Activities for National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month. At Marquez Charter we're using this month to reinforce eating fruits and vegetables-aka Eating a Rainbow. Vegetables and fruit should make up half of your plate.

We're lucky here in California to have so many fresh fruits and vegetables!

The basis of our edible garden program is that If You Grow It You'll Eat It!! 

Kids from preschool on up usually know the colors of the rainbow. Have them think of a vegetable or fruit for each color...

The following resources for teachers and parents might give you some ideas:

1) Rainbow on my Plate  https://pbhfoundation.org/pdfs/pub_sec/edu/cur/rainbow/RainbowOnMyPlate_ClassActivitiesFINAL.pdf

2) Superkids Nutrition  worksheets, activities, book suggestions

3) Nutrition Bytes by Jessica Siegel, Gelson's Nutritionist  http://nutritionbytes.libsyn.com/012-fuel-for-school-lunches

4) Choose my Plate https://www.choosemyplate.gov/preschoolers-picky-eating  Tips for getting the picky eaters to eat more vegetables

5) https://www.facebook.com/BANTonline/photos/a.500908309987580/1212544202157317/?type=1&theater

I really like the points made in the Choose my Plate article. Try some of them!

Me. Soo’s 1st Graders Harvest

Last week, Ms. Soo’s 1st graders harvested some of their arugula. They learned that you can eat the flowers as well as the leaves!

Mrs. Farrell’s and Ms Schwartz’s Classes Plant Herb Gardens

This month two 3rd grade classs planted herb gardens. Ms. Farrell’s class planted some seeds inside under grow lights and some outside in recycled coffee cans. Ms. Schwartz’s class planted seeds outside in coffee cans.

They planted camomile, dill, cilantro and chives outside; sweet basil, lime basil, spearmint and marjoram inside.

Ms. Schwartz’s herb garden

Mrs. Farrell’s herb garden

Seed starting

At Marquez we're starting seeds for our spring gardens.  Some classes are starting seeds inside and others are planting them outside.

Wherever you're planting, if you have seeds that supposedly expired a year or more ago, you can check the viability by the following test recommended by Gardening Know How, a sponsor of the Marquez Edible Garden:

"Are Old Seeds Still Good? Before planting with expired seed, there are some steps to take to check whether or not germination will be successful. When wondering, “will expired seeds grow,” gardeners can conduct a simple germination test. To test the viability from a seed packet, simply remove about ten seeds from the packet. Moisten a paper towel and place the seeds into it. Place the damp paper towel into a zip-lock bag. Leave the bag at room temperature for ten days. After ten days, check the germination of the seed. Germination rates of at least 50% indicate a moderately viable packet of seeds.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Will Expired Seeds Still Grow: Planting With Expired Seed Packets https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/propagation/seeds/will-expired-seeds-still-grow.htm"

2nd Graders Plant Seeds to Grow Indoors

Today Ms. Fein's class, Ms. Gardner's class and Ms. Connor's class planted seeds that they'll grow inside under grow lights. Seeds need water, warmth and air to germinate. They all need light once they germinate.

They planted tomatoes for their salsa gardens as well as seeds of several companion plants.  We discussed that companions are friends. The companions included lettuce, carrots and peas, The children learned that the seeds are planted twice as deep as they are big. The smaller seeds are barely covered.

In some classes the children placed a popsicle stick by the cells that each child planted in.

The children will check their seeds daily to see when they germinate.

Ms. Connor's 2nd Graders Plant in Their Bed

This week, Ms. Connor's 2nd graders planted seeds in their raised bed, composted in the worm bin and wrote about this in their journals.  They planted seeds of red lettuce. orange carrots and cosmic purple carrots. They also buried seeds from last year's cherry tomatoes to see if they'd germinate. 

They also added scraps of fruit and vegetables, egg shells and coffee ground to the worm bin and played with the worms.  The worms eat the food scraps which pass through their bodies and become worm compost. Eventually we'll add the worm compost to our garden beds. We use red wriggler worms in our worm bin. They added the branches of the old tomato plant to the larger compost bin.

 Composting is an easy and educational way to recycle food waste.   

We have two compost bins at Marquez. One is the worm bin for vermicomposting and the other is a green tumbler. While we put kitchen scraps in the worm bin, we can put green and brown garden waste as well in the tumbler.

Some books for kids about composting include Compost Stew, Kids Can Compost and Composting, Nature's Recyclers.