What a great harvest Suzanne's fifth grade had for their salad party at
Thomas Hooker School in Bridgeport last Monday. It was the culminating
activity of the "Living off the Land" Science Unit. At the end of August,
on the first gardening day this fall, the students created a
three-by-twelve foot bed on the south side of the school's front entrance.
They planted several kinds of radishes, kale, three kinds of lettuce, pac
choi and red giant mustard. Just over two months later, the vegetables
were plentiful enough to provide salads for more than thirty hungry
students, the principal and other teachers.
Suzanne uses the garden as a context for interdisciplinary studies. I
volunteer at Hooker School once a week to teach a lesson, and help with
hands-on gardening activities. The students are always anxious to go
outside and get to work, but first we have to explain and organize our
activities. This provides an opportunity for a lesson in soil, compost or
plant-science. The students receive a "Lab Report" to complete for
homework, and then outside we go.
What energy the children have for the garden! Visitors are impressed by
the enthusiasm they direct toward a positive activity, and by what they
know about gardening. We all learn by doing.
Suzanne believes that their love of gardening is a survival instinct.
Many of them have strong family connections to farms and the land in other
parts of the world. Often students who have difficulty in the classroom
really shine in the garden.
So far this year, the fifth graders have harvested garlic, potatoes and
flowers (which were planted by last year's class in the spring). We've
built a cold-frame over the greens bed, expanded the garden and planted
garlic and winter rye. We intend to plant flower bulbs as well. The
students also visited Warrups Farm in West Redding to harvest pumpkins,
feed pigs and walk in the woods.
All of these activities provided a very real and engaging context for
learning across the curriculum. A literature theme of "In the Wild"
addressed issues of the environment, ecology and land use. The garden
provides many practical math and social studies lessons, too.
More and more schools and teachers are using garden-based learning as a
motivating and engaging adjunct to their curriculum. Cornell University is
helping to create school gardens in New York City in order to improve child
nutrition and eating habits. Teachers in Meriden, Connecticut are taking
advantage of the freedom afforded by a remote classroom in a trailer by
gardening.
During Monday's lesson, one student wondered why plants were so important
to me. I threw the question out to the class, and we soon discovered that
without plants, we wouldn't have any food or oxygen. Then they understood
why plants are so important.
In the Thomas Hooker School Garden,
This is Bill Duesing, Living on the Earth
(C)1998, Bill Duesing, Solar Farm Education, Box 135, Stevenson, CT 06491
This script was the text for an audio feature produced by WSHU News
Director, Tom Kuser.
Bill and Suzanne Duesing operate the Old Solar Farm (raising NOFA/CT
certified organic vegetables) and Solar Farm Education (working on urban
agriculture projects in southern Connecticut and producing "Living on the
Earth" radio programs). Their collection of essays Living on the Earth:
Eclectic Essays for a Sustainable and Joyful Future is available from Bill
Duesing, Box 135, Stevenson, CT 06491 for $14 postpaid. These essays first
appeared on WSHU, public radio from Fairfield, CT. New essays are posted
weekly at http://www.wshu.org/duesing and those since November 1995 are
available there.
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