School Gardens – Innovation and Discovery School

  • Post published:11/02/2014
  • Post comments:1 Comment

  When I arrived last Thursday afternoon the scene at the school gardens of the  Discovery School at Four Corners were enjoying controlled chaos. Several teachers were staying after school to divide and pot up perennials from the butterfly garden. “Is this Echinacea or a rudbeckia?” one teacher asked and her spade bit into the center of the clump. “Don’t pot the dill! It an annual,” another shouted. “Are you sure these are all bee balm?” another asked…

Gardening with Kids – Fun and Learning

  • Post published:05/24/2014
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Gardening with kids is being taken to a whole new level at the HawlemontElementary School. They have received a grant that is allowing them to establish themselves as an AgricultureElementary School. This means that the schoolyard will have a variety of raised vegetable and flower beds, including a story garden that is being sponsored by the school library. But the schoolyard will also become a farmyard with a cow, sheep, goats and chickens. And yes, that means a…

Good Reading Roundup for 2013 – Part One

  • Post published:12/20/2013
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This is my first Reading Roundup. Over the year I have 'reviewed' a number of books, any of which would make an excellent holiday gift. Good reading is one of my favorites gifts to give, and to receive.  Over the next couple of days I'll be giving a note about each of them again, with a link to the original post. All but one of the books were sent to me by the publisher and you may note…

Ready, Set, Grow! Timber Press Giveaway

  • Post published:03/18/2013
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With Ready, Set, Grow! Timber Press is giving away books, lots of books, and a Moleskine journal to record your success as you put all the inspiration and advice  to work in your garden for the next three months. Each month, March, April and May they will be giving a library of books away in a lottery. All you have to do is click here and enter.  Whether you win the library or not, by checking this website…

Speedy Vegetable Garden Giveway

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how fast does your garden grow? The 208 page Speedy Vegetable Garden by Mark Diacono and Lia Leendertz (Timber Press) will give you a whole new view of how fast you can grow something to eat. This means we can keep some food growing all year long, if only on our windowsill. Impatient children will find that they can harvest some greens in less than two weeks. I have grown sprouts in my kitchen…

Lens on Outdoor Learning

  • Post published:02/05/2011
  • Post comments:1 Comment

When most of us think about providing play space for our kids in the yard, we usually think about a swing set or a play structure of some sort. Schools tend to take the same sort of approach, but there is another way of looking at ‘play space’ and the potential it holds for learning at school, and at home. Ginny Sullivan began her teaching career at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a first grade…

Governor Patrick is a Gardener!

Governor Deval Patrick visited the Heath Elementary School today. He met the staff and students for a brief All School Meeting before he went to the gym to meet with various officials and townspeople. School Superintendent Buonicanti gave a short civics lesson and asked the students if they knew who Deval Patrick was. One boy instantly piped up, "He's going to be elected next week!"  The Governor said he certainly hoped so. A sixth grader wanted to know…

Erving Preschool Garden

  • Post published:10/02/2010
  • Post comments:4 Comments

The children of the Erving Elementary Preschool were so proud of the sunflowers they grew that they sent representatives to the Recorder/Greenfield Garden Club Sunflower Contest in August. When the children returned to Erving they carried back prize ribbons for the heaviest sunflower head and for the third tallest. But their garden is about more than glory.  The preschool class of 3 and 4 year olds, led by teacher Mary Glabach with the assistance of Kristin Lilly, Becky…

Heath School Gardens

  • Post published:09/02/2010
  • Post comments:5 Comments

Over at Garden Rant Mary Gray's guest rant bewailed the state of many school grounds, all concrete and lawn. I am very familiar with the school grounds that she describes, but I feel fortunate that the children in our small town have a very different school experience. The Heath Elementary School, which opened in 1996, was built in a pasture surrounded by woodland. When the school bus pulls off the dirt road onto the driveway it passes a…

Kids in the Garden

  • Post published:03/04/2010
  • Post comments:2 Comments

I didn't need all the talk about 'nature deficit' to think that children can be entertained, educated and nurtured by spending time in the garden, with and without adults. As a child I spent a fair amount of time watching the bugs on my aunt's black seeded simpson lettuce, while I daydreamed in the sun.  I don't know how that affected my personality development, but I am sure it was in many good ways. Black Dog Publishing also…