Teachers' Comments
Lori Warner, Child and Family Development Center, NHTI
• Add something about Spring Flower Buds,
Collect a variety of Blooms and matching buds
• Let the children explore and smell
Ask what is different/same and have them match the bud to the flower?
Add a nature walk with a bud flower focus.
• Add plant diagrams that are simple enough for the children that teachers can make copies from.
• List of plants/flowers sorted by there attribute, ie., viny, climbing, seasons…
• 2.2 Measuring and Designing the Garden : Helped me focus and quell my fears. I was overwhelmed before we had a plan.
• Teachers don't have time to weed and maintain a garden. We need adult helpers to do chores or garden on a smaller scale (perhaps low maintenance container garden). Directions for container gardening with details of pot sizes and watering and maintenance techniques would be good. Children at this age are too young to take on chores. When we are with them we are suppose to be interacting with them. If they don't choose to be in the garden we aren't there either so no maintenance gets done.
• We modified “ A Dirty Job” 2.6, Put 3 soils in a plastic cup with holes on bottom. Kids counted how long it took for H2O to leak through. We planted peas in each cup and wrote down predictions: will the seeds grow? Kept revisiting and collecting our findings. The seeds did grow in the clay and sprouted in the sand.
• 10” pots dry out fast in hot dry weather. They have to be watered almost everyday so on the weekends the plants can die even though the children water all week long. ( Garden people project ).
• The Sunflower House by Eve Bunting was a Great book. Thanks for including it!
• Garden story book allows children the opportunity to revisit the garden. Helps long term memory
• The Magic Can. This works really well. After much practice, the children begin making viable predictions!
• Tomato Experiment: This was too difficult for 3 & 4 year olds. It should be 5 and up. This requires concrete introduction. I think our approach was lacking in information and the children never grasped the concept of the depth/roots experiment. Tomato plants didn't do well and no weighing occurred. Should be modified for other means of success. It's very hard for the children to wait and they lose the whole idea.
• Power of light: Waiting again. But a week isn't bad. I would never remember what etiolation is.
Nicole Marsh, Child Services and Development Center, UNH (Toddler Classroom).
• I feel the toddlers can help dig, plant, experience the textures sounds, tastes, and sights the garden has to offer.
• Times that work well for them is 9:30 am to 11 or 3-4pm
• Experiences they may be particularly interested in are: Final stage of taste testing, exploration, dirt, and touching worms.
Beth Hallett CSDC, UNH (Preschool 2 classroom)
• Involvement expected: planting, weeding, and painting the shed as a collaborative project.
• We feel they are capable of doing most everything.
• Times that work well are 8-10:15, 11-11:30, and 3-5:30pm.
• The children will be most interested in bugs, labeling and planting and harvesting.
Also documenting the growth of plants, and eating from the garden.
Di Di, CSDC, UNH (Infant / Young Toddler classroom/group)
• We would like our young toddlers to be involved in preparing the garden in the beginning and possible helping and collaborating with other class rooms. And of course we can help weed and plant and harvest the veggies and flowers. We just want to be involved.
• Times that work well are 9:45 – 11, 2:00 – 3:00, 3:30 – 4:30
• The experiences we might have particular interest in are: Raking, hoeing, planting, weeding, harvesting, and watering.
The infant room tends to get left out often so please try to involve us. Collaboration with another classroom would be good. We want our young toddlers to be in documentation of the CSDC Garden too.
Beth Hogan, CSDC, UNH (All classrooms, 2004 garden teacher).
• Put seed storage table in with cultivation and care tips
• 1.1 Are You a Plant : Use materials from the last year's garden for mural. Dramatic play acting can be incorporated. Act out the life cycle of a plant individually or with a group with individual roles.
• 1.2 The Beautiful Seed: Sprouting basic seeds in ziploc bags. Seed sorting with tweezers and egg cartons = hand eye coordination. Creating a class mosaic using seeds. Using seeds as a material in the sensory table. Use seeds in sealed small plastic bottles (old water bottles) to add to a dramatic play space?
• 1.3 Above and Below How Plants Start to Grow: Read Tops and Bottoms , Pumpkin, Pumpkin or The Enormous Carrot , to extend understanding. Use recyclable materials in the art area to create & document knowledge of different parts of the plant.
• 2.2 Measuring and Designing Our Garden : Great opportunities for predictions & estimations. Using white paper & drawing implements to draw their own garden plans. Take ideas from each plan, cutting & pasting to create a “Master Plan”. Using silk flowers, dried flowers or greenery in the block area to facilitate 3-D plants for the garden. Other recyclable materials could also be used like cut egg cartons for “squash mounds” as an example. Graphing “votes” for different seed choices.
• 2.3 Compost and Preparing the Soil : Add a field trip to the farm. Add a worm bin composting in classrooms, outdoor play spaces or the kitchen. As an experiment add things that wont compost such as a plastic cup, to see the difference. This is an opportunity for children to make predictions. Older children may look at the different layers under the topsoil.
• 2.4 Planting the Garden : Opportunities for older children to work as mentors to children in younger classrooms through the planting process. Planting experiments in the classroom might include planting seeds using different variables, i.e. Some seeds get soil , water and sun and some just water etc… Opportunity for predicting what will happen and documenting that.
• 2.5 Weeding and Mulching : Extra bales of hay might be used as benches in between rows of corn or in sunflower house., Painting with hay, making our own paintbrushes, using hay as a material (depending on allergies) in the sensory table. Experiment with different mulches and see what works and what doesn't.
• 2.6 A Dirty Job: Documenting with paper and pen - observations of toads or evidence that toads may have been there. Experiments around how roots function. Straws, with drinks at snack time, is a good way with younger children to show how water is taken up. Use the art area to paint and decorate the houses before putting them in the garden. Upside down clay pots, propped up with a rock on one side for an entrance can also be used.
• 2.7 Pinching and Deadheading : Using flowers for still life paintings in the classroom. Using flowers to paint with. Using tweezers and magnifying glasses to dissect old flowers that have gone to seed; this works well with older sunflowers. How do flowers drink with no roots? Water with carnations and food coloring experiment.
• 2.8 Harvesting : When cutting open produce look for the seeds, Children can remove and dry and save them for spring. Will they grow?
• 3.1 Sensory Garden : Add a Closed bag game – Put leaves in a bag, ask children to smell, What does it smell like? Document the different types of leaves using clipboards, paper and pens, use leaves in the sensory table.
• 3.2 Rainbow Garden: Move this activity to the end, Read Growing a Rainbow , Children may draw their own plans & then come together as a group to collaborate on a final design. Use the light table and block areas as a way for children to create 3D plans. Document the creation of a rainbow garden with a group mural in the art area., Using plants to dye material, What plants will create color for dye. Is it always flowers or can fruits, vegetables and leaves be used?
• 3.3 Garden People or Deck Planters : Collecting water from rain in a system created by the children would be a nice added feature for watering the pots, Children can create individual garden heads by creating a design on a small clay pot for a face and then planting hair. Grass works well too, Use rain gauge to document & measure rainfall
• 3.4 Bean Tunnels and Tee-pees : Great opportunity for measuring construction planning, problem solving and collaboration. Field trips into wooded areas to find fallen trees & branches. What happens to these when left in the woods? Who creates habitats there?
• 3.5 Sunflower House or Tunnel : Use in the art area for inspiration, dissect the flowers using magnifying glasses and tweezers. Leave them outside and see who may have taken them if they're gone the next day. Compare sizes and height of different types of sunflower. Older children might include circumference & diameter. Examine birdseed and see if there are sunflowers in it., Plant creeping thyme for a carpet in the house, Perhaps a bench or sitting space to sit and enjoy a quiet or silly moment in the garden.
• 3.6 butterfly Garden : In late August helping the children find monarch caterpillars in a milkweed patch. Observe the change as they move through the process of becoming butterflies. In the art area explore symmetry with children, folded paintings is simple way to do this. Lots of books about butterflies.
• 3.7 Maze of Maize : Use corn for painting, What can we cook with corn? How is it related to popcorn?
• 3.8 Flower Beds: Include children in planning the garden using blocks, pen & paper or recyclable items. Use fabric remnants to assist in planning. Documant with paint & paper. Introduce landscape art.
• 5.3 Investigation of a Caterpillar : See Butterfly garden for monarch caterpillar observation. Document the process. Opportunity for estimations and predictions. Use recyclables to represent their observations..
• 5.4 Exploration of Worms in the Garden : Make worm observation bin. Use a clear terrarium. Place soil & worms inside, then cover with brown paper bag to darken space & encourage movement of worms. Children can observe tunneling & movement. Use clay to create representations.
• 6.3 Fruit Basket Investigation : Painting with fruits & vegetables. Graphing colors, shape and size of seeds. Sorting & Classifying
• 7.2 Creating Paper Flowers : Graph number of petals. Painting with flowers. Use as inspiration in the art area.
• 7.3 Making Scarecrows : Use this as a way to include families. Ask for different contributions for creating the scarecrow.
• 7.4 Stepping Stones : Move to the end. These are great to do as a family event or project. Explore planning, design & use of varied color & materials.
• 9.1 Nutrient Experiment : Use soil as a material in the sensory table.
• 9.2 Tomato Experiment : Is there a difference in the number of seeds? Can we dry them and plant them next year? Cooking activities with tomatos.
• 9.3 The Power of Light : Plant seeds with different variables. What happens when they have no sun, water or both, etc. Encourage children to document & predict what will happen. Experiment with variegated ivy plants. When the ivy is placed by the sun their leaves will lighten and when away from it, they will darken!
