Posted on 05/16/2009 8:56:03 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
Knowledge that you can eat? That's exactly what local school parents and teachers have been cooking up. Carrots, celery, kumquats and lemons are only a few of the delectable items that parents and students get from the school garden at Booksin Elementary.
While school gardens have been gaining momentum in San Jose, one group of parents is pushing to bring garden-based curriculum into more classrooms. The Booksin school foundation and parent volunteers are working on a grass roots pilot program to turn the campus garden at 1590 Dry Creek Road into a training center for teachers from other schools in the San Jose Unified School District. Teachers would use the Booksin garden to learn how to conduct classroom activities, and then bring that knowledge back to their students, says parent Jennifer Mowery.
"The big picture goal is to get other schools involved here "... provide a learning center for schools in the form of a science-based teaching garden," Mowery says.
At a third of an acre, every square inch is utilized...
"We have two special education classrooms here," says Mowery. "Before, [students] would spend their time sitting at a bench in the playground. Now, they are digging in the dirt, seeing the bugs and thriving." In another class, students grew broccoli and bok choy, and when the veggies were ready, students ate them for lunch.
"The kids ate every bite!" Mowery says.
Booksin held its fourth school farm stand recently to sell its homegrown organic produce along with donated items.
The group of garden parents at Booksin raised $900 in March and held two other farm stands in January and December 2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
On the other hand, maybe this program will help the kids prepare for soup-line American under Obama.
Lastly, I thought the feds were stopping the selling of home-grown foods. Don't these aging hippies know they are running afoul of The Messiah's laws?
It would prepare a generation of lettuce pickers to grow and pick lettuce. It is an honorable profession and one that will pay big bucks when it is fully unionized by Zero.
Preparation for the North Korea like economy. “Those who do not toil, do no eat!” Everybody, except Dear Father-Leader must toil in the fields to produce the food.
Of course people who are living in that manner,formerly referred to as serfs,are too busy doing,and too exhausted from,the labor to have time to learn or influence policies.They can only hope their "betters" rule wisely.
For really big bucks,the kids should be growing hemp!I understand there is a huge market for hemp products.(If only the government would admit that Prohibition the Sequel hasn’t worked any better than the first attempt.)
We have truly come full circle. We used to teach the skill necessary to live at home, and send them to school to learn the 3 R’s. Now the schools teach birth control, how to garden, and how to be a PC useful idiot and we have to teach our kids the 3 Rs and history. Sheesh.
Anytime one school gets an advantage over another, guess which ethnic group is told to screw???
At least they are not boring these poor kids with icky things like math and science.
Growing a kumquat is a much better use of school resources.
This is a nice side-project, but really, does a school garden merit a newspaper article? What about a robotics program or a reading Olympics or something that allows kids to actually develop critical thinking skills and applied knowledge to something that will prepare them to succeed in the 21st century?
School gardens are a great idea.
The Boston Public School I attended 50+ years ago had a garden. When I taught science 40 years ago, I started a school garden.
The Good Lord knows there's worse things they can get into at school.
Schools are woefully unprepared for the 21st century.
The competitive spirit might have died in schools, but in "Reality Street" they will be essential.
Parents are the key (They always have been).
The gap between rich (well educated and balanced) compared to poor ( Dumb, with a lack of interest, knowledge, and enthusiasm) will explode in the next few decades.
This is my district, and this is just a publicity stunt.
The district closed another school a few years back (my kids’ school), and it had a great garden and nature preserve. It was lovely, and I liked it.
Of course, the school pretty much bull-dozed the whole garden so that they could make more money renting out the space.
San Jose Unified is a horrible money grabbing school district.
Booksin is actually one of the better schools in the district, but it is because of the parents and teachers, not the district officials.
What do you want to bet the children of the scientists and engineers as well as the managers of Silicon Valley don’t have to participate in the gardening?
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