1. While at LVI I was put in charge of the third grade citizen farmer experiment. It
consisted of four 3rd grade classes (3R, 3H, 3S and 3Z) with a total of 100 students. Each student
was given a different task for the project; Composter, Gardner, Reporter, and Transportation of
the planters. The purpose of this project was to teach students how to observe, record data,
cause and effect, sustainability and responsibility, not just for the environment but
responsibility to take ownership of their own actions.
The gardener’s responsibilities were to water plants, weed soil, and record their actions
in the class binder through notes and sketches. The reporter’s responsibilities were as followed;
take notes on weather conditions for the day including temperature, cloud cover, wind
conditions and precipitation. They were also responsible for documenting garden growth
through notes and sketches. The gardener and reporter would come out for 10 minutes from
their recess around 1:00pm and do their duties.
Composting started in February and the gardening started at the end of March. The
compost mostly consisted of soil, bread, tomatoes, fruits, paper and vegetables. Heather and
Kelly from 3H commented “the compost smells like nature.” The students would collect the
items after lunch and throw them in the composter that was stationed in the science lab. The
weather this year was very different from past years. We actually had to bring the planters
inside a couple times because it fell below 40 degrees. The “norm” of weather we had was in
the 50-60 degree range for the beginning and by the time we started to leave the planters out
24/7 it had warmed up to the 70’s with a high in the 80’s a few times.
The 3R and 3Z composters seemed to really enjoy themselves. They described their
experience as hard work but at the same time, fun and easy. The gardeners and reporters really
took the time to observe their gardens and take notes. On Fridays they would poke holes in the
soil and put in extra water for over the weekend. On May 22nd, there was an interesting
development of a “mystery plant with a furry stem is in our garden” stated Dylan T. The 3H and
3S composters had a lot of comments about the worms in the soil. “We compared the
earthworms and red wiggler worms...one was fat the other skinny, one was active and one was
not.” Commented by Andy and Stella. On April 30th they were excited to “see the cool red
stems of the radish” and “the T-Greens were growing so fast.” Commented Drew. The 3S and
3Z composters were excited to throw watermelon and orange peels into the composter. “More
fruit-made red wigglers happy.” Commented by Frankie and Ava.
I believe full heartily that the students had a fun time learning about composting and
gardening because of this hands-on, in-depth garden project. By the middle to the end of the
project, students were rushing out of recess to come do the garden. I would hear them talking
to the teachers about how much their gardens have grown and it is because of their hard work.
The project reached across curriculum. They connected it in science with learning about
germination, seeds, soil testing, irrigation, and worms. It was connected into ELA by having the
students write their observations and composing articles about their experiments. This project
even connected into art with students decorating their planters, and making sketches of their
planters in class.

2. I believe that it is important for student to have experiences like this because it shows
students that they can do this at home, they can grow their vegetables for consumption and
make healthier eating choices. Schools gardens serve as outdoor classrooms where plant
growth from seed can be observed directly and experimented with. The students are learning
how to making hypothesizes and to test their ideas; what happens if I don’t water the soil, what
would happen if we leave the planters outside every day and over night? It is worth nothing
that I had one student Diego, he was poor in verbal communication due to ESL however, when
in the garden he drew the most vivid detailed diagram of what he saw—this garden allowed
him to communicate in a way he felt comfortable, it allowed space for different learning styles.
Even though the school garden was not a traditional way of learning or teaching, I sent
academic goals with my students and they exceeded the expectation I had for them. I would
love to be able to do a school garden again with a new set of students. I would also like to
mention that in the 1998 study sponsored by the state department of education “Closing the
Achievement Gap; Using the Environment as an Integrated Contest for Learning,” found that
youth who experienced curricula in schools where the environment served as the primary
classroom, school gardens included, fared better on standardized measures of achievement in
math, reading, language, and spelling (Lieberman and Hoody 1998).