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When
students return to school in late summer, their class gardens are in
full glory with some plants remaining from their late spring planting
and other plants from summer plantings by garden staff and volunteers.
Some foods are harvested specifically for vegetable soup made and served
in our cafeterias; others are harvested as treats to enjoy at the end of
a class.
Visit
Harvesting and
How to Harvest for more information.
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Related lesson plans |
Grade |
When in Our Garden Cycle |
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Granny's Harvest for Vegetable Soup
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The fall
harvest is the basis to
discuss the seasons of the garden and why
people grow their own food. A sense of
community is fostered when the school-wide bounty is served to students
as vegetable soup in the cafeteria. |
1 |
September |
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Granny's Harvest for Vegetable Soup
-
The fall
harvest is the basis to understand what plants
need to grow and to identify plants parts and their function.
A sense of community is fostered when the school-wide
bounty is served to students as vegetable soup in the cafeteria. |
2 |
September |
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Granny's Harvest for Vegetable Soup -
The fall
harvest is the basis to understand what plants
need to grow and to examine soil texture and
observable soil properties that support plant
and animal growth. A sense of community is
fostered when the school-wide bounty is served to students as vegetable
soup in the cafeteria. |
3 |
September |
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Granny's Harvest for Vegetable Soup -
The fall
harvest is the basis to identify the parts of
a plant and their function and to classify
fruits and vegetables by botanical definition. A
sense of community is fostered when the school-wide bounty is served to
students as vegetable soup in the cafeteria. |
4 |
September |
If you're harvesting a treat
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Often, this is done when you are offering a
taste of one food that is in small quantity in your bed, but enough
for students to have a bite or two.
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Check your garden area before your class to
determine if a food is ready to harvest and sample at the end of
your class.
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This works best if you harvest, clean, and
slice the food for students before your class.
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Keep a small cutting board, paring knife, food
container, and toothpicks
If you're harvesting for soup
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Take separate containers for food items that
are being harvested and assign students a specific item to harvest
as a team.
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Take a container for compostable items.
Assign a team of students to dig a
hole in a path to compost if you are composting in place, or have them
carry the items to the compost pile.
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If you are harvesting for soup, have buckets
of fresh water nearby for students
to rinse food that
grows in the ground. Using hands to rub the food gently should do the
job. Consider having a rinse team to collect items for rinsing from the
harvest containers. Rotate the rinsing job.
Some things to do before eating your harvest depending on the age of
your students
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Total the amount of your
foods by type and grand total. Use strategies like counting by twos and
fives.
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Find the largest and smallest
food items and measure their length. Use benchmarks like fingers to
estimate inches, and then use a ruler to test the estimate.
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Determine the best units to use
to measure - ounces or pounds, inches or feet.
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Ask students the
plant part that is eaten for each food you harvest.
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Ask students if they are eating
a fruit or a vegetable. Explain that food is a fruit if the part you
eat has seeds. Fruit protects the seeds. A plant is a vegetable if you
eat the root (carrot, beets), bulb (onion, garlic), stem (asparagus),
leaves (lettuce, cabbage), or flowers (broccoli, cauliflower).
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Have the students estimate the total weight
of a food (all of the potatoes or tomatoes or carrots or onions, etc.)
and weigh them. Does a potato weigh the same as an onion of the same
size? How many cherry tomatoes weigh the same as one potato? Does a
basket of tomatoes weigh the same as the same basket filled with another
food? Why are the weights different – the shapes can result in more in
the same basket than another food, the inside of the foods is different
– spaces, amount of water, hardness.
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Talk a bit about the nutrition
or history of the food you harvested.
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