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TEACHER REFLECTIONS
ON THE EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD By Beth Sonnenberg The Edible Schoolyard Kitchen and Garden program provides an opportunity for teachers to share a common place with their students – to see them in a different setting and utilizing a variety of skills – and serves as an outdoor laboratory to construct a better understanding of the natural world. The kitchen and garden at MLK Middle School are beautiful classrooms. Many students are connected to the school through these places. A new language and culture emerge through the program. Strange entities such as the Ramada, a Kossack Pineapple, the wavy knife, Henrietta, Cous Cous, and Michaella and (the chickens), or "final circle" have become familiar, a kind of common property. Students rarely miss school on garden and kitchen days; some have shoes especially for the garden; many choose the job they do in the garden according to which adult they want to spend time with; they feel they are really 'working' when they are in the garden. One of my students announced in the kitchen after the introduction of the recipe and explanation of ingredients for the day, "We made this whole thing!" in reference to having grown the vegetables and cooked them too. Integration of the core curriculum can be easily done in many ways using the common experience of the garden. When we studied erosion in 6th grade this year we had a very real example. Due to construction at the school, a steep hillside with absolutely no vegetation on it was created next to the garden. After we had done a variety of activities from the Landforms FOSS kit, and read in our textbooks about erosion, we designed ways to keep the soil on the hillside and prevent erosion. As a science teacher I used this as an assessment tool, and students were able to make recommendations for a real situation. A benefit of having a program like ours at school is the opportunity to see students in another setting where everyone can be successful. Students choose jobs they would like to do in the garden, and work with adults and peers in cooperative groups to complete tasks. Many students are very successful in the garden but less so in the classroom. As a teacher it is very important to see individual strengths exhibited in a different setting, to develop a better picture of the whole child. Lastly, focusing on sensory education allows students to build observation skills of the world around them. Tasting new things, really looking at something carefully in the garden, watching for changes over time, touching the soil or a fuzzy leaf, or listening to an insect call for a mate, all these experiences connect the children to the earth and make them more aware of their place in it. back to top |
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| © 2006 The Edible Schoolyard | ||||||
