March 2nd & 3rd grade’s garden days

3/30/2023 1:15 pm

Note from our garden teacher: While in the garden today and yesterday, students participated in observations of their potato patches. It was noted that 3rd grade potatoes are taller and have more flowers. Students made the connection that the 3rd grade potatoes were planted first, therefore making them appear more mature. We investigated the bluebonnets and they were shown how to pull down the flower petal to reveal the pollen inside of the flower, just like the bees do. Some students planted cucumber, bean, cosmos, and cilantro seeds. A tomato plant and two pepper plants (mucho nacho, and sweet banana) were added to a bed along with some marigolds to keep away the pests. These seeds will need daily watering to encourage a higher rate of germination. We cannot wait to see all of the gardens come back to life this spring!

February 16th 2nd grade garden day

2/19/2023 8:14 pm

Note from our Garden Teacher Elanie: During Garden Day students participated in a discussion about ecosystems and the decomposers that are working hard to create a nutrient rich environment. I showed them my new worm farm and I think they were intrigued. I let them explore red wriggler worms, roly poly bugs, and snails on soil filled trays at their tables. It is always interesting to watch what happens shortly after I put the trays down. For most kids, it is like a magnet drawing them in to the middle of the table. They could hold the critters or just observe them on the tray. We discussed the weather and the planting of red la soda potatoes in their garden. We are having a contest between 2nd and 3rd grade when it comes to potato growing. Each bed was planted with 20 seed potato pieces. The number of eyes on each seed potato chunk was recorded on a craft stick and labeled in the garden. The 3rd grade garden has its first sprout after being planted on February 3. In May, we will harvest and count the number of potatoes harvested as well as the total pounds. One of the questions that we have is whether or not the number of eyes on a potato chunk has anything to do with the potato yield from that plant.

January 19th 2nd grade garden day

1/27/2023 5:32 pm

While in the garden today students observed live strawberry plants and fresh strawberries with hand lenses. The students helped to turn the soil in several beds and added fertilizer to get them ready for next months potatoes.Some groups helped to plant tulip bulbs in the butterfly gardens.

January 5th 3rd grade garden day

1/27/2023 4:40 pm

While in the garden today students observed live strawberry plants and berries. They recorded their observations on their record sheet. The students helped with the clean up after the freeze. It is important for them to see what happens after a prolonged freeze and to see the decomposition. Also it is important for them to know that our gardens will sprout again with new seeds very soon. One group planted new turnip seeds. Two other groups removed the dried sunflowers and we harvested the seeds from them to be replanted at a later date. Other groups removed dead/decomposing plants and tilled the soil.

2nd & 3rd grade harvesting Dec. 9, 2022

12/23/2022 6:03 pm

Click here to watch harvesting video!

November 18th 2nd grade garden day

11/26/2022 1:33 pm

In November students are learning about our Texas State Flower - The Bluebonnet! Students studied the life cycle of the Bluebonnet and how to identify the plant at all stages. They taped bluebonnet seeds to their papers to take home and are eager to see Bluebonnets blooming in Spring.

While in the garden today students observed all of the beautiful produce that is growing. They also were given the opportunity to taste the lettuce that they grew from seed.

November 3rd-3rd grade

11/9/2022 8:27 am

In November students are learning about our Texas State Flower: the bluebonnet! Students studied the life cycle of the bluebonnet and how to identify the plant at all stages. Each student had a bluebonnet seed taped to their paper to take home to plant in their own yard. The students looked at bluebonnet plants and explored their physical characteristics.

While most of our classes had garden day inside, Mrs. Chien's class was able to go outside after Field Day was over and they harvested many of your awesome radishes. They were all different shapes and sizes. We planted more radish seeds. We also saw some bluebonnet sprouts coming up in multiple beds in the garden area!

October 20th-3rd grade garden day

10/26/2022 5:01 pm

In October students are focusing on learning all about Monarch Butterflies and their fascinating migration! Make sure to ask your third graders about our Texas State Insect and a fun fact that they learned.

While in the garden today students took part in a discussion about the monarch life cycle and were able to see two of the stages live in my butterfly habitat. (pupa and larva) Our garden teacher was very impressed with their knowledge of science vocabulary (migrate, migration, predator, larva, pupa, monarch). They went into the gardens and looked at the sprouts that are coming up. Unfortunately the army worms have arrived in the gardens and are eating some of our sprouts. They had a discussion about food chains and the fact that the birds might like to have the army worms as a meal. They got to remove as many as we found. The students planted more seeds in the empty spaces.

Thank you PTO volunteer Jaynette Nguyen for watering our garden

10/26/2022 4:57 pm

October 6th -2nd grade garden day

10/25/2022 8:42 am

In October students are focusing on learning all about Monarch Butterflies and their fascinating migration! Ask your second graders about our Texas State Insect and a fun fact that they learned.

While in the garden today students learned all about the life cycle of monarch butterflies. They were able to observe the larva and pupa stage in the butterfly habitat. One group was able to watch the caterpillar that was hanging the the habitat in a J shape begin to make its chrysalis. One group of students saw a monarch in the garden area, but it was not close enough to capture and tag. All of the students investigated in the gardens and checked out the seeds they planted on their last visit. They planted more seeds in the places where more seeds were needed.