Garden Curriculum for the upcoming school year

Here are the Garden Curriculum themes for the 2010-11 school year:

Kindergarten will study SOIL with highlights being vermicomposting (wormbins) in the K classrooms, engaging the boy scouts to build a compost bin from our left over wood and chicken wire, and studying what make soil healthy.

1st Grade will study SEEDS, they will study seed anatomy, seed diversity, how to save seeds and then save some from this year's garden. They can do a sunflower seed tasting in the Fall and a pea tasting in the Spring.

2nd Grade will have HARVEST, they can have a small Harvest Party in the Fall with the end of season produce. They can relate their celebration to the American Thanksgiving celebration. They can learn how to "keep" certain produce. They can decide what to do with the rest of the produce- cafeteria, donate, sell.

3rd Grade will have BENEFICIALS studying bugs, ecosystems, companion planting and planning.

4th Grade will have THE THREE SISTERS referring the Iroquois method of planting corn, squash and beans. They will plant the Three Sisters in the Spring. They can have a popcorn party this Fall with the corn we grew this summer. They can study the many uses of corn in industrialized societies. This theme will tie in with Parkdale's Intercultural Exchange (ICE) program this year.

Suggestions for an abundance of produce

This past week volunteers, Jennifer and her son Christopher brought over 7 cucumbers and 2 zucchini to the East Aurora Senior Center from the Parkdale Community Garden. The gifts were well received. We can add the East Aurora Senior Center to our list of places extra produce can be dropped off to. This goes for your own garden too, if you have zucchini coming out of your ears please consider finding a local place that would benefit greatly from donations of produce.