Science and Snacks in the Classroom

My name is Jody MacLean. Rita Morrison and I are teachers at Mountainview Elementary, where we began a school garden a few years ago with help from Pauline Singer of Mountainview Farm. Over the years, students have planted the garden with beans, cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, dill, carrots and potatoes. We’ve talked about soil composition, types of soil, compost, plant parts, plant cycles, seasons, photosynthesis, and the needs of plants for survival as a link to various elementary science curricula. This past October, we harvested carrots planted by our last year’s grade 3 class and got enough to share a little snack with the whole school (rounded out by some carrots from local producers). Grade 9’s from our high school harvested the potatoes on their take your kid to workday (their parents work in our school), family members of staff washed and cut the carrots, and grade 4/5 students distributed them to students at recess. It was a community celebration of our modest harvest.