Wow! Those are great ideas that the kids will love. They would also be great for inclement weather days that we are sure to get this time of the year. Thanks for sharing!
Original Message:
Sent: 11-29-2023 08:10:27 PM
From: Lara Guerra
Subject: Celebrating with Holiday Plants
I ask my 1st and 2nd graders about the smells that remind them of special holidays in their family. We invariably end up mentioning spices, so that is a great lead in to this short video from Tesco Eat Happy Project about the history of spices.
My 1st graders assemble a simple spice simmering mix that includes bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, citrus peel, and pine sprigs. They put it in a brown paper lunch sack that they decorate with winter scenes and then we fold the top and tie on a tag with a bit of ribbon. Sometimes I even have the mixture simmering in the classroom while they're working on assembling everything.
My 2nd graders learn about pomanders through a short Powerpoint, and then make a small pomander with a clementine (thin skin!), bamboo skewer, and cloves. We tie a ribbon around it, add a stick of cinnamon, and a spring of greenery on the top and they take it home to hang on their tree or just put in a bowl to scent the house. I purchase all of my spices in large bags at Indian/Pakistani groceries. The dried citrus peel comes from a Chinese market and it's actually tangerine skins. While we work, we talk about the spices and what part of the plant they're from.
My kindergarteners force paperwhite bulbs on stones. Lowes and Home Depot sell bags of gravel for about $8 each and I dump these in the sink in batches to wash off the grit and sand. We get the bulbs in bulk through our facilities department. Each bulb goes into a 16oz cup from Sams and we decorate with winter-themed stickers. Each child starts 2 bulbs - one to take home and one that is give to a local nursing home in support of that grade level's community service theme of honoring the elderly. We do more with the bulbs than just put them on stones -- bulbs are weighed, measured, and drawn. As the plants grow they are measured and drawings are done of their growth. They learn the parts of the bulb, and then we dissect daffodil bulbs that I buy in bags at Lowes in the fall. They have their bulb anatomy sheet next to them when they dissect and they see if they can find all of the parts that we named - tunic, basal plate, roots, flower stalk and bud, and so forth. We talk about bulbs we eat and bulbs we do not. And finally, we plant narcissus bulbs in a large bed behind the school and I mark it with a sign so our community knows to congratulate our kindergarten gardeners. It's a fun unit and one I look forward to every year! Three great books that I use during this unit are listed below.
Paperwhite by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Bloom by Deborah Diesen
Last Tulips in Holland by Phyllis Krassilovsky
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[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
Original Message:
Sent: 11-29-2023 11:04:52 AM
From: Kim Aman
Subject: Celebrating with Holiday Plants
Our world is a melting pot full of rich backgrounds with beautiful cultures, and the holidays are a perfect time to weave holiday traditions, celebrations and fun into garden- based learning. There is so much to celebrate this time of the year! <o:p></o:p>
Check out this Holiday Plant Lesson from Grow Garden Grow. (see attached) You can also find holiday content in the Resource Section of Kids Gardening.
We would love to hear the ways that you incorporate the holiday season into garden-based learning. We are stronger together! <o:p></o:p>
Enjoy the season! Happy Gardening!<o:p></o:p>
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Kim Aman
Grow Garden Grow
Dallas TX
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