Holy Spirit Gardeners At The Keep ND Hunger Free Garden

Great job to all the students who harvested fruit and veggies from the school garden. This is our 3rd year doing this garden. Our garden is at the Northern Plains Botanical Society by Yunker Farm.  Thank you to the North Dakota Farm Bureau, Miss Gail, and North Dakota State, and the Botanical Society for their support in so many ways.

  Our food went to those in need at the F-M Food Pantry.  We also used it as a means to learn about eating healthy, growing healthy food, and gardening.This is just another way we promote the importance of eating fruits and vegetables with our students.

 Our first place national award for last year's flash mob added music and movement to a learning experience of reinforcing the need to eat fruits and vegetables, while this opportunity gives the students hands on experiences to learn about growing this food! We are committed to helping others, educating our students, and keeping healthy.

Hunger Free Garden

The school garden is officially planted, watered, and loving the sunshine!  The potted plants are flourishing in our new raised beds at the Northern Plains Botanical Gardens, and seeds are starting to sprout!  We will be entering a contest for our peas, so we're keeping a close eye on them and their progress. Check out the new book (and contest ) "First Peas To The Table", as the story talks about how Thomas Jefferson used to have contests to see who could get the peas to the table first over 200 years ago!  There are a lot of gardening ideas in this book too. (Check back for extended educational activities and lessons to diversify your students' learning soon.)

Have you noticed the strings and the boxes in the photo? We are experimenting with "Square Foot Gardening." We have 11 raised beds to plant in this year.  We planted beans, peas, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, peppers, radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, egg plants, and even some flowers. Watermelon is a new crop for us this year.  We hope to have a "Watermelon Party" in August or September when it's harvest time. Square Foot Gardening is the name of another book you might be interested in by Mel Bartholomew.  I find this method of gardening very fun also.

Miss Gail and I will be involved in classes both in Fargo and Denver until the end of June, so we'll get the weeding crew ready to go in July!  We hope to see you at the Keep North Dakota Hunger Free garden then!

Growing Jack's Beanstalk

"Making Learning Whole"...Literacy, Science, Technology, Health and Nutrition, Math, Social Studies...we are incorporating all aspects of the unit on Jack and the Beanstalk into all curriculum areas!

Some students created computer projects on beans, cows, clouds, and gold, including facts and photos on a powerpoint presentation, others on Animoto.

EngineerGirl! Food Engineering Essay Contest - 2012

http://www.engineergirl.org/CMS/Contest/food2012.aspx

Ag and Science Fun

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/kids/index.html

Everything from insects to food. Lots of fun!

Garden Time Out of Season

Photo from WomansDay

Don't these Garden Party Cupcakes bring to mind a serene sunny day spent in your garden?

Woman's Day shows you how to "grow" your own garden cupcakes. The seed packets are made from graham crackers and frosting; the dirt from chocolate cookie crumbs; and the veggies from various colorful fruit chews (Starburst, Jolly Rancher, Tootsie Rolls) and green-dyed corn flakes!

Aren't these perfect for an afternoon garden party?

Our School Garden: 2011

Keep North Dakota Hunger Free Garden

Friday is Weeding Day

9:00 July 22 is you can come to weed.  Bring gloves, tools, bug spray, a hat, water, and a smile.  A bucket helps to put weeds in too!

New York Botanical Garden

Devoted to public education and creating knowledge.  I enjoyed watching this and thought you might too.

NY Botanical Garden

Salads and Plant Parts

Super Salads to learn about!

The Greenhouse Gang at The Northern Plains Botanic Garden Society

Garden Spoons

Garden markers are very important to us as we get our garden started, but they're especially helpful to young students to show them what and where we've planted.  We're getting ready for our Hunger Free North Dakota Garden, and as always, we continue to combine our life lessons in with our core curriculum.  We write as much as possible and  strive to be great! 

Check out these garden markers. 

http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-cute-garden-markers.html

Herbs for the School Kitchen

Here's Joe, Drew, and Anna trimming herbs for Sharon our school cook. I wonder what she'll cook with fresh rosemary?

Get Well Lisa

Lisa, Executive Director of South Dakota's Ag in the Classroom, and president for the National Ag in the Classroom Program needs our prayers, and we're happy to send them her way! We ask the Lord's healing power on you, Lisa.  Best wishes and prayers from our classroom and all of us Ag-sters in North Dakota!

God Bless The Farmer

http://www.ndfb.org/?id=182

Cool Careers In Science and Ag

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/CoolCareers/coolestcareers.htm

plus Agriculture Research Services
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/

North Dakota

Edward and Josh included many agricultural facts about our state in their presentation! Hooray for North Dakota! Hooray for North Dakota farmers!

I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Cheeseburger

Writing About Need To Know Information

Writing, Writing, Writing!  It's important to keep those students writing ...no matter what age.  I like to have some type of writing assignment going at all times.  Most assignments serve to see if the students are using their skills I've  been working on regarding grammar, punctuation, proper punctuation, correct possessive and plural use ...you name it. 

I always stress to them to use beautiful words... $$ words, not nickel words.  Awesome adjectives, colorful verbs, super sentence starters are a must!  I give my students an abundant amount of adjectives to encourage them to include in their writing.  Encouraging them to use their five senses by including words to help the reader see, hear, smell, feel will allow the reader to better engage in the written word.

This week we're including agriculture into our writing in a couple of ways.  After teaching them a couple songs, "Plant A Seed And Watch It Grow", (to the tune "It's A Small World After all") and Popcorn, (based on the Tomie dePaola Popcorn Book)  my students are writing about planting, germinating, growing and knowing where their food comes from.   When complete, they'll receive a coupon for a kids meal.  (Thank you Granite City)

When done writing about the history of "popcorn",  we'll have a "Popcorn Party"!  

(Remember...songs assist literacy in a variety of ways...the left to right aspect, the tune pulls them through more difficult words, they've got spelling words/vocabulary words right there accessible to them, in addition to providing them with facts and details.)

It's fun to include food that students eat in their daily lives.   Often the educational aspect is just waiting to be brought to the surface to enjoy too.

Quinoa What??

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/how-to-make-quinoa-the-powerhouse-seed-2410950/