Every Thursday each fourth grader gets to spend 45 minutes to an hour in the garden in a small group. We have 6 garden groups. We try to
involve students in all steps of gardening from choosing where to plant each type of plant to reading the instructions to set up a grow lab. This week the students wanted to plant the carrots in zig-zag rows… so we did! Here are some student reflections from our fourth grade garden day on Thursday, May 1st.
Group A“Today in the garden we did soil samples and planted flowers. What we did for the soil samples is we dried out the soil and put two parts of soil and fiver parts water in a jar and mixed them together to make a solution so we could test it for pH and other things that will tell us if we need to add anything to the soil.
The flowers we planted were ones that look like zinnias and can be used as medicine (calendula). We planted them in front of the zinnias because they are shorter than the zinnias.”
“Today in garden group A we did soil samples and solutions. Solutions are made of distilled water and dirt… They were slimy and just plain gross! One of the three solutions we made tipped and it drenched me! I was soaked till midday! The soil samples were huge… We worked really hard in Group A today.”
“Today I planted seeds shaped like a half moon. I thought working in the garden was great. I also thought working in the garden was a very great pleasure. I learned that there were tulips and pretty white flowers in the garden.”
Group B“Today in Garden Group B we set up Grow Labs. Grow labs are trays where you can put plants to grow until they are big enough to be transplanted. The trays have lights over them to be like the sun. We are going to plant some seeds to grow under the grow labs and when they’re big enough we will transplant them into the garden. I felt very good setting up the grow lab because I knew that they would help contribute to the garden. I also felt good because my garden group showed a lot of teamwork. We each had different jobs setting up.”
“Today in garden groups I got to build a plant grower (grow lab). It was fun. I even got to build it with my friends. It took a lot of pieces but we did it… We were seeing who could build it faster, girls or boys? It was the boys… My friends and I took it into the classroom by carrying it. It was light. So all of us looked at it and we were proud. And we won the race even though our teacher said it was not [a race]. We still looked very, very proud.”
“In my garden group I helped make a Grow Lab. It was made of metal and had two plant bins for the plants. I thought it was so cool that we got to build something in school. Also there were teams of people working… We got to play with the Styrofoam that came out of the box.”
“During garden time we made light holders (grow labs) for the plants. It was really fun. First we took two things that looked like archways and attached them of each other (so they were about one and a half feet apart) using poles and screws. Then we put two other things on the top. After that we opened the light bulbs, put them in the light and put the lights on and it was done! After that [my friends and I] took rectangular cardboard tubes about two feet long and started sword fighting but [a teacher] yelled at us and we stopped. It was fun. Today I learned that I shouldn’t sword fight in the hallway and that putting stuff together is hard.”
“Today in Group B the girls were separated from the boys . We were making green houses (grow labs) and one was going in Mrs. Hodgdon’s classroom and one was going in our classroom… We had to do rock, paper, scissors, shoot. The boys won so they got to put their greenhouse (grow lab) in our classroom… It was a big day!”
Group C
“[After soil samples…] the second thing we did was that we made a rut and [a friend] and I got some fresh compost to put in the ruts because we were planting onions that grow to be almost the size of a soda can. I had lots and lots and LOTS of fun in the garden today.”
Group D“On May 1st, Garden Group D went outside to plant carrots, but first we had to do a lot of other stuff like finding places where erosion could happen. We also found some kale and parsley that we could eat. It was really good!”
“In garden group D we planted two different types of carrots. First we found a spot in the garden that would be best to plant carrots. Then we raked out the area where the carrots would be planted. Next we turned over the soil with shovels. After that we added compost and leveld it out with the ground. The very last thing we did was we each stuck one finger in halfway in the soil and made a straight zig-zag line. Next we put the seeds in the zig-zag lines. The seeds were not cluttered but mixed everywhere. Then we pinched each side of the zig-zag lines and patted down the soil gently. I thought gardening today was fun… I learned that to a farmer its very important to find a flat surface and that helps prevent erosion.”
“Today was a really fun day in the garden. My group planted some carrots. The first thing we did was move all of the weeds from the spot we [chose]. There was a whole lot of weeds The second thing we did was mix in … compost. Then we smoothed out the compost and made lines to put the seeds in. Then we covered the seeds with soil… My day was so enjoyable. I will never forget that day in the Green Street School garden.”
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