Our day at Lakewood began with walking into the garden and
admiring all the growth that has come up within the past few weeks. Neither Liz
nor I have been able to make it to Lakewood in a little while, so we were
awestruck with the greenery.
We were particularly amazed at the size of the
corn stalks, and even more impressed that we have actual corn growing
Our first grade class came out right on time and they were
very excited with the bug lesson. It is seldom in the children’s curriculum
that they are told they may dig in the dirt and catch a bug, so we got a lot of
enthusiasm and participation from them.
By the end of our lesson the kids
became familiar with identifying the bugs as predators, pollinators, or
decomposers. They were also extremely enthused with the growth of the
vegetables, begging us to let them take all the baby cucumbers. When we
explained to them that we have to let the plants grow bigger before harvesting,
one of the girls protested that the cucumbers would go perfectly on her salad. It
was music to our ears to hear that a child of her age was even at all
interested in eating salads, let alone actively thinking about what to add to
them to make them even healthier.
It is moments like these that make you truly
believe that this garden is having an impact on the children’s lives, no matter
how small. Whether they become interested in gardening themselves, or simply
adding cucumbers to their salads, the garden has become a fixture in their
education and a lasting memory of their childhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment