#7. Lee Garden gurus

I love working with you all in our school garden. You might not know, but I am incredibly impressed with your questions, conversations, and behaviors happening there.

Someone asked me, "Why do we have to pull out the weeds?" with a sad face, and another showed me full of beautiful tiny rocks in his hands and said, "I'm collecting diamonds!". I also enjoy seeing the excitement when you find wasps, snail shells, etc.

You make the world I see more beautiful, pure, and funny. Thank you for the precious time to spend with you in the garden!

When I watered the garden, I realized the experience of growing plants develops self-confidence.

Once you plant the seed, you have to water it. At first, it may seem like a chore, but as you see the plant sprout and grow daily, you will feel attached to it. Eventually, you will learn to take responsibility for and love your plant.

You might think that self-confidence is acquired by doing something well. Some confidence may be achieved that way. However, I believe that the experience of loving something and spending precious time with it makes your life meaningful and develops confidence in how you live it.

It is okay to fail. Try different soil, plants, and methods; failing a hundred times in a row should be hard. Whether you fail or succeed, if you care about your plant, the time you spend with it and the love you put into it are what counts.

Recently, the weather has finally turned mild, so I encourage you to grow plants at home. You can even grow them in pots. And try to observe and take care of it every day. It will be an invaluable experience for you.

Thank you, STEAM (Purple & Yellow House) and Active Learning learners, for preparing the soil, planting seeds & transplants, watering, and composting! I also appreciate the help from the volunteer learners during recess.

We need lots of muscle work to prepare the beds, such as carrying heavy bags, taking out soil from the bags, and mixing it. Mrs. Shaner and I were impressed by how well the Kindergarteners can do the hard job!

The seeds Active Learning learners planted last week already sprouted. Thank you for helping grow vegetables for our school!

We are growing lettuce, beets, carrots, kale, Asian greens, kohlrabi, radishes, spinach, arugula, turnip, dandelion, okra, peppers, butterfly peas, mint, basil, thyme, marjoram, and stevia in the garden now.

Learners in Red House (during STEAM) and Practical Academics will start working in the garden this month. Volunteer helpers are welcome to work with me during recess as well. Seeing how our plants grow with you will be so much fun!

Y1 Prepared the soil, composted, harvested kale and basil, and planted seeds. The seeds sprouted in a week!

AL learners helped our garden, and the radish seeds they planted sprouted (Top), Okra is flowering (Middle), Turnips, Lettuces, & Beets are growing (Bottom)!

Did you check the plants in the self-water pots in the indoor garden station at the back of the media center?

P1 and Y2 planted the seeds on 9/7 and 9/15. Y2 learners named their plants, like Violet, Dash-Flash, and Mr. Potatochip. They transplanted them in the garden and will keep a journal using bulb Digital Portfolios in STEAM.

We also have a Worm Tower with five stackable trays in the STEAM classroom. Ms. Jensen kindly shared worms from her worm bin in R2 and knowledge on worm composting with us! P4b built a worm bin on 9/6, and Y5 moved the worms and bedding to the worm tower on 9/25.

They also learned about worms from various learning materials Mrs. Shaner created for our learners. Let's keep learning!

Y2 planted 10 varieties of salad greens in the self-water pots and named them.

P1 transplanted their plants in the self-water pots to the garden after 20 days. When will they harvest them?

Y5 built Worm Tower and learned about worms.

G2, G1, B3, and P3 went on a Nature Walk on 9/20 and 9/22. Did they go to the forest? No, they explored nature at our school! Have you ever paid close attention to the plants and creatures around you?

The learners collected different types of acorns and oak tree leaves on the way and did a scavenger hunt, finding flowers in the garden. Seeing and observing is different. We often overlook what surrounds us and don't know about the details.

We will observe the oak trees, other plants, and creatures at our school throughout the year. We will also take a class picture with the oak tree every season for our records and memory.

I hope you get familiar with the nature around you and feel the seasonal changes over time.

Scavenger Hunt: I SPY Acorns & Flowers at our school

The learners compared the shapes, sizes, colors, and textures of the different types of acorns and oak leaves. They also spotted flowers, crickets, caterpillars, snail shells, etc. in the garden.

What will the oak tree look like next month? Which class will take a picture with it?

Thank you to the teachers for collaborating and bringing your learners to the outdoor learning!