Gardening with Ms. Palo's class

Comments written by one of the students:
"When I compost I take all of the dead weeds, veggies, fungus, twigs and leaves throw that into my dark brown compost bin. I think composting can really help our land and environment stay clean and safe. That's why think composting can totally help our community, environment and whole WORLD stay nice and clean."

In class we discussed what goes into the compost bin, what decomposing means and the names of some of the decomposers. They then looked at the worm bin to identify the decomposers. The red wriggler worms were most plentiful.

In the butterfly garden they spotted a green caterpillar seen below on a nasturtium flower. They also planted tomato and lettuce seeds in a seedling tray. Finally, they snacked on broccoli with ranch dressing.

A green caterpillar is on a nasturtium in the butterfly garden.

The kids are investigating red wriggler worms from the worm bin.

Ms. Gardner's class composts and plants

Today the garden lesson on composting reinforced what the children are studying in science-the role of decomposers. We covered the browns which add carbon-leaves, paper, small branches and greens which add nitrogen to the compost-kitchen veggie and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and tea bags. We have a compost bin and a worm bin in the garden. The kids are most interested in the red wriggler worms in the worm bin. We'll add the worm castings to the garden soil.

We discussed that we garden organically and do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

After the lesson the kids planted spinach, kale, broccoli and pansy seeds. They also fertilized the soil with organic fertilizer.

Today's tasting featured broccoli with ranch dressing.

Planting kale

A close up view of some red wrigglers from the worm bin

Stories about the garden

"I learned a lot of stuff in the edible garden. I learned that broccoli must be picked in a certain time or else it will sprout flowers, but you can still eat the flowers. The soil must be nutritious or else the plant will not grow. Compost helps plants grow. Some flowers are edible and some are not." Kai

"In the Marquez edible garden I learned a lot of stuff. I learned how to transplant seedlings into the flower beds." Toby

"This year we learned about how to take care of an edible garden. We learned about many things like the following: broccoli, carrots, radish, tomatoes, marigolds and borage. My favorite things are the fuzzy caterpillars and looking for grubs." Elula

"I learned a lot about our Marquez edible garden. I learned a lot about composting. I compost with worms. You put greens and browns into a bin." Chiara

"When I go to the edible garden, I learned a lot about planting vegetables. I learned a lot about flowers and worms. I also learned that the soil has nutrients that help the flowers grow. I learned how compost helps the earth. I learned about different flowers. My favorite activity down at the garden is tasting the vegetables." Samantha

"This is what I learned at the Marquez edible garden. We made a compost bin. Our compost bin had worms in it. We also planted seeds. It was fun. We dug for grubs. It was fun. They had 10 legs. My favorite thing at the garden was digging for grubs. We also ate broccoli. We wasted the broccoli first." Calvin

More Broccoli!

The lesson on January 30 focused on the broccoli bed and the worm bin.  The kids also amended one of the beds for future planting and planted nasturtium seeds.

As we did the week before with the other half of each class, some kids measured the perimeter of the bed and the height of the plants and we all looked at the broccoli plants. Some plants still had green florets or buds, others had yellow flowers and some flowers had fallen off. We picked some green florets from a couple of plants to extend the production. This week several happy bees were visiting the flowers. The kids learned that they can eat all parts of the plant-the stem, leaves, florets and flowers. Today we served them parts of stems, flowers and florets. The flowers were very popular!

I had brought some worms from my compost bin to add to our worm bin. Several kids enjoyed counting them and naming them! Other kids added greens and browns to the bin and tore them into small pieces. At the end of the morning, the kids added the worms and water to the bin. The bin needs to be kept moist, like a damp sponge, so things decompose and so the worms don't dry out.

If you want your own worm bin, you can make one from a plastic Rubbermaid-type container, or purchase one from LA City Department of Sanitation at their compost sales events held in Griffith Park. There are two in February. http://www.lacitysan.org/solid_resources/recycling/composting/bin_sales_events.html Composting is an easy way to recycle your kitchen waste and a good learning opportunity for the kids. In addition, you can add compost to the garden to improve your soil.

We amended an empty bed with compost from Whole Foods. Raised beds need to have the soil amended annually to add nutrients to the soil. The kids have taken out most of the grubs that were in the bed. As the kids should be able to tell you, grubs eat the roots of plants.

Today's journal activity: the kids copied a drawing of a broccoli plant and labeled the parts, they wrote the word broccoli and at least one sentence about what we did in the garden.

The kids had several opportunities to taste broccoli today thanks to my shopping trip to Vons. The kids act like broccoli is candy! They love it! Note to parents: serve broccoli as a snack, with or without ranch dressing, depending on your child's taste. Even better, buy a plant or two at the local nursery and grow your own. Then you can eat the yellow flowers as well as the green flowerets! You can use the flowers in salads just like you can use nasturtiums and pansies.  Also, steam or saute all of the parts of the broccoli.

Please let me know if any of you would wish to help purchase some vegetables for next month's tasting. One goal is to have the kids sample every type of vegetable that we are growing and we don't have enough of our own to do this.

Thanks again to our parent volunteers, the teachers for sharing their kids and of course, the kids! They are enthusiastic workers!

Sincerely,

"Ms. Marie" harty3@gmail.com

Learning about Broccoli--and Eating It!

This week and next the second graders are learning about broccoli through math, science, language arts and eating!  Most of the broccoli plants planted by a local boy scout have flowered and it is time to harvest them. They should have been harvested when the head was firm and tight and before they flowered. fyi, when the sprouts start to flower, the plant will stop sprouting. At least we have two plants that aren't flowering yet!

The highlight of the morning seemed to be eating the broccoli which I purchased at Von's. We don't have enough for all second graders to eat what's in our garden.  The kids had three opportunities to eat the broccoli, with or without ranch dressing. Several kids also ate some of the yellow flowers from our garden.

The math lessons: we all stood around the broccoli bed and counted the plants: "There are 20 broccoli plants".  Each class had a team that measured the perimeter of the bed and the height of the tallest and shortest plants.  The tallest broccoli plant is either 25" or 23 1/2 " depending on the group that measured. The shortest broccoli plant is 3". They all should know what perimeter is by now!

The science lesson: I drew the parts of the broccoli plant and labeled them.  We discussed the parts of the plant and that the stem, leaves, florets and flowers are all edible.

Language arts: the children write in their journals every week, recording what I write on the chart. I use the language experience approach and write down the sentences which they give me.

Some children also dug for grubs in one of the empty beds and others added greens and browns to start a new compost bin.  I think we'll be able to prepare the soil for planting as only five grubs were found!

Thanks to the parent volunteers, Ashley and Mr. Alex for their help!

If anyone wishes a good book about composting, Wen-Chia Parker, a Master Gardener and parent at Beethoven, has written a cute book, "Kids Can Compost". I have a copy to share and the second grade also has a copy. The book costs $10.

Back in the Garden

We had only half of the classes due to field trips. Today we took the 2nd graders on an observation walk around the garden to see how it had changed during the winter vacation. One girl said, "the plants got very big!"

Some of the seeds that they planted are growing-especially radishes, lettuce, and carrots. Some poppies are also coming up.  The kale seedlings are doing very well and we will start harvesting them. GG, a volunteer, showed some children what happened when pansies went to seed.

We spent a lot of time looking at at the broccoli plants that a local boy scout had planted in one of the beds. Some of the plants were almost ready to harvest, some were ready and some had yellow flowers. We explained that people usually eat broccoli before it flowers and that people also eat the stems. (We'll discuss more about broccoli next week since people can also eat the flowers and leaves.) We'll save some of the broccoli seeds from the flowers for next year.

The kids observed that there were holes in some of the plants and that some of the plants had been eaten. They knew that squirrels hadn't eaten them since the the beds are covered with wire. We'll discuss more about pests and how to prevent them later.

The kids worked in three groups. One group measured the broccoli bed, one group planted seeds in plug trays and one dug for grubs. The measuring group used both a yardstick and a tape measure. "We measured the broccoli plants and we measured the perimeter of the beds".  I explained that the perimeter is the outside of the bed. The bed is 36 " x 136". One of Mr. Jacob's students added up the numbers--344".  Mrs. Fein's group measured the height of the broccoli plants. The seed planting groups planted carrots, spinach, lettuce and cornflowers.

New vocabulary this week: perimeter. Continuing to reinforce the names of the vegetables.