The Garden Project

Peels, Plants and a Barrel

Function, Responsibility, Nature

Some of the K2 students noticed a large barrel in the EY playground. We decided to share 3 images with the children to spark their curiosity and help them explore connections. 

How might these three images be connected?

The children began to share what they noticed, tapping into their prior knowledge to share their viewpoints.

Many of the children wondered about the barrel. It looked strange. They decided that it must be for water. They thought that the barrel was connected to the plants because plants need water to grow.

• Do banana peels grow into plants?
• Are the peels good for the plants?
• Why do we need a barrel of water near the garden plots?
• Is the water for the toilets?

We wonder how we can find out about the barrel. Perhaps the community can help us with our research.

A group of volunteers interviewed the teachers and students to see what they could find out about the barrel.

-What is it?

-How is it used?

-Why is it in the playground?

The team came back to share what they had learned.

Tracey “We were spinning the barrel. We can’t put worms in it because the worms will get sick.”

Two children went outdoors to test the barrel to see if it does spin around.  

• Noah “I asked Kyle What is this?”
• Allen “Ms. Dora says this is eat food put on the bin. Apples and banana peels and watermelon. No eggs.”
• Mason “We go to some teachers and children and we asked them ‘What is this?’. And they said you put some rubbish in it. We can’t put plastic and glass and meat and egg.”
• Noah “We can put egg shells in it.”

The research group documented their ideas on chart paper.

They watched a short video on what to put into a compost bin to help them expand on their initial thinking. The team visited PreK-K1B and Keira presented the ideas her class had documented on chart paper.

two children presented what they learned about the items that can go into the compost bin.

We wondered what we might do next?

Some of the children suggested that we begin to collect the food we throw away and put it in the compost bin. A few other children wondered what will happen to the food if we left it out.

-Perhaps ants might come in to eat the food.

-It might get yucky.

Nicolas explained that when you put these types of foods into the bin, they get rotten. Then, the soil can be used to put into the plants and that will help all the fruits and vegetables grow!

We know that we can use our senses to observe and notice the changes that happen in nature. We know that we use these skills to help us make decisions. We look forward to seeing how these observations may lead to action.

Our work as composters begin…

 

Composting

(Change, Nature)

We read a book about composting to learn more about the process, following our decision to make compost for our EY garden.

We noticed how excited the children were about the worms.

• Noah explained how the worms make holes in the soil and that they help the plants grow.
• Mason said he had worms at home.
• Ms. Shemo told the children that Ms. Hannah was an expert on worms and gardening. The children wanted to learn more about the worms.

We decided to leave a tray of left over fruit and vegetables to see what happens to it over time.

• Kenan noticed that the fruit had shrunk in size over the two days.
• Tracey said the fruit might attract the ants as they like to eat fruit.

We wonder what more we can learn about the worms.

• How do they live?
• How do they help us?
• What do they eat?
• Do we have worms in our bodies?

 

 

Composting and Worms

We have been reading books about composting as a result of our inquiry into the composting barrel in the EY playground.

The children had many theories about food and so we left fruits and vegetables out in the classroom to observe what happens to them over time.

During a discussion on composting, we noticed that the children were particularly interested in learning more about worms:

• How do they live?
• How do they help us?
• What do they eat?
• Do we have worms in our bodies?

Ms. Hannah is an expert in the garden. She likes to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.

We decided to invite Ms. Hannah to talk about her worm farm and compost bins.

Ms. Hannah showed the children the worms. “We cannot squish them.

They don’t like to feel dry.”

Ms. Hannah let the children hold the worms in their hands. The children squealed with delight.

• Mason “We can put the tomato and broccoli in the soil and the worms will eat it.”
• Kenan “We can not put the box on the table because the worms will eat the fruit on the table. We need to close it.”
• Tracey “We need to give them some water, some mud and soil.”
• Patrick “And we can put some sticks and wood and cut the tree and put some wood on the floor. And sticks on the top for the worms to climb.”
• Tracey “Why do the worms eat mud?”
• Patrick “Why can the worms eat the stinky things?”
• Doho “Why are the worms long?”
• Mason “Why can’t the worm drink water?”
• Kenan “I think he doesn’t have a mouth. He can use his nose.”
• Heidi “How come we can see lots of worms when it is raining outside?”
• Tracey “Because the worms need water. And the worms will dry.”
• Patrick “The worms like the rain, when it comes down the water is all over and the worms like yucky and then the wet.”
• Tracey “We can use some plates and the top like a house.
• Mason “Inside have some soil and mud. We need to put the tomato and we put the brocolli and carrot in the worm’s box.”
• Tracey “We need to put food all the time. Then we can help the worms by putting more food.”

Here are Ms. Hannah’s compost bins.

• Tracey “This water is good for the flowers.”
• Noah “The earthworms make the soil soft and that is good for the plants.”

The children wondered what was in the following pictures.

What are these?

We watched a time lapse of worms in a compost bin.

The children decided the following:

• give the worms some leftover food
• put the food waste in the composter
• put some worms in the composter
• add lots of leaves, food and some soil in the composter