Monday, March 9, 2009

You can never have a case of the Mondays in the Edible Peace Patch!

I am continually amazed by the positive transforming properties of the Edible Peace Patch and the kids that come out to learn and work in it. This morning I was in the most sour and sluggish of moods and loathed the thought of even getting out of bed. This all changed as soon I as walked out into the schoolyard and caught sight of the thriving plants. With my spirits suddenly lifted I helped Jessica, Teresa, and Dylan prepare to receive Ms. Davis' class. We watered the entire garden with the fifth graders, making sure to be thorough because the days are getting longer and hotter. With ten minutes remaining in their garden time, Ms. Davis' students helped pull the pesky weeds that are bound and determined to come up through the mulch.

After the kids left, the Eckerd students began setting up the lesson materials for Ms. Deming’s class. Unfortunately her class couldn’t come out but Peggy arranged for Ms. Robul’s fourth grade students to spend some time with us. This particular class had yet to make a formal visit to the garden and it was great to see my group’s excitement when I showed them each new bed. Each child completed a worksheet that emphasized making observations and hypotheses. The girls in my group drew elaborate picutures of the butterfly garden, labeling all the parts of the plants and the surrounding environment. This class seemed to really enjoy their first time in the garden and I was sad to see them go. During Monday’s second shift there is a long period of time when no kids come out. Today, this hour was spent weeding around the marigolds and sunflowers that border the garden as well as the gourds and pumpkins that are planted along the fence.

Ms. Hartman’s class came out around 12:30, they had already completed the observation/hypothesis worksheet the week before so we read a story instead. We sat in a circle under the shade of the oak tree and read “A Seed is Sleepy”, a book that describes different types of seeds and seed dispersal. The kids were pretty engrossed in the story which had great illustrations. When we came to the page about dandelion seeds they were excited to find the that the very flowers at their feet had the same type of feathery puff ball seeds as the dandelions in the book. When the book and discussion were finished we had some time left over so we…(take a wild guess) weeded!! A task that these particular children enjoyed, my group even had a weeding competition. Ms. Hartman’s class left, as did Dylan and I, and we handed things over to Lauren, Alex, and Kathy. Today was a wonderful start to another week of the incredible Edible Peace Patch project!