In our youth oriented culture, getting older tends to herald the decline of bodily functions and a wistful outlook, with memories of good times receding in the past. The silver lining of growing older, is that you get to witness how things turn out. In my case, I get to hear about the kids I […]
Ten days ’til Christmas! Planning simple holiday themed activities helps to channel some of that palpable energy. The trick is to keep the projects simple. When kids’ sensory systems are overloaded with multi-colored lights, never-ending Christmas music and constantly changing routines, they don’t need any motor planning challenges. Activities that incorporate easy to do steps […]
I have been making gingerbread houses as a holiday celebration activity with the students for many years and it has become almost legendary. The children are thrilled. While it looks like all fun (and is!), I glean a great deal of information from this holiday activity. Benefits: I use the activity as an assessment of each […]
It’s time to Tuck in the Garden. As Daylight Savings ends and temperatures plummet, the days of growing delicious food at the Truro Community Children’s Garden is ending for the season. We’ll still be able to snitch kale and mint leaves for smoothie snacks, but our big job right now is preparing the garden beds […]
Some folks LOVE GOOEY and others HATE GOOEY. I have a colleague who confessed that she wretches just looking at a worm. And yet the children at our community garden love worms. They search for them, hold them, stroke them and carry them around. A little girl placed several on her arm and tilted her […]
Each year at the Truro Community Children’s Garden, an animal is selected as the featured “pet” for the year. The nascent gardeners learn about them, draw pictures of them and feature them in garden displays as the season draws to a close. Last year the children selected chickens. They learned about the obvious benefit of […]
When discussing our collective experiences in growing a Children’s Garden at the Truro Central School, a second grader summed it up by stating, “I like making food.” The students participated in the process of planting seeds, amending and tending to the soil, weeding and best of all, harvesting delicious food. Along the way, they acquired […]
While May and June are packed with fun, the “To Do List” runs on and on. Graduations, birthdays, Father’s Day and the “End of the Year Gift” for EVERYONE. When you have one child this list might be manageable but multiply the offsprings by 2 or 4 active children and the list looks more like […]
The “Sustainability,” “Whole Foods,” “Locavore,” “Buy local…organic,” etc. is a relatively new exciting buzz in our food world. When I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I became a convert. The Kingsolver family took a 12 month challenge to eat ONLY foods grown within a 50 mile radius of their small family farm in Virginia. […]
May is a crazy month for most of us. End of school parties…projects…grading…barbecues…sports…the list goes on and on. And that’s just the START for a farmer. There are many tasks to accomplish and the calendar does not wait for a free day or nice weather. This past week, the school garden had a long list […]
We’ve all had our share of rainy days this spring. So, what to do when the temperature plummets (yet again), the wind whips and rain drums against the windows? I squeezed into three layers of clothes, dreading my three hours in the raw, biting cold. Happily upon arrival, I discovered that Stephanie, our expert farmer, […]