Ms. Gardner's class amends soil, composts and plants

Ms. Gardner's class came in two groups for 45 minutes each.  The main lesson dealt with amending the soil-what amend means, why we do it and what is in the amendment. One student read the label on the front of the bag which lead to a discussion of what worm castings were and why we were using organic amendment. We also discussed why we were using fertilizer and how it would get to the roots of the plants. After the lesson, the children volunteered for three activities-measuring the area of the bed to determine how much fertilizer they would add, mixing in the soil amendment and composting. The parent volunteer helped the children measure the bed and then read the fertilizer bag to determine the amount of fertilizer. The second group got to plant sugar snap peas, marigolds and bean seeds after which they watered the bed. They learned that marigold petals are edible. When the children were finished working, they each got a sugar snap pea after stating something that they'd learned.

Eating kale chips, measuring and composting

February 6 and 13

This month we've focused on eating, measuring and composting. After our earlier success with broccoli, parent Sara Houghton prepared kale chips using some of our school-grown kale and some purchased kale. They were a big hit with the kids!


Kale chip recipe

Wash leaves well, pat, spin or air dry well. Remove most of center ribs and stems. Chop into bite-sized (1") pieces and place in a bowl. Toss with 2 T. olive oil, throw on sea salt.  Lay evenly on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until they are dark green and crunchy.


Sara also did some measuring activities with one of the beds eg. 1/2, 1/3, 1/4. We're trying to reinforce some concepts that the kids will be tested on, using a"real world" situations.

February 20

This week we did whole class lessons on composting inside the classrooms. I read "Garbage Helps Your Garden Grow" and excerpts from "Compost Critters". (Another good book is "Composting, Nature's Recyclers"). I also brought some compost from my home compost bin.  The kids enjoyed looking at the organic material in different stages of composition and also seeing the pill bugs and earthworms.  These are just two of the decomposers that help the greens and browns in the bin decay. When the compost is decomposed it becomes dark-brown humus. It is then ready to put around plants. The kids wrote in their garden journals after the lesson.

Vocabulary:
decomposers: creatures that break down organic matter and eat them,
decompose: to rot or break down,
earthworms
humus: the decomposed compost,
pill bugs
worm castings: the waste from the earthworms, the basis of humus and very high in minerals. (You can purchase bags of worm castings at nurseries to use as soil amendment).

The kids will probably remember that rot and decompose are synonyms.

At school we have both compost bins and worm composting bins which we will start using in earnest.

kale

earthworms at work

Note: If you wish to start composting at home, you can try vermiculture or use a compost bin. Vermiculture involves feeding kitchen waste (what the kids know as greens) to red wriggler worms. The waste from the worms, worm castings, are a high-quality soil amendment. Worm bins can be made or purchased. The LA City Dept of Sanitation sells worm bins and composting bins at Griffith Park.  http://www.lacitysan.org/solid_resources/recycling/composting/bin_sales_events.htm. In addition, you can make them yourself. A later blog will describe this.