Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Rain rain don't go away!

The third grade bean plants!

Our bean plant from seed it doing well!

Can you see our new fig sprouts!

Tomatoes ready for picking!

These ones will be ready next!

The plants are huge!

These big ones will be a treat!

The peach tree and lantana are looking peachy!!

Our vinca and croton are loving this weather!

I already had to pick some of our basil before it flowered!

Our first tomato harvest!
Hello garden friends!

Sorry I did not keep you updated last week, I was a bit under the weather!  Even though it is a bit cloudy and rainy outside our garden is loving all this rain and cooler temperatures.

The fun fact of the week that I learned as I was listening to a story about Monarch butterflies on the radio, is that they like to eat poisonous plants!  This way the butterfly eats the poison and when a predator like a bird tries to eat it, they stop because they do not like the taste, if a bird eats a butterfly it could possibly die from all the poison the butterfly carries inside its body!

http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/faq/general/5  you can find more information about butterflies at this website.

Today was a great day for harvesting tomatoes, I picked about 7 of them and there are many more to come as you can see in the pictures.  Also one of our third grade classes went out and planted their young bean plants which are looking very happy in their new home.  Unfortunately it looks like our seed plantings have not done that well, perhaps the seed was not very good and they have also been eaten by some garden critters.  Since our transplanted baby plants seem to be thriving I am going to be in the garden this Friday to plant some cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce and other fall vegetable plants.

With cooler temperatures on the way we can start planning how to build a "cold frame" to protect our plants from a possible frost, this will be a great math and science project!

Teachers, below you can see sample ideas for using the garden as part of your lesson plan and as we get the garden more developed I can work with teachers on formulating specific curriculum.  If anyone would like to contact me I would be happy to talk over how I can help make the garden part of your classroom.

nuzha13@hotmail.com

I will be in the garden this Friday at 9:15 to 11, I hope to see you there!  Please email me if you have any questions!


EnglishReading & writing seasonal stories and poems
Making a gardening scrap book
Producing a school garden newsletter
MathematicsCounting seeds, plants, flowers per plant etc
Using fractions & percentages i.e. Number of seeds that germinate
Measuring plant heights
Collecting rainfall measurements
ScienceInvestigating what plants need in order to grow
Observing the life cycle of a plant
Watching and recording changes in the garden through the seasons
Creating habitats for wildlife and watching the results
Making weather observations through the seasons
GeographyStudying the water cycle
Making scale drawings and maps of the garden
Information & Communication TechnologyInputting data into the computer to produce graphs and charts
Investigating topics on the internet
Uploading gardening news onto the schools website
PSHE & CitizenshipCarry out sustainable activities i.e. rainwater collection, composting, recycling
Develop community involvement in the gardening activity
Carry out activities in teams with individuals having specific roles
Food TechnologyHarvesting food and learning how to cook it
Discovering which foods can be eaten raw - peas from the pod etc
Art & DesignMaking collages using natural materials
Taking inspiration from the outdoors for drawing & painting projects
Creating posters to publicise the garden for fundraising
Photographing the gardening year 
Physical EducationGetting exercise in the great outdoors
Learning about fruit and vegetables and healthy eating
HistoryStudy of plants and their uses historically for eating, medicine, making dyes etc
Studies of gardening through history, i.e. dig for victory campaign

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