Garden Gratitude

Using Our Senses!

Activity: This week in the garden, the students made gratitude flags that we will string up in the garden. It was a way of them to stop and think about what they are grateful in their lives while adding some colorful to the garden.

Being Grateful

In the Garden: We work on sprucing up our "Sensory Garden" and discussed what it has and what it needs:

• Sight: Colorful flowers
• Sound: Wind chimes, bird feeder, plants to attract butterflies
• Touch: Smooth and prickly plants
• Taste: A variety of herbs, edible flowers
• Smell: Lavendar and herbs

We also used our senses for a blind taste test. The kids were each given a vegetable that they had to identify without looking at it. They got to touch, smell, and taste it. This was fun for the kids and some of them learned that they liked things they didn't know they liked (mushrooms, tomatoes, kiwi).

Recycling in the Garden

On Monday, Jan. 30, we learned about how to use reduce, reuse, and recycling. We had a guest speaker, Michelle Clark, from Waste Management, discuss recycling with the kids. She gave the kids eco-themed silly bands and water wise seeds to plant.

In the Garden: We picked the wild mint, which tends to take over the garden...continual weeding task.

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