Kids Garden Class 2016

[seedcorn]

Doing chores isn't that why adults have kids

Mine were the direct result of something I enjoy doing........wife took me serious.

 

[thistlebloom]

Here's some pictures from last weeks class. I nominated a couple of the kids to be photographers. I am usually so busy I forget to take them.

Everybody was busy, cleaning their aisle or watering or planting. After a second
look I should say, everybody should have been busy...





Planting carrots.



Working in their journals.

 

[Smart Red]

I love the journaling!

 

[Carol Dee]

WOW, they all look like they are learning AND having FUN. I do think you will see many future gardens come from this.

 

[journey11]

Wow, looks awesome!

 

[thistlebloom]

Last Wednesdays class went smoothly. We're getting a routine down now and the kids are not so rowdy.
I offered an incentive to the first kid to arrive and that seems to have sparked some early bird competition. Well, it may have also helped that I emailed the parents and told them the lesson portion begins at 8:30 on the button, and to please encourage their kids to arrive 5 minutes early. Whatever it is I'll take it!

We had photosynthesis as a Big Fat Word, and although most of the kids struggle with the pronunciation, with weekly reviews of the BFW's they are beginning to understand the basics.

We did a hands on demonstration of how plants breath, floating a fresh leaf just under the surface of the water, in the sunshine, for about an hour.







The kids were delighted to see the bubbles forming on the leaves stomata.

We also visited my Honeycrisp apple tree to see some garden pests in action.





Then the best part of class, free time and popsicles!

 

[majorcatfish]

how do i enroll next year???? so what if i am the tall kid.. i like to learn
nice work thistle

 

[ninnymary]

Nice Kristi, how long do you keep the kids?

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Nice Kristi, how long do you keep the kids?

Mary

I've made the class from 8:30 to 11:00. I have found that if I need a little something to stretch the time out, having the kids clean up their aisles is a great way to burn energy and keep them in the garden frame of mind while I prep for the next phase.

I'm always worried about running out of material before class time is up.

 

[thistlebloom]

I had 11 kids in yesterdays class, which at first concerned me because I had only prepped for 10, but the little friend who came with the regular was very easy, happy to share and she was the one who paid the closest attention and followed directions. So I sent the rest of them home and kept her! No, not really, but the thought did occur to me.

The dynamics can be challenging with the span of ages, 4 to 11, and half of the kids being boys who were in a slugging frame of mind yesterday for some reason. I had to put one of the oldest on a sit out because of deliberately kicking his younger brother in a sensitive area. That won't happen again at my house or he's out for the summer.

Our Big Fat Word was entomology, which we will get more into next week.
The BFW review was reassuring, they are retaining some of the things we go over. Yay.

Our project yesterday was dissecting a flower and naming the parts and functions.
I had a big beautiful bunch of white lily's for this and it was sort of sad to watch them get dismembered. We spent quite a bit of time on that and it was a hot day.
I started to hear rumblings and mumblings about "popsicle time", so we finished up and I told them we had one more project.
Long faces.
"Can you save it for next week?" came a plaintive little voice.
Okay. I guess you can only stuff so much into a little head at one time.

No pictures, but I wish I had remembered to take a few of them working on their lilies.