Session Two Kick-Off

Our first class of this second session started off with rain! Great for the plants, not so good for the students. We were not able to spend time in the garden, but we had fun getting to know each other. I sent home the "Garden Rules" that we discussed. We also read "My Garden" by Kevin Henkes -- a story in which a young girl uses her imagination to invent a creative garden. The students shared their ideas of what they would have in their own imaginary garden. If they draw a picture of their garden and bring it to the next garden club, they will earn a seal buck.

Mrs. Finnerty's Beans

Mrs. Finnerty and her class enjoyed time in they garden planting bush beans. They look forward to watching them grow.

Ms. Adams' Cabbage

Ms. Adams' class took time out to plant some cabbage in our garden. The children enjoyed digging and planting.

Colonial Days in the Garden

During our annual Colonial Days celebration at El Morro, the kids enjoyed learning about the native American "Three Sisters" garden that teaches about companion planting with corn, beans and squash. The students cut out the story into the shape of corn to take home to share with their families. They also took home Three Sisters seed in burlap to plant at home. We look forward to doing it again next year and hopefully inspired your children to plant some veggies!

Last Day of Session One: All about Oranges

Today was the last day of Garden Club Session One for this school year. The kids were full of energy and eager to get their hands dirty.

In the Garden:
We harvested radishes that we grew from seeds planted just a few weeks ago.

Activity:
We made orange pomanders...a fun holiday decoration to make your home smell sweet and spicy. We attempted to make fruit-stamped gift bags, but unfortunately all we have is acrylic paint (sorry!). If anyone is interested in donating Tempura paint, let me know.

Next session we will be making aprons to attempt to keep the kids a bit cleaner while working in the garden!

Enjoy the holiday break,
The Garden Gals

Welcome Mrs. LeVan and Mrs. Hogrebe's Classes

We are lucky enough to have two more classes join our school garden. Mrs. LeVan's class planted purple cabbage and Mrs. Hogrebe's class planted Chinese cabbage -- after pulling oodles of wild mint from the garden boxes! They will be monitoring the progress of their plants as they grow larger. Mrs. Hogrebe is going to have her class sketch the growth of the plants.

Worm Hotel

In the Garden:
We welcomed worms into our garden. We now have a worm composting bin to make our our organic fertilizer for our garden. The kids loved seeing the worms wriggling!

Activity:
The students planted radish and calendula seeds in adorable tin flower pots that they were able to take home. Be sure to give them sunshine and water and watch them grow. The kids also finished writing in their garden journals so they could keep them.