Making Maps in the Garden

Week Five: Landscape and Horticulture

Lesson: Site Map

Today the students got to be Landscape Architects. They drew a site map of the garden to include everything they saw in the garden: garden boxes, trees, fence, water spigot, seating, scarecrow, garden signs, etc. They loved making the maps! They were then able to make changes to their map to add elements that the garden does not currently have...like a butterfly house and a fairy garden. 

Thank you Miss Gena for bringing tea that we picked from the rose hips in the garden. And Miss Julie for bringing Witches Hats cookies!

Gardening: Trim rose bush. Collect rosehips to make tea. Pull weeds. Our beets are doing well.

 

Just for fun: We painted rocks to add some art to our garden.

All About Insects

Week Four: Insects and Diseases

Lesson: Insect Symmetry

We talked about how things are either symmetrical or asymmetrical and used duct tape to divide our bodies in half lengthwise (symmetrical) and then top and bottom (asymmetrical). 

Then we did an art project where the kids drew half of a butterfly on a folded piece of paper and cut it out. They painted one side and folded it together and made a symmetrical design.

Gardening: We planted cauliflower and broccoli and added more herbs to our garden: Thai basil, dill and rosemary.

Mr. Gena brought in a HUGE tomato hornworm for the kids to see! It was quite something.

Week Three: Ecology, Environmental Horticulture

We started the class with a healthy garden snack...fresh bell peppers and carrot sticks.

Lesson: Nature Class Web

This week we learned about how everything is connected and we made a large Web out of yarn.

Gardening: In the garden, we planted carrots, radishes, and turnips.

Making Mud Pies

We are off to a good start of the First Session of the 2012-13 Garden Club!

Week Two: Soils and Water

Garden Lesson: 

Today the students learned about soil. We discussed the three types of soil: 

• Sand
• Silt
• Clay

Then we gathered soil samples from in and around the garden and mixed each type of soil with a bit of water to make mud pies! This allowed the children to get a hands-on experience of how the various types of soil retain water or not. We talked about why it is important for plants to have the right type of soil in order to flourish. Too much sand doesn't hold water. Too much clay holds too much water. Most of all, they loved getting muddy! (Just a reminder, please send your child to school on Monday with clothes that they can get dirty.)

Garden Activity:

Since we renovated the garden over the summer, our boxes are empty. Today we replanted an herb garden with thyme, basil, cilantro, purple basil, and tarragon. It looks and smells wonderful.

Hooray for Wood Chips!

Thanks to a very generous donation from Tierra Verde Industries, we received nearly eight truckloads of wood chips for the El Morro garden. And thanks to the Strike Team Dads, the LARGE pile of wood chips was recently moved from the field into the garden! The chips were spread throughout the garden in-between the boxes. Now the garden looks better than ever and the wood chips will help to control the crab grass.