Communicating with a stunning bulletin board

From kidsingardens blog

Check out the beautiful look of this kids garden bulletin board. This is so sophisticated and charming — light years beyond our school’s patch. Gives me something to yearn for!

Great visuals for school gardens

Great visuals for school gardens

I like the idea of using pallets to make raised beds. Here are a couple of photos that show how, with a bunch of other cool UpCycled garden things.

Excited over taproots!

“Wow, look at this huge taproot!” McKayla said, pulling it while students cleared the school garden for planting. The fifth-graders had been studying plants and their roots. She brought it back to her science class. I had no idea what they were studying, but she made the connection!

McKayla shows off the huge taproot from a weed pulled in the school garden.

The basics on herb gardening indoors

I’m using this video today to show the kids how to use the cilantro that they have planted in soda bottle halves. We are waiting for warmer weather to plant outside, so we have to think inside right now.

Gardening Elective Coming to Starr!

Next week I start teaching a gardening elective two mornings a week at Starr Elementary in Fresno. I’m so excited to be able to bring my hobby into the classroom, and to bring my classroom outside some of the time. If you have thoughts on what activities will work in my narrow 30 minute time frame, please share. I also will be teaching a journalism/blogging elective two days a week, so posting will be more regular. It’s been tough taking on this class mid-September, but I’m loving it. Starting gardening when we’re in fall and almost winter will be interesting.

How to use milk crates as gardening containers

This video comes from Riverpark Farms in New York. It’s a great idea that could make for easy gardening in schools or anywhere that you need raised beds, and portability. Will be interesting to learn how long the crates end up lasting. But even wood raised beds can fall apart eventually. If you need more root depth, just cable tie two together and the roots will go through. Genius!

I can’t make it to the garden conference

Yeah, the one I’ve blogged about a few times. I’ll be busy this weekend setting up the new classroom I’ve been blessed to get. But I am bummed I won’t be going. Bummed, I tell you. Looking forward to hearing what comes of it.

Great video to sell Yosemite to urban kids afraid of the wild

Last year I had thought of trying to set up a 6th grade trip to Yosemite. I was teaching in a very urban school, and many of my students were afraid of the idea because it was not something they had any exposure to. Their families did not go camping, and feared bears, falling from rocks, etc. This youth-produced video will do a great service for Yosemite. I’m so glad they made it. I took pictures on many of my visits, but it is not enough. Kids need to picture themselves going, that it is something they could do. Check it out! Appreciation for the outdoors lingers back at home.

State schools superintendent to speak at Cultivating Health Central Valley schools summit

Will I see you Sept. 16 at this event in Fresno? The Healthy School Summit – Cultivating Healthy Central Valley Schools will feature keynote speaker Tom Torlakson, California Superintendent of Public Instruction. Check it out. Obesity among school children is a serious problem.

I look forward to finding out what role school gardens might have in addressing this problem. Others who would be interested: school personnel such as nurses, cafeteria managers, teachers and beyond; school board, community, youth and PTA leaders; and of course, farmers and growers. It’s an all-day 9:30-4 event.

This event is presented by the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program and funded by The California Endowment. RSVP requested by Sept. 12.

Six Reasons Why Kids Should Know How to Blog | MindShift

If I get a chance to teach a plants or gardening unit again, I will be adding a blog in there somehow. Exposing kids to this piece of the Internet is part of our district’s mission of creating “career-ready graduates,” even in the fourth grade! We aren’t quite up to eportfolios yet, and many of my students do not have Internet access at home. Still, the idea of letting kids control the messages sent about them is valuable. Maybe it would stop some of the abuse of the Internet by bullying teens. Six Reasons Why Kids Should Know How to Blog | MindShift.