Northern Guilford Middle's gardening club

Northern Guilford Middle's gardening club is growing seedlings to share with Jefferson Elementary gardening students. Service Learning is a big component of their gardening plans. Students are beginning to grow plants to sell to parents to fund gardening projects.

School Garden Network Coordinator Cynthia Nielsen (far left) and Science teacher Fran Lusk (3rd from right) met with students to leran about garden design options.

They are also getting ready to build ten raised beds near their greenhouse. The students are designing the garden which will go on this plot of land, as part of their club activities, 

Vice Principal Brian Lee and 7th grade science teacher Fran Lusk are heading up the Garden committee at NGM and are 

planning their build day Feb. 7th.

Fairview Elementary Sweet Potato pie project!

Fun service learning project culmination!  Third graders planted the sweet  potatoes in the spring, harvested them in the fall and cured them. Next they spent a month planning and completing this project:

 Making and baking sweet potato pies for the Open Door Ministry's soup kitchen!

Service Learning at its Best!!!

​From:​ 

Sandra Lubchenko

​, AG teacher at 

 

​          ​

Brooks

​ ​

​

Global

​ Studies Elementary.

Studying worms (vermiculture) at Brooks Global

​ Sudies Elementary​:  

Students used donated Mason Jars to create worm homes. They placed in gravel, dirt and food for the worms. Then after the worms were used to their surroundings, they did some light and movement experiments to look at the worms

​'​

 reactions.

​ Here are photos!​

GCS Gardens: Bumper Sweet Potato Harvests!

 Lindley Elementary 4th graders dug 45 pounds of sweet potatoes, purple and orange,out of a 4'x10' garden bed last week!They sold some at the Corner Market Saturday.

Saving the rest for students to taste!

Jones Elementary has its biggest participation yet in their school garden and by far the most from the leadership side. Nearly 400 students are 

directly working in the garden.

Students harvested over 75 pounds of sweet potatoes from one supersized bed!

Irving Park Elementary also had a bumper crop of 

sweet potatoes this fall with their first ever harvest 

of this tasty tuber!

Harvesting sweet potatoes feels like an

Easter egg hunt in the soil! Students love it!

Fairview Elementary is one of 9 elementary schools in High Point where school gardens are supported by energetic FoodCorp service members. They are also enjoying harvesting a bumper crop of sweet potatoes.

Lots of applied math possibilities here! 

Records can be kept to compare different years 

yield vs. temperature and water applications.

 What do all these schools do with their sweet potato harvest? Many things! One of the tastiest outcomes are tastings prepared by teachers, parents, and volunteers working with students to prepare and taste vegetables prepared in many different ways.

Chefs Move to Schools is a great program to introduce students to the many tasty ways

the vegetables they grow can be prepared.

They are members of GTCC’s Culinary program and present programs in our elementary schools.

 A number of schools sell their produce as a fundraiser for their gardening programs. These are done on-site or at various Farmer’s Markets in Guilford County.

Lindley Elementary has led the way in offering this type of setting for their harvests.

More and more schools use their garden harvest for service learning projects. Donations are made to organizations like Share the Harvest, Greensboro Urban Ministry, and other organizations.

A big thank you to all of our teachers, parents, other volunteers, and students who are making school gardens successful in our Guilford County Schools!

School Garden Network Workshop at Irving Park Elementary

On a warm blue sky afternoon last Thursday teachers and parent volunteers, and other community members gathered at Irving Park Elementary for hands-on training by some of our best school garden experts in

Guilford and Rockingham Counties.

Our first presenter, Sarah Crawford, trained as a Master Gardener and has many years of experience training teachers and teaching students. She demonstrated her knowledge of planting, fertilizing, watering, and composting for workshop attendees. Next, attendees took a turn doing these activities themselves. Sarah is currently the garden director at the Cald Cleugh Multicultural Center.

Next, Jenny Kimmel, gardening director at Greensboro Montessori demonstrated the developmentally appropriate garden activities for children from kindergarten through middle school. She also shared specialty garden ideas and Vermiculture bins that are both portable and inexpensive ways to teach about recycle.

Deborah Crumpton was our final presenter of the day. Deborah is a farmer and an educator. She grows herbs at her Running Pine Herb Farm. She taught school for 16 years and is the School Garden Coordinator for Rockingham County Extension. Deborah shared her vast knowledge of growing and using herbs with attendees. She brought lots of perennial and annual herbs for attendees and described how to plant and these plants that are so popular in school gardens.

This was the first day of our two day workshop hosted by Irving Park Elementary. Next Thursday another group of presenters experienced in teaching in school gardens will demonstrate lesson plans teaching school curriculum

 and tastings from the garden.

If your school is interested in hosting a School Garden Workshop in the spring, please contact Cynthia Nielsen, School Garden Network Coordinator at nielsen.cynthial@gmail.com

Lindley Elementary Compost Bins get a Make-over!

Size of particles, ratio of carbon and nitrogen containing materials, water, temperature, and mixing ALL matter in order to make good compost. We want a carbon/nitrogen ratio of 4/1. 

Carbon is found in dry leaves, straw, basically any brown colored material.

Nitrogen is found in grass clippings, and most kitchen scraps.

Layering is important to proper anaerobic and aerobic breakdown of organic material.

Palmer McIntyre, Garden coordinator at Lindley Elementary worked with Sarah Norton, UNCG Nutrition student and Cynthia Nielsen, School Garden Network Coordinator to recondition their compost bins.

Pitchforks work well for mixing. The compost material Should be kept moist. 

Not too dry or too soggy, Just right!

Fun-Filled Garden Teacher Training at Fairview Elementary

Fairview Elementary School new staff participated in a fun filled garden teacher training conducted by Melissa FoodCorps Tinling .

 The brand new staff found out how much fun they can have in the garden as they get ready to use the outdoor learning center with their students this year! 

— at Fairview Elementary School. High Point, NC