By: Kathy Mavity, 6th Grade Teacher at DMS
The Marathon Oil Unconventional Teaching grant was awarded in the fall of 2021 for the use of creating a sustainable garden. Since receiving the grant, my students and I have been learning about gardening and how to grow sustainable foods in the Dickinson, ND area.
In early March of 2022, we invited our Stark County Extension Agent, Kurt Froelich, into the classroom to provide background information about gardening to students. Mr. Froelich shared his PowerPoint about growing vegetables in container gardens, what varieties of vegetables would grow well in Dickinson, and the types of soils and fertilizer that were most common to use when maintaining gardens in our area. Students had many questions about growing our vegetables in school as well as growing vegetables at their homes. It was helpful to have an expert in our classroom, and Mr. Froelich has agreed to come in when we transplant into the bigger vegetable containers.
Toward the end of April, students chose their seeds, purchased potting soil, and collected egg cartons to begin the journey from ground to table. Students chose lettuce, beans, peas, cucumbers, and carrots as their growing cycle is best for students to see progress before school lets out for summer. One class period was devoted to labeling the cartons, placing dirt into the cups, planting the seeds, and setting up the table that would best provide light in their DMS discovery area. Students placed large black bags underneath the cups to trap light and heat onto the vegetable tables.
In my literacy classes, we have journaled the entire process and written poetry, informative text, and fictional narratives, which have included vegetables as a topic. Students will water the seeds daily while tracking growth over time within their notebooks. When the weather is conducive, the class will transplant the seedlings into rolling flower beds that can go outside for the sun and come inside when the wind is too much for them. Several students have signed on to care for the flower beds over the summer, and everyone is looking forward to harvesting the vegetables toward the end of summer.
The beauty of this project is that my current 6th graders will be able to care for and enjoy the flower beds during their entire time at DMS. The project also crosses the academic content area with measurement and volume in math as well as cellular structure in science. Students will keep their journals until the end of their 6th grade year, and then I will collect them to hand them back when they come in as 7th graders. It will be exciting to see how far the sustainable garden will go with students as they progress through middle school.