"Earth laughs in flower."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today was quite a productive day.  Our Tuesday morning group started out planting some eggplant and corn, which should be sprouted by this time next week. We then watered all the beds inspecting them closely for new growth since last week. The okra and sweet potatoes are definitely still dominating the garden thus far but the radishes, tomatoes and pole beans seem to be catching up.

             After pulling a little stubborn grass growing up through the mulch we were visited by Mr. B’s eager class of first graders. We all put on our SCIENCE APRONS and listened to an enthusiastic reading of Planting a Rainbow!  It took a little while to get the kids into the book but once we got to the rainbow of flowers part, the class was quite enthused. The reading led perfectly into our next activity.

            In the next part of the lesson we split the first grade class into four groups. In these small groups we each had our own part in planting a pole bean. One student poked a whole in a cup of soil to the right depth; the next student planted the bean into the hole and covered it up and the last student had the opportunity to water the plant. All of the students seemed to really enjoy all the steps of this process. The kids may have gotten a little over zealous with the watering step, but we’re going to cross our fingers that they will germinate anyway.  The culmination of our lesson consisted of having the kids predict what will happen to their bean as it grows. Our kids illustrated and colored in beautiful pictures of flowers, beans, the sun and water.  Over all I believe both the kids and my fellow Eckerd students had loads of fun working and learning in the garden today.

-Becca Waitz