methods - cold composting, vermi
composting with red wiggler worms, and hot composting.
Each comes with its own teaching possibilities. |
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Creating a garden bed
can be accomplished with students, thereby giving them a sense of
ownership and pride over their garden. |
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Sunflowers
are important in our gardens. We grow many varieties all over the
school grounds. The students plant hundreds of seeds as part of
Earth
Week then there are plenty for volunteers to pick and
give to the children as they come in to meet their new teachers in the
fall. |
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Economics in
Agriculture
is a way to have students understand the history of the
foods they eat and the industries that surround foods. |
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Garden Animals |
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Granny's
Great Amaryllis Race
brings beautiful blooms to the classroom in January
and February.
Classes compete for the tallest, fastest growing,
and first blooming amaryllis, while students develop data collection and
interpretation skills. |
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Granny's Potato Patch
Adventure starts with students planting
seed potatoes in March and concludes with harvesting in the second week
of their return to school for the fall term. |
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Granny's Sweet Potato
Patch starts indoors in
February when first grade students set up a study to determine whether
water or soil is better to grow sweet potato slips. |
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Harvest Soup Day
is a fall celebration of student effort in
their garden lessons and their work in planting and caring for the
gardens. Students are rewarded with
vegetable soup prepared and served in the school cafeteria.
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Inside
Activities are a way to make a connection
when weather does not permit going outside. |
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Journaling in the
garden is a way to integrate a variety of language arts benchmarks, such
as constructing a complete sentence, developing a concise paragraph,
writing a narrative, using concise,descriptive words, or writing a clear
message with well-chosen details. |
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Literature Connections
focus a writing exercise outside, or introduce garden, plant, or food
topics on a day when poor weather keeps you inside. |
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Making Maps
gives students a deeper understanding of how to
read maps when they create their own. |
| Plant/Flower Parts |
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Pressing Flowers
is used during the
first week of school to welcome students to the gardens.
We combine flower pressing and picking a bouquet with a review
of garden rules. |
Propagation
takes many forms and is a low cost way to add to your garden
inventory. Each option is also a way to give students a
chance to take something from the garden home.
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Using
seeds
makes sense for many of plants students use in the garden
program. Seeds are an easy way to give all students a
chance to plant and to watch a plant develop from planting
to harvest and to integrate seed collecting and seed
packaging into science and math curriculum.
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Propagation of
cuttings directly into a
soil mix
results in an offspring true to the traits of the parent
plant.
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Using
water for
propagation is a great way to reuse water bottles that offer
students a view to watching roots develop.
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| Soil
is the foundation for living things in our gardens. The right mix
of soil components yields healthy gardens. While we are constantly
observing the plants and animals of soil, third grade takes a closer
look the characteristics of different soils around our schools. |
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Weather
Studies are a way to focus student
observations on temperature, plant, and animal changes beginning with
the first time out in the spring. |
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Weeds are
a fact of garden life. In September, as the students are getting
to know their class gardens for the school year, we use weeding as the
basis for science and math activities that including data collection,
sorting, and graphing. |
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The Apple Tree
lesson was a much loved activity by our first grade teachers. We
were sad to see our lone apple tree slowly die over the years.
Following the passing of our apple tree, a local nursery,
Natorp's,
donated several apple trees to start Granny's Apple Orchard.
Though the lesson is not actively in use at this time, we're keeping the
lesson to use when our trees mature. We are able to incorporate
the basic concepts of the lesson at one of our schools by gathering
around a crab apple tree. |
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