In science Tuesday, my fourth graders planted beans in little milk cartons they'd decorated to look like turkeys -- typically a kindergarten project, but still enjoyed by the older crowd, judging from their enthusiasm as they left school with their little charges.
What if they had a real garden to work in? How much plant science would they learn by actually digging in soil, burying seeds, weeding, harvesting, and finally preparing and eating their own school-grown food? What if every public school in America had an edible schoolyard?
Since no TAKS objective deals with real-life vegetable gardening, the pessimist in me says such pleasures will be experienced by only the most privileged Texas children, those with a gardener in the family.
We actually have a kdgn teacher at our school who is doing the edible schoolyard program. But it's really because she's so energetic and lives for all the extra things she does at school. I don't think there are many teachers around who have the energy to attack such a program when we're already swimming in PLC (Professional Learning Community) planning, test-prep, RTI (Response to Intervention) and... and... I could go on, but you know the drill!!
ReplyDeleteI predict that in about 10 years, things will swing back the other way and kids will be allowed to be kids and the push to get kids to learn so much so soon will ease up.
Oh, wow! If nothing else, maybe you can take a trip to the garden now and then -- could be the source of some poetic inspiration?
ReplyDeleteI know. It's pretty amazing. Though I don't think they've gotten to the planting stage yet. It took a while to build the raised beds and now I think they're in the process of setting up the composting procedures. I don't know what the timeline is. Maybe they'll plant in the spring? Still, it's impressive, though, like I said, I don't know if anyone else at our school would have taken on such a huge project on top of all the other work there is...
ReplyDeleteYes, that's a huge amount of energy there. Maybe it's her passion, and so the energy for it comes more readily than it would for you or me -- in the same way you save part of your energy to write and to keep up with all that's going on in children's literature. Either way, those kindergartners are blessed. Did you email her the Maira Kalman link?
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't. I thought it was a link to info on the edible schoolyard, so I didn't click on it! But I did just now. I love Maira Kalman. Thanks, I'm off to share...
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