RE: Re: School Garden

H* A*

Others will talk to you about gardening activities with kids. Having done
some of this with 2nd graders, gardening can be hard to keep their attention
with.  I'd suggest that you try starting some seeds in the class room and do
some window sill gardening first.

I'm assuming that your brownstone has a back yard and that you have some sun
(we do some shade gardening in the Clinton Community Garden, but it really
is a grown-up gardeners project and the most colorful plants are often
toxic.) If it is typical, there are some flat stones and some grass. If it's
paved over entirely, then containers are the way to grow.

Do yourself and the nursery school a favor, send samples of the soil that
you have to the Cornell Agricultural extension and ask them to check it for
lead ( from lead paint).If it's there, keep the kids out of it. Lead is
developmentally dangerous to kids. Check out the NYC Board of Health website
on lead poisoning. Suggestions? Do window sills, or pave over the back yard
and do containers.

Have a real gardener/nursery school person run the activities in an age
appropriate way for pre-schoolers. Avoid mud fights and thrown shovels ( we
have this problem with grown ups at the Clinton Community Garden.) 

I'm sure someone else will suggest all sorts of books on the subject and
lesson plans. Be sure you have parent and experience gardener back up. Maybe
you should do pots next year, do some paperwhites and other bulbs in the
classroom while you get the backyard perpared for gardening.

Good luck,
Adam

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Sgnger@aol.com [SMTP:Sgnger@aol.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, February 15, 2000 10:11 PM
> To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
> Subject:	[cg] Re: School Garden
> 
> How can a small Nursery school, located in a brownstone in Manhattan start
> a 
> school garden? It would be a nice project for all families to do for Earth
> 
> Day.  Any ideas?  Have you undertaken a similar project?
> 
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