Saturday, November 10, 2012

Maize, beans, and squash! If you want a small, easy-to-manage, school garden project that is rich with learning opportunities, you may want to grow the Three Sisters, just as the Wampanoag did in the early 1600s. Bill Cassell, 3rd grade teacher at the L.D. Batchelder School in North Reading will get you started with curriculum connections to math, science, and history, plus how-to-do-it instructions, sample lessons, seed sources, and a few memorable stories. Participants who want to give the Three Sisters a twirl will receive a bag of heritage Flint seed corn to take back to the school. Appropriate for all grades.

Instructor: Cassell, 3rd Grade Teacher, L.D. Batchelder Elementary School in North Reading and our 2007 Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom Teacher of the Year

This workshop will offer an overview of the science of composting. Learn how to get started, construct the compost pile, balance nitrogen and carbon materials, and reach optimum moisture and temperature in the bin. You will also study the organisms in the compost, such as red wigglers, mold, and bacteria. Certified home compost coordinator Karen Kullas will also offer tips for presenting compost to students and ideas for what works and captures their attention. Complimentary samples of the various stages of composting will be available. Appropriate for all grades.

Instructor: Karen Kullas of Berkley, MA has been a DEP certified home composting coordinator since 1994.

Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the nation and here in Massachusetts. In Walpole Director of Food Services Maria Hall teamed up with Susan Prindall, School Nurse to tackle this issue. They will offer an overview of obesity and suggest strategies that will encourage and engage our youth to consume nutrient-rich foods (low-fat and fat-free dairy foods, fruits, vegetables and whole grains) and achieve at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Target audience: All grade levels.

Instructors: Susan Prindall, School Nurse at the Johnson Middle School in Walpole and Maria Hall, Registered Dietitian, School Nutrition specialsist and Director of Food Service for the Walpole Public Schools

When the frosty evenings of fall kill off all but the hardiest of vegetables in the garden and the trees shed their glorious cloak of autumn foliage, it needn't be the end of horticultural pursuits. Landscape horticulturist Warren Leach from Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth will offer up a variety of activities that you can bring into your classroom from the school yard and woodlands. Try forcing branches and bulbs, keying out winter buds, preserving autumn leaves, collecting and saving seeds, propagating plants from cuttings and divisions; building terrariums and more. He will offer instructions for each and tips for success. THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW FULL.

Instructor: Warren Leach, landscape horticulturist and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery, Rehoboth

Workshop 1: Starting a Community Garden Project

There are many ways to start a community garden. Using the Harvests From The Heart garden project located in Wrentham as a model, garden organizer Ken Oles will offer a power presentation to showcase initial steps in planning, organizing and maintaining a community garden. From choosing a name for your project to starting seeds and initial cultivation, this workshop will facilitate planning while identifying pitfalls that may occur. The following specific items will be addressed: site selection and preparation, team-building, start-up costs, publicity, irrigation, food safety, selecting a sponsor, liability, disease and pest control, and data collection. Workshop best suited to: gardeners, educators, volunteers, supporters of community garden projects, and others who are interested in promoting healthy communities. Meet others with similar interests, participate in discussions, and leave with new ideas.

Instructor: Ken Oles, a URI/MGA Master Gardener and retired educator, is the organizer and consultant for the Harvests From The Heart project in Wrentham. In 2010, project volunteers grew and harvested over 3,000 pounds of fresh produce for the Wrentham Food Pantry. Ken also serves on the Board of Directors for Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom

Healthy soil is essential for agriculture and growing healthy plants. One of the best ways to improve your soil and increase the yield in the garden is to amend the soil with compost. Composting offers opportunities to teach students about soil properties, systems, ecology and conservation. Sonya and Richard McKnight, the science teachers at the Clay Science Center of the Dexter and Southfield Schools will offer science lessons and activities to help you supplement your garden efforts through composting. Appropriate for middle and high school.

Instructors: Sonya and Richard McKnight, Science Teachers, Clay Science Center of the Dexter and Southfield Schools

The garden at the Leicester Primary School is more than a living classroom, it also provides a therapeutic medium for therapeutic activity (while making curriculum connections.) Michele Connor, the school's occupational therapist and speech therapist Sarah Mahoney join forces to utilize gardening activities to meet therapeutic goals for their students. They will offer an overview of this garden that provides fresh produce for the Leicester Food Pantry and will also provide a number of adaptations that they bring to gardening (in order to differentiate instruction and help all children access this beneficial activity).

Plant a garden at your school or home that will attract and support butterflies, frittilaries, moths and other herbivorous insects. In doing so, you will be able to enjoy and study the life cycles of these key members of the food web, while also help to increase biodiversity by providing the food for organisms such as birds, amphibian, reptiles and even mammals. Horticulturists Debi Hogan will offer an overview of some of these insects, showing their life cycle and the plants that will attract and feed the adults while also providing food for the larval stages. She will also suggest gardening practices that will encourage and support these insects.

Instructor:: Debi Hogan, horticulturist and educator, Mass. Agriculture in the Classroom

Instructor: Professor Mike Barnett, Boston College and Janet Lorden, Executive Director of the Stem Garden Institute at Boston College

This workshop offers an opportunity to share ideas, successes, challenges, and overall know-how with others who have some experience with planning and developing a school garden program at their school. Participants are encouraged to bring questions with them to the workshop any information and materials that they believe would be helpful to fellow school garden leaders. Target age range: Pre-K through grade 8.

Panelists: The panelists will be several teachers who have experience with school garden startup pending

Workshop 4: Exloring Soils in the Garden

Good soil is essential to a healthy and productive garden. This workshop will offer an overview of soil texture, structure, pH and drainage, as well as its nutrient value. Garden Educator Heather Packard and Culinary Associate Liz Ellis from Heifer Project in Rutland, will offer a sampling of fun and easy hands-on activities for teaching about soils. Learn how to improve the soil in your garden.

Instructors: Heather Packard Garden Educator and Liz Ellis, Culinary Associate, Heifer Project, Rutland

The newest initiatives from Whole Foods Market take their message of fresh healthy foods and the connection to local farms directly to schools. Their Salad Bar to Schools program sponsors healthy eating in schools across the region and a new Whole Kids Foundation TM Garden Grants Program can bring benefits directly to your students. EcoCzar/Forager Lee Kane and Marketing Team Leader Jaimee Rondeau will offer a Power Point Presentation on these initiatives and will also offer an overview of the strategies they use throughout their stores to reduce, reuse and recycle and will offer tips for bringing these programs to your school.

Instructors: Lee Kane, EcoCzar/Forager and Jaimee Rondeau, Marketing Team Leader, Whole Foods Market

Karen DiFranza has taken her composting efforts to local schools, implementing an active composting and school gardening program at the Hubbardston Elementary School and nearby Quabbin Regional High School in Barre. In place for seven years, these gardening programs are well established and an integral part of the school and community. Learn how these important programs sustain themselves and see the products the students create to keep the gardens going year-to-year

Instructors:: Karen DiFranza of Hubbardston is a small-scale organic farmer/gardener and avid composter, as well as an educator. She has developed cafeteria composting and gardening programs at the Hubbardston Elementary School and Quabbin Regional High School in Barre. Students from Quabbin Regional High School will also present.

Instructors: Sheila Parisien and Eric Magers, Green Team, Manchester Essex Regional School District

Learn about the Science and history of chickens and then try out some simple science experiments using eggs that could readily be adapted to the classroom. Then experience a very simple and easy hands-on cheese-making activity that could be done anywhere there is a stove or hot plate, with a skit that explains the chemistry of turning milk into cheese, as well as some history of milk.

Instructor: Liz Ellis, Culinary Associate, Heifer Project, Rutland

Workshop 4: Nature Journaling Workshop

Nature Journaling provides an opportunity to collect and record information throughout the school year, while developing the students observational skills. At the Cutler School in South Hamilton, Fourth Grade Teacher Jane Roundy has been collaborating with the school's Art Teacher Jean Bailey to take students out into the garden to observe the plants, habitat, weather, seasonal changes and more. Students observe, record and draw throughout the year, each completing a nature journal by year's end. In this workshop they will share the students' work with you and take you step by step through the process of developing the journals.

Instructors: Jane Roundy, Grade 4 Teacher and Jean Bailey, Art Teacher, Cutler School, South Hamilton

The Clay Center for Science and Technology is a state-of-the-art astronomical observatory and learning center. In addition to the observatory's seven research-grade telescopes, this five-story building contains sophisticated computer and science laboratories, a multi-media lecture hall, classrooms, dining and meeting spaces, and a solar energy roof deck and wind turbine.l.

Instructor: Robert Phinney, Director of the Clay Center for Science and Technology