School

"Late one summer, my first graders noticed that the lettuce plants in our school garden were getting taller and sending up flowers," reports Westfield, IN, teacher Nedra Hoard. "So we took our hand lenses, observed what was happening, and eventually noticed that seeds were forming where the flowers had been."

"My fourth graders love selecting trees to adopt and explore in depth each year," reports Grand Rapids, MN, teacher Jan Ferraro. Last year a colleague from St. Olaf College and I brainstormed how to develop a technology-based project that integrates our interest in trees while also addressing curriculum standards," she added. The result of their collaborative musing? An Internet-based fall phenology project designed to help students explore changes in the seasons, collect and grapple with data, and share and communicate their experiences with others.

"A parent volunteer in my multiage class was appalled with the sugary snacks he saw the children eating during mid-morning break," reports Wesminster, VT, teacher Irene Canaris. "As a farmer concerned about children's awareness of healthy eating, he offered to help us create a 'snack garden' that now nourishes the entire class throughout the school year."

"We had already enjoyed conducting GrowLab curriculum activities and felt ready to expand our growing experiences to some new areas," reports Wichita Falls, TX, teacher Linda Bishop. Her fourth grade students decided to try hydroponics (growing plants without soil). First they did some research, then contacted a local commercial hydroponic lettuce grower for advice. With his support, the students designed a PVC pipe and pump setup for growing lettuce hydroponically in their school greenhouse.

"My students had been reading about Native Americans and noticed the many references to corn and its range of uses," reports Cambridge, MA, third and fourth grade teacher Marianne Moll. "This inspired a series of questions about corn: Where did it come from? How did it grow? How was it used? So I drew on the students' curiosity, helping them to organize their questions and encouraging collaborative investigations."

Kindergarten classes at Carmel (IN) Elementary School cultivate flowers in Alaska, while fifth graders tend cotton and peanuts in the Deep South. They're not national travelers but participants in an ambitious "Courtyard U.S.A." garden project. Faced with the specter of expensive landscaping for a renovated school courtyard, teachers and PTO members brainstormed a more educational use of the courtyard.

To prepare her students for carving out a garden site in the schoolyard, middle school teacher Joan Dungey in Yellow Springs, OH, invited them to reflect on and write about their favorite childhood places. Students next shared their memories with a partner; then each pair presented highlights to the rest of the class. "I found it interesting that nearly all of the students recalled some sort of peaceful natural spot where they had played or explored the world as youngsters," notes Joan.

"The Root Loops activity in GrowLab: Activities for Growing Minds provided a great springboard for our third and fourth graders to explore how plants respond to gravity and other stimuli," reports Arcadia, IN, parent volunteer Debbie Mager. Students observed that each time they rotated the petri dishes with bean and corn seeds, the roots found their way downward. This prompted discussions about the effects of microgravity on the growth, flowering, and seed production of plants grown on space vehicles.