Working Poor
Related: About this forumHis class attendance went from 40% to 93%. Because of a garden? (repost from education)
The students grow food (30,000 pounds of it to date), and they create sustainable gardens on roofs and in classrooms all over New York (creating jobs for some of the teens in the program). The kids have significantly increased their academic achievement.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112410818
https://www.upworthy.com/his-class-attendance-went-from-40-to-93-because-of-a-garden
can't say i'm surprised that attendance and scores went up
LWolf
(46,179 posts)I used to do a bit of indoor gardening with my students. My district had a grant program for special projects, and I applied for that grant every single year, for funding to start a bigger school garden for a broader number of students.
I was rejected every single time.
I'm glad to see that there are people making this work.
w0nderer
(1,937 posts)for trying to run a hydropondics 'farm' from a suspended pot (it really was REAL oregano) over the class fishtank (yes, we had one)
i figured it was a nice demonstration of water purification and ecology
the teacher disagreed
i argued
i still believe i won on arguments but authority trumps logic
windowsill and other gardening (or in school) is such a good idea for all of us
England during WWII (harsh times) had 'victory gardens'
why can't we have 'nutrition gardens'?
LWolf
(46,179 posts)that can come out of school gardening.
I had an indoor garden structure with trays and lights, custom built for me by a family member who was a welder. We grew smaller, quicker maturing crops. We made our own paper pots, we mixed our own potting soil, we applied math and science we were learning, we did some garden art, and we had harvests, in which we would use our produce to make salad and soup right in the classroom for a "feast."
I had a lot of other ideas and things I wanted to do with that outdoor garden. When I didn't get the grant, I did find a little fenced area, and we did a little container gardening in tubs, but I had to fund it all myself, so it was still pretty limited. I have a funny story about that little area, but I've got to get to work, so it will have to wait for another time.
w0nderer
(1,937 posts)with Gardening, growing food, raising animals
sounds like you are one of those semi-rare, dedicated creatures, a generalist teacher!
especially once you get kids to where they can do it, they go home and do it to 'show off' /show what they learned, and all of a sudden the family is eating fresh veggies
I'd love to hear the story at a future time
LWolf
(46,179 posts)The area that we did our container gardening in was behind some portables, enclosed by the portables and 3 sides of chain link, with a gate. In addition to gardening, we'd also hatched some eggs. Students whose parents agreed took home the chicks after a few weeks. One of my students lived next door to the school. He literally had a gate on his back fence that opened directly onto the playground.
We (teachers) were back in August the following year, in meetings preparing for the coming year. We were in a section of portable classrooms. I came out during the break to see our custodian and some groundskeepers chasing a rooster up and down the ramps and aisles between the portables. It was pretty entertaining until they caught him and locked him up in a storage area. Just when they were taking him away, my student arrived, red-faced, crying, and yelling, "No, he's mine. You can't take him!"
This chick had turned out to be a rooster, and the neighbors complained. So my enterprising student, who had just finished 3rd grade, built himself a coop in our old container garden and kept his rooster there, where it was an easy trip across the playground to visit and care for him, and he had the garden to hunt and peck in.
The groundskeepers were surprised, when they opened the gate to do a general clean up, to be met by the rooster, who, confronted by strangers, made a break for it.
So the student, the groundskeepers, custodian, PTA president, and I all got into a tense debate about whether or not the rooster could stay in the garden. It was decided that, no, the rooster couldn't stay. The PTA president promised to take him to her brother who lived outside the city limits, where he could live out his life happily with the brother's hens. It was a compromise. My student was relieved that his rooster wasn't about to become dinner, but not consoled about his loss.
w0nderer
(1,937 posts)Clever kid, love the story
LWolf
(46,179 posts)This was about 15 years ago, and I remember him fondly.
I'm thinking that the world is catching up a bit, and that gardens and chickens within city limits are becoming more common. Maybe HIS kid will get to keep his chicken, lol.