Second graders in the garden on March 13

The groups this week learned about more about edible flowers, planted some tomato plants and marigolds, planted radish and lettuce seeds, composted and weeded. 

Most kids didn't know what a marigold is but now they do! Some thought it was a sunflower, and actually it looks like a mini-sunflower... I did a hangman technique to help them guess the name...

_ _ _ _ gold. We discussed three reasons to plant them: 1) aphids (bugs that eat our plants) don't like them; 2) they smell good; 3) they are pretty. We planted the marigolds near our tomato plants and also near a milkweed plant that had aphids.

Thanks to the families that are sending in vegetable and fruit scraps for the composting bins. The worms thank you! The kids still enjoy looking at the worms. In one or two months, we'll have humus and worm castings to add to our garden at Marquez.

Kindergarteners are busy learning about composting and planting on March

On March 12 kindergarteners in Rooms 5 and 7 showed up with a terrific amount of food waste brought in from home!  We examined worms at work in our compost bin and set up another new home for more to come (hopefully) with greens and browns.  We also planted clovers to take home for St Patrick's Day with parent volunteer, Jenny Lee.

On March 13, Rooms 1 and 2 did the same regarding composting, garden journals, and planting seeds with parent volunteers Elsa Wolthausen and Laura Salinas. Grandpa Lenny helps often.

In prior gardening times, these kindergartners have also spent time prepping and watering beds in the lower yard; working in their garden journals; harvesting and tasting arugula from the upper yard; making seed bombs; learning about composting.

Ms. Abrams class starts composting

We worked with Ms. Abrams class on March 11. We discussed decomposers (which they had studied in science), composting, and what vegetables we will start growing in the raised beds.  The kids had a good grasp of the types of decomposers and enjoyed looking at the worms and pill bugs in the compost which I brought from home. They learned what goes into a compost bin and the started putting greens and browns in one of them.

In addition some kids prepared areas for planting.  One area has a California poppy and we reviewed that this is the state flower and that it was used by local Indians.  The most exciting thing was the discovery of a strange bug in one of the raised beds. It was a Jerusalem cricket.

Second graders in the garden on March 6- flowers, worms, planting and eating

We were welcomed to the garden by blooming bulbs and violas. The violas are edible!

This week the 2nd graders continued to look at worms with magnifying glasses, added greens and browns to the compost bin, planted seeds and planted some plants. After they finished writing in their garden journals they could choose a snack from the garden.

Today's guest bloggers are three girls in Ms. Fein's class who wrote this on my laptop without assistance:

"Today we went into 3 different groups .  In the first group we explored worms . In the second group we planted lettuce .  And in the last group we fed the compost and got to see a baby worm hatch .  We found a bunch of pill bugs and we had lots of fun today in the Garden . And at the end we will get to choose to eat something . We think that it will be arugula or lettuce . We saw a lot of worm eggs and a lot of worms eating . We learnd that when worms have fat bulges on them they are eating . And that when worms are thin they are not healthy and when they are energetic they are healthy . And now we are learning about the pea plant . And that was what we did."

Some children planted edible flowers and herbs. They planted yellow marigolds, lavender, rosemary, lemon thyme and mint.  

I'm making two auction donations for Friends of Marquez. 1) Edible Gardening Bucket.  It contains the following: a pair of kid's gardening gloves, a kid size trowel, lettuce and nasturtium seeds, a viola plant, a copy of "Roots, Shoots, Bucket and Boots". Value: $ 42.00 2) a Topsy Turvey Tomato Planter. Value: $5.00.  Please tell your friends! They'll be available at school this coming week.

Red wriggler worms and some planting

Today we investigated the red wriggler worms that we're putting in our worm bin by looking at them under magnifying glasses.  The kids enjoyed the worms--many held them!  The worm eggs are small and yellowish. You can see them in the second photo below.  We discussed that the worms are voracious eaters and that means that that eat a lot. The kids could see the worms digesting food as it moved through their bodies. Some kids also planted tomatoes and beets. Other kids harvested the stalks and leaves of the broccoli plants and put them in the compost bin.

Thanks to the parents, students and teachers who contributed vegetables and fruit to our compost bins and the cafeteria manager who saved coffee grounds! We will be adding to our bins every Wednesday, so please bring the worms some food next week!

Here is what they did, in the words of one second grader (written on my laptop):


We saw red wrigglers digesting food.
We saw pill bugs.
We saw worm eggs.
We saw red wrigglers.
We looked at the red wrigglers with magnifying glasses.

"E"    Room 11

Vocabulary for today included: red wrigglers, microscope, decomposers, digesting, voracious eaters.

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.

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