Greetings! Only 2 1/2 weeks left of school.... where did the time go? As we are winding down the school year, the students have been spending a lot of time out in the garden. Last week, they worked hard weeding the garden and spreading compost and mulch throughout, preparing a healthy environment for our vegetables to thrive in. We are sharing our garden with the other Kindergarten class, teaching them about team work and helping others. The focus for the garden is fairy tales and nursery rhymes. This interest sparked around the time the students were going to the Akron Civic Theater to watch the Under the Sea ballet, a fairy tale classic. My class spent a lot of time studying the different elements of fairy tales, and they always wanted me to read more of the enchanting stories. Thus, the idea was brought up to incorporate fairy tales into our garden and POOF.... it was started. The students love putting gloves on and using a shovel or rake to do their gardening, though some preferred to use their hands. Jordan and Patrick especially loved to push and pull the wheel barrow, for they said it was a "boy's job." With the help of our kind parent volunteers, our garden is ready for vegetables! The students have already started thinking about adding their personal touches to the garden, such as making stepping stones to act as a pathway. The other Kindergarten class thought of building a wall that Humpty Dumpty could sit on. On Thursday, the students will be transferring the vegetables that they have been growing and watching since before Spring Break. If you would like to help out with this process, please let me know! We will be going outside at about 1:15 pm.
teamwork, teamwork, teamwork
During our time out in the garden, there is also a small group activity if the children choose to take a break from the garden and need a small rest. Last week's activity was a sensory activity, where the children took a gummy worm and burrowed through mud. Some made tunnels for their worms, others burrowed all around their papers going in all directions! The ending product? Beautiful mud art that will look great above your mantel!
On Monday, a master gardener came to our school to share her wisdom on worm composting. Worm composting in the classroom is a school-wide initiative that all classrooms are going to either start or continue in order to teach the students more about recycling and caring for the Earth. The students loved listening to her speak about the characteristics of worms and how they are our friends, holding worms, and building a compost system that would be suitable for a classroom.
Andrew, Isabella and Aidan pick out recycled vegetables to feed the worms. There are so many distractions in today's world that some children might never see the sun come up except by watching it on television. National surveys say most children spend very little or no time observing or interacting in their natural environment and surroundings. My hope is that an outdoor classroom such as the one we have will help the children understand at a young age about natural resources and what their job is in the environment.
Greetings! Only 2 1/2 weeks left of school.... where did the time go? As we are winding down the school year, the students have been spending a lot of time out in the garden. Last week, they worked hard weeding the garden and spreading compost and mulch throughout, preparing a healthy environment for our vegetables to thrive in. We are sharing our garden with the other Kindergarten class, teaching them about team work and helping others. The focus for the garden is fairy tales and nursery rhymes. This interest sparked around the time the students were going to the Akron Civic Theater to watch the Under the Sea ballet, a fairy tale classic. My class spent a lot of time studying the different elements of fairy tales, and they always wanted me to read more of the enchanting stories. Thus, the idea was brought up to incorporate fairy tales into our garden and POOF.... it was started. The students love putting gloves on and using a shovel or rake to do their gardening, though some preferred to use their hands. Jordan and Patrick especially loved to push and pull the wheel barrow, for they said it was a "boy's job." With the help of our kind parent volunteers, our garden is ready for vegetables! The students have already started thinking about adding their personal touches to the garden, such as making stepping stones to act as a pathway. The other Kindergarten class thought of building a wall that Humpty Dumpty could sit on. On Thursday, the students will be transferring the vegetables that they have been growing and watching since before Spring Break. If you would like to help out with this process, please let me know! We will be going outside at about 1:15 pm.
teamwork, teamwork, teamwork
During our time out in the garden, there is also a small group activity if the children choose to take a break from the garden and need a small rest. Last week's activity was a sensory activity, where the children took a gummy worm and burrowed through mud. Some made tunnels for their worms, others burrowed all around their papers going in all directions! The ending product? Beautiful mud art that will look great above your mantel!
On Monday, a master gardener came to our school to share her wisdom on worm composting. Worm composting in the classroom is a school-wide initiative that all classrooms are going to either start or continue in order to teach the students more about recycling and caring for the Earth. The students loved listening to her speak about the characteristics of worms and how they are our friends, holding worms, and building a compost system that would be suitable for a classroom.
Andrew, Isabella and Aidan pick out recycled vegetables to feed the worms. There are so many distractions in today's world that some children might never see the sun come up except by watching it on television. National surveys say most children spend very little or no time observing or interacting in their natural environment and surroundings. My hope is that an outdoor classroom such as the one we have will help the children understand at a young age about natural resources and what their job is in the environment.
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