So it's been about a year since I've worked with kids in the garden. My last year in SoBoCo I ran the after-school program for older elementary kids, so it's been even longer since I worked in the garden with the itty-bitties. Next week I am leading 5 classes of kindergartners in "Planting a Rainbow"--we're planting a few raised beds with a bunch of colorful, cool-season crops. I am totally excited, and more than a little nervous.
I hope they come out of it knowing how to use some garden tools safely and effectively, and that they have some idea of how to gently plant a seed. I think I can do that in a half hour. Short and sweet, that's the aim. I'm wondering if the time is short enough that I should do this in one group, or if we should break into two groups and have an alternate activity for parents to lead while the teacher and I conduct the actual garden lesson. At this point, I'm thinking the whole class plants at once, and we have a fun activity to do if needed after they are done planting. I'll repeat the lesson 5 times in one day, so I'm sure it'll get modified each time--I always feel bad for the first teacher that has to try a lesson with me!
Below is what I've come up with so far for my lesson. Getting ready to send it off for feedback from the kindergarten teacher who is helping get this coordinated. Looking forward to advice from a veteran teacher! If anyone reads this and has ideas for improvement, I'm all ears....
Materials:
- Have beds already prepped, labeled as to what will go in them, and divided in half lengthwise to make it easier for the kids to know where to put their row markers
- Hand trowels
- Popsicle sticks with kids' names on them already (ask teachers to label them and hand them out)--these are labels for the rows so kids can check on "their plants'" progress
- Seeds
- Watering cans, pre-filled
Garden Lesson (30 minutes)
- Intro: Who has ever gardened before? How many have had gardens at their house? Grandparents' house? Preschool? Which season do we usually garden in? Warm or cool weather? Point out the garden where we'll be planting seeds today--planting a rainbow of cool-season vegetables. Vegetables that it's okay to plant when summer is ending, and the weather is turning cooler. Goals for today, that you learn how to plant seeds, and that you learn how to safely use tools in the school garden. Ready?
- Away from the beds, circle up and pass out hand trowels. Teach the game "Tools Up!"--if a grownup sees unsafe tool use, we will call out "tools up!" and all kids should check their tools, then hold them vertical (up), but with the pointy, or working, end down. That's it. We can all carry on once everyone is being mindful of their tools. Demonstrate safe/unsafe ways to hold the tool, and how gentle they'll want to be when planting baby seeds. Then pretend to garden and practice doing "tools up".
- Leave tools there and move to garden. (unless kids have mold or other allergy, we'll use our hands--they're great tools too!) Show layout for what we will be planting where, and have kids decide what they want to plant. Help all kids line up along beds in good spots to plant their seeds. Pass out row markers. Have each student put their marker in the bed, halfway across bed and directly in front of them.
- Then give each student some seeds, and instruct them to hold onto them until instructed when and where to plant. Have kids compare the size of what they are holding in their hand to others in the group. Some tiny, some bigger. Demo how to plant small seed (no real ditch, just place seeds on top, pat down, sprinkle with some dirt, and pat down again), and bigger seeds (use fingers to create a little ditch for your row, place seeds in, then push soil on top of the ditch, pat down. Do this at the end of the beds, so students can see (we will end up with some crazy mixed-veggie rows, will be fun to see what happens in demo row!). If teachers comfortable with demo, great, we can do two at once in different beds. (5 min)
- Let the kids plant. Help any that need it with digging a little trench, spacing between bigger seeds, sprinkling carrot seeds, etc.
- Demo how to use a watering can to gently water the seeds in. If time, help kids water in their row (adult supervision needed here to avoid flooding the seeds away), or just explain that we will water in all the seeds after all the classes have planted today.
- Wrap-up with quick reflection circle. One feeling word about their experience today. (only one word! listen to your classmates!)
--Mini-hike using a 3-foot section of string. Find a patch of ground (not in the garden beds), or a plant, and lay string across it. Pretend you're an ant and talk about all you see as you walk along the string. Adults can participate with the kids, small groups. (Deb, Lisa, and Jill--we did this one at the workshop this summer.)
Post Script: I did this lesson almost as written: eliminated some ideas, changed other things around. Bottom line, it went great. Perfect? Nope. Fun and educational? Yep. I had a blast, it seems like the kids and teachers did too. My kiddo helped me plant the few remaining rows after school, which was fabulous--his grade level isn 't participating yet and he was bummed until he got to be my after-school helper.
