The Fruit of Our Labor

Today was quite a busy day at the Lakewood Elementary School Garden where we had two guest classes join us in the garden as well as our assigned class for the day. Mrs. Housel's pre-K class came out this morning to explore the garden's insect habitat and found that the garden was home to many different types of bugs and spiders.

(Mrs. Housel's pre-K class discovering a butterfly in the garden)

 Our other guest class today was Mrs. Garcia's pre-K class who came out to inspect the growth of the beloved pineapple plants and flourishing greens!

(Mrs. Garcia's pre-K class investigating the growing plants and flowers in the garden)

Mrs. Barlow's kindergarden class came out for their lesson on the parts of a plant today, but due to lucky timing, came away with understanding the papaya from the ground up and the inside out. Lilian, Gracie, and I were fortunate enough to be working at Lakewood just as one of the papaya's ripened enough to eat. This unique timing was a great opportunity to show the kids the changes a fruit, plant, or vegetable undergoes to tell us it's ready for us to eat such as the green to yellow color change papayas undergo. Lucky for us, we got to enjoy this yummy fruit too!

(Mrs. Barlow's Kindergarden class eager to answer questions about plant growth and changes)

(Lilian showing the exterior color change of the ripened papaya)

(Gracie enjoying the fruit of our labor :)

(Lilian inspecting the green beans)

(Gracie watering the plants. Every shift requires general maintenance too!)

Andréa Martin