600-0-00-a-wek1-2

Coordinator Update Wk. 1-2

Granny's
Garden School

Keeping kids in touch
with nature

Class Garden locations

Contact list

FAQ

Time sheet and e-mail report.

Training schedule

Volunteer Manual

Let us know how it went

Getting to know the gardens
Teachers will be invited to sign up to bring their classes out to plant seeds of lettuce and other quick growing plants no later than the first week in September. This will allow lettuce and radishes time to mature enough to be harvested for the harvest parties. These lessons will be led by Granny's Garden School staff and experienced volunteers.

Parent volunteers will be invited to assist. It is a good time for the parents to learn more about all the garden program and the gardens have to offer and to get a little hands-on experience working in the garden with a class. In some cases a teacher may have a coordinator in place within the first two weeks of school. In that case, the coordinator may work with the class or she may want the experience of having worked with an experienced volunteer.

600-1-00-a-plant-needs.doc
600-2-00-a-plant-parts.doc
600-3-00-a-plants-and-soil.doc
600-4-00-a-plant-parts-and-processes
.doc

Tip: When passing out seeds, tell the students to hold out the hand they do not write with. They will use the hand they do write with to plant.

Coordinator: Go out and inspect your garden prior to bringing out the class. Are there plants that are obviously dead that can be removed to make room for planting. Do be sure you know what you are pulling. If you are not sure, ask Granny. Sometimes a garden may be overgrown with current plants resulting in a tight fit around the boxes. Most of the time, though, the kids will be able to squeeze around the box.

All classes - send teachers an e- mail and follow-up with a hard copy reading:

Your class is scheduled to come out to plant lettuce this week. You will find a bundle of plant markers in your mailbox. Prior to the coordinator coming to get you class:

When you come out with the class, place one team at each box. Instruct the students to squat down and peer into their box. What do they see? If you are working with just yourself and the teacher, work between the two of you to go from one box to the other pointing out the things of interest. Even if you chance to have a garden that appears not to have much growing in it, what is around it? In the path? What about the texture of the soil in the garden bed? How is it different from the path? This whole exercise shouldn't take more than five minutes. It serves to get the students focused and familiar with "their spot".

Give each of the students a label and, using black permanent marker, have them write their names on one side of the label and "lettuce" on the other side (same end). They should bring these with them to the gardens. They will use the markers to scratch the soil to prepare it for planting, then they will use it to mark their spots.P

Please divide the class into four groups. These will be the gardening teams. We realize you are just getting to know your students and may need to make changes later but we find that, generally, students pay more attention if we divide them into small groups. We encourage the teams to come up with a nature related team name. Also, for the sake of our staff (that will be working with many classes), please assign each team a color (yellow, red, blue or green). Please come up with some means to help the kids remember which team they are on their first time out, i.e. attaching a color label,or a mark on the back of ther hands. Some teachers post the lists by the door on the appropriate colors of construction paper.

What you focus on after the introduction, will depend on the grade level you are working with. Depending on the grade level and what is planted in an individual garden, in addition to planting seeds, a class may do a little harvesting, tasting and general observation. They should finish up with an adult picking a flower for each child.