Have you ever been asked a question that was so good that you didn’t have an answer for it because neither the question or the answer had ever crossed your mind? This happened to me the other weekend at Home Depot. The second grade classes are working on their plants unit and I went to Home Depot to get some vegetable seeds and a mini-greenhouse for them to grow some vegetables. When I came to the check-out counter, I ran into a Discovery Academy family. “Hey Mr. Reed-Swale, what are you doing here?” they asked. “I’m just getting some planting supplies for the second grade.” I replied. To which I was hit with this unexpected follow-up. “That’s great, are you doing it for all the classes? I know that (my daughter) and her classmates would love that.” At this point I face a smiling mother and a PreK student with eye wide as saucers at the idea of planting her own vegetables. I had no real answer. I hadn’t even thought of doing this activity for the whole school. I was just so excited to get some supplies for the second graders. I said something about how it was for their unit and went home still bothered by my answer to that question.
The next day I decided that my answer was not good enough, that the question deserved a better response. So I picked up another 12 mini-greenhouses and a lot more seeds and have scheduled out times with nearly every teacher to plant all sorts of vegetables. So far I have visited classes in PreK and in second grade and have another six classes on the schedule for this week.
Our goal is to plant them in enough time to have plants ready to take home over April vacation so that students can take care of a few plants and have them in the ground for Earth Day. I’ve included a few pictures from our work so far. I’ll keep posting more as I visit more rooms and as our plants grow.
-Mr. Reed-Swale
As a mom and a science teacher, thank you for including the other grades. The background knowledge these experiences create is the key to true understanding and future exploration. I’ve seen first hand the difference it makes in my own students and their achievements. I also have to let you know that this evening on our way to dance class, my girls who are in preK-3 stopped to touch a patch of ground where the snow had defrosted. I asked what they were doing, and they responded that they were checking to see if the dirt was ready to plant seeds in. They told me about planting seeds in class so they could grow into plants. I promised them that when spring came and the ground defrosted a little more, we’d find a good spot in our yard where they could plant some more seeds. So, thank you for making those teachable moments happen, and inspiring a family activity come spring.
I couldn’t be happier and more proud of them. I always wanted to grow a garden, but my father was much more of a flower and shrub gardener. So when I grew up I decided that I was going to try growing a garden. My first attempts were not very successful and consisted of a raised bed at my condo in Cromwell. I grew little and got yelled at by the condo association. Still, I loved it and decided to start a large garden at my house when we moved. It has been a source of joy and challenge for me each year I plant. My children now help me dig and plant every year and it brings us all a great sense of accomplishment and joy. There’s just something so fulfilling about eating a meal with the food grown from your own two hands. I hope this starts a tradition like ours for your family. It would appear the girls are on their way! Let me know if you need any tips for the home garden (I’ve made enough mistakes to have a few lessons learned under my belt). Have a great time planting.