Changing Seasons, Seedlings, & Students - October Wrap-Up
In October, Garden Educators continued to lead classes across our 21 partner schools and our Young Leaders Program communities within Dorchester, Roxbury, and Cambridge. Through these rainy and chilly autumn days, garden educators have been teaching students the evolutionary advantages of seeds and the importance of compost and insects in nourishing our school gardens.
This photo was taken before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Is this plant alive?” Garden Educator Kathryn asked her students at the beginning of class as she held up a wilting leaf on a pumpkin vine. The students excitedly chanted in unison “no,” pointing out that the leaf was no longer green. Since they had just carved pumpkins last week in preparation for Halloween, they knew well that the pumpkin harvest season was coming to an end. From harvesting autumnal produce like pumpkin and rainbow corn to planting microgreens, the garden has shown few signs of slowing down! Kathryn’s Kindergarten class at the Fletcher Maynard Academy in Cambridge explores their thriving garden first-hand every Tuesday morning. Integrating weekly explorations within the garden is not only important for children’s development by encouraging them to engage with nature, but also for growing their understanding of the gradually changing seasons up-close and personal. Already this school year, students have seen summer crops get pulled and other plants’ growth start to slow down as we approach the first frost.
Each class session, Kathryn gives her students a refresh of the classroom, guiding them through the expansive garden that sprawls throughout the Fletcher Maynard Academy courtyard entrance. Of course, learning something new about the garden is also on Kathryn’s agenda. This week, students learned about the other organisms that thrive in the garden beds: insects! In preparation for her class, Kathryn dug up some earthworms and snails from the rich soil around the Fletcher Maynard garden and presented them to the class. Without fear and with many giggles, students reached their hands out to touch the bugs crawling around the tray of dirt. Kathryn explained the crucial role insects play in nourishing the garden by “recycling” nutrients in the soil and cleaning debris. She emphasized how it’s important to protect the bugs in order to ensure our plants grow strong. After learning about the role of insects in nurturing soil, students were given trowels and their own opportunity to dig for bugs. Dozens of little hands reached up from the garden bed with an abundance of insects to proudly show Kathryn.
After learning about and collecting critters in the soil, the students were led to the garden’s compost bin. “Our bugs will love the compost bin because they can eat up all the nutrients from recycled plants and organic waste. Then, we can use this rich compost to fertilize our soil!” Kathryn explained. She gave the compost bin a good spin, and then brought out a pack of seeds. It was planting time!
The students had both physically planted seeds and metaphorically had the seed planted in them of what it means to care for and nourish our environment.
Kathryn poured the itty-bitty seedlings into the students’ hands and mixed up the dirt as they tossed seedlings into a planter. These microgreens would do well after the first frost due to their hardy nature and the help of our insulated, PVC-constructed hoop houses that will go up in the coming weeks. The students had both physically planted seeds and metaphorically had the seed planted in them of what it means to care for and nourish our environment.
Garden Educator Kathryn digging for worms at the Fletcher Maynard Academy in Cambridge.
Although it may have been a rainy Tuesday morning, Garden Educator Melissa came prepared to give her 3rd grade class at Morse Elementary in Cambridge a hands-on garden lesson with fresh seedlings. “Ms. Melissa, look at my plant! Mine is the biggest in the class,” one kid tugged at Melissa to observe the growth their sprout from last week’s lesson had seen. Sitting by the windowsill were garbanzo bean sprouts. Each student had their own planter with a popsicle stick submerged halfway into the soil marked with their names in sharpie. A potted plant of their own gave them a sense of ownership over a living object. Clearly, with great responsibility came pride and excitement for the students as well.
“Today, we’re going to explore seeds and some of the methods seedlings use to survive and reproduce,” Melissa exclaimed to her students after they swiftly organized themselves into a seated circle. Like all CitySprouts lessons, this was an opportunity for hands-on learning. Melissa passed out photos of trees along with their real-world seed counterparts. From spikey sweetgum seedlings to flimsy maple seeds that could easily float along the wind, students handled and observed the different properties seedlings had taken to survive. While they shook the redbud seed pods like maracas, students began recognizing the seedlings. Of course, this is because they were all gathered locally!
Suddenly, the light bulbs went off in students’ heads as they connected the lesson to their own observations walking around their school garden and neighborhood.
What followed was a reading session with Garden Educator Melissa and a discussion on how seeds have adaptive properties to survive, disperse, and reproduce. Vining plants like ivy that creep along their given surface areas to produce new sprouts, sticky plants such as burdock that attach themselves to animals to relocate and flourish elsewhere, and light-weight seeds like dandelions that drift along the wind to new pastures to grow were just some of the methods students read together on how seeds endure and survive. Suddenly, the light bulbs went off in students’ heads as they connected the lesson to their own observations walking around their school garden and neighborhood.
Students’ hands shot up around the circle as they hoped to share their experiences outside of school exploring the world around them. Instead of learning a concept that may be less engaging due to its abstract nature, students could quickly connect the exploration of seedlings and how they disperse themselves to survive to their own observations outside of school. “My grandparents have burrs in their backyard - they are NOT fun to step on barefoot,” one student shared. “The squirrel family we have in our acorn tree at home likes to bury his acorns to eat later - is this a form of seed dispersal?” another pondered. Garden Educator Melissa had no trouble keeping her students engaged because they could come to deductions on their own to connect their classroom lesson to their real-world experiences organically.
Garden Educator Melissa cleaning up the garden at the Kennedy-Longfellow school in East Cambridge.
Third grade students’ garbanzo bean sprouts at the Morse school.
Garden education is an opportunity for kids of all ages to learn something new about the natural world around them. From the class of kindergarteners to the 3rd graders (and even middle schoolers through our Young Leaders Program) kids continue to return to the familiarity of their school and community gardens all while learning something new. CitySprouts’ goal is not only to grow school gardens, but also to plant the seeds for students of all ages to explore science and their environment.