School Planning Day One

On Sept 7 we are planning on having the two special needs kids classes plant seminole pumpkin seed and pull some weeds.

Seminole Pumpkin, or Seminole Squash is a winter squash that is native to Florida. Historically, it was found growing in several different places in Florida, but the most prevalent location was in the Florida Everglades. The Seminole Indians grew this squash in such a way that it climbed up into trees and palms. Seminole Squash is a very easy to grow squash, it is very vigorous (grows really fast and far) and is pest and disease resistant. The squash are relatively small, but very good tasting.

Since the Seminole Indians relied so much on squash as part of their diet, history could be a part of the learning component.

Seminole History: http://www.flheritage.com/facts/history/seminole/

Seminole Indian Dolls: http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/seminole_dolls/

Squash Named from an Indian Word: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/vegetabletravelers/squash.html

Squash seeds (as well as beans) are some of the easiest seeds to use for teaching kids about seed germination. The seeds are big and as they germinate it is easy to see the parts.

Teaching Kids about Planting with Seeds: http://www.thekidsgarden.co.uk/teachkidsaboutplantingwithseedsandbulbs.html

Seed Germination: http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-53362/Seed-germination-begins-when-the-seed-takes-in-water-rapidly

And what does this squash look like and grow like?

Growing Winter Squash: http://www.rosalindcreasy.com/popular-edibles/winter-squashes-and-pumpkins-for-your-edible-landscape/

Growing Seminole Squash: http://www.cowlickcottagefarm.com/linnaeus-day-seminole-squash/ and http://sseminolefarmandnursery.com/seminolepumpkin.html

Like all plants that fruit and/or seed, bees are needed for pollination. Did you know that there is a serious decline in the bee population? Without bees and other pollinators our choices for fruits and vegetables become slim. Bee decline (bee colony collapse) is so serious in England that major endeavors are underway to restore the bee population.

Pollination Game: http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation-week-home/teachers/pollination-game/

The Beauty of Pollination (a movie): http://youtu.be/MQiszdkOwuU

Pollination, Plants and Insects (a movie by Hila Road - advanced): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiwkJui2mh0

Urban Bee Gardens School Outreach Notes: http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/research_schooloutreach.html

Bees for Kids: http://www.bbka.org.uk/learn/bees_for_kids/

The sensory garden is, of course, a pollinator haven. We will be trimming back several of the plants in our half-circle section, but I still think it would be good to teach kids good 'sharing with mother nature' skills. In the time I've been in the sensory garden, I have not seen any aggressive bees or angry wasps. Generally speaking, a bee that is feeding on pollen is a bit, umm, shall we say 'intoxicated'? And isn't going to notice much of anything going on around it and it's pollen bar. Most of the bees I saw Wed do not even sting. So, in short - leave the bees to their pollen and don't mess with them and they won't mess with you. That is the lesson for the kids to learn before we head off into the garden. And why do we need bees? So that our squash plants can make baby squash that will grow up into yummy pumpkins!



I will plan to meet with the two of you at 9:30 in your classrooms. I will bring a seminole pumpkin to see and taste and seeds to plant. I will have about 50 pre-soaked seeds and a bunch of spares to cover any 'oopsies'. I will also bring potting mix, hopefully it will be enough, if not there is some in the garden closet.

YOU will provide a large, clear plastic solo cup for each student. I think the size is around 15 oz. You will need to make several holes in the bottom of each cup. Holes can be made by punching with a knife, drilling, heating a nail over an open flame, or using a hot knife. Holey Moley is good. You can always ADD water but it is hard to take water away. The holes in the bottom of the cups are to drain away excess water. Speaking of water! You will want something to water the seedlings with. It doesn't need to be anything super special, around my house I tend to reuse plastic bottles. If you have any kiddos with spastic issues, you might want to consider getting in a stock of these bottle top waterers: http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=53711&cat=2,2280,54307&ap=2 Also, pick up some of the inexpensive spritz bottles from the dollar bins or travel bins so the kids can 'spritz feed' their seedlings. We could get really fun and make our own liquid fertilizer spritz from worm castings. Side note: counting ... spritz 10 times.

You will also want permanent markers to write the kids names on the cups. Along with the date started, and the seed planted (squash). I will let you all decide if you want the kids to fill the cups with dirt or for the leaders to fill the cups.

I have already started a seedling. Depending on germination times, I hope to be able to bring with me several examples of different stages of the germination progress. I've never tried timing the germination response, so we shall see how this works out.

During class time on Friday morning, we plant the seeds, then head out into our garden patch and pull some weeds. And, that will be a wrap for week one!


For week two. IF we have all the planting boxes and buckets ready, then we can plant tomato, pepper, lettuce and onion seeds in the planting boxes, buckets and pots. IF we don't have planters ready, I can supply you with at least two dozen sweet potato baby tubers that can be planted in the ground around the sensory garden. And even over in the shade on the opposite side of the spot we are putting the raised planting boxes. This is really not the season for growing sweet potatoes, but it should be fun for the kids. And, next spring they can have the thrill of watching their babies take off. Hmm, that brings to mind; we will be wanting to get two mini-shovels. I think these are the type shovels the wheelchair kids can use to dig a hole in the ground. I have seen mini-shovels on discount recently at Tuesday Morning and at Big Lots. See following picture of mini-shovel. Note to self, get picture of mini-shovel in use from a wheelchair!


In the mean time, can you tell me a bit more about your kids? I know of course about the wheel chair kiddos. Are their any kids who are blind or deaf? If so, we would want to plan to have an extra supply of things they could hold, touch and feel. How about dexterity? I grabbed all of the coated seeds I could spot in the seed boxes, but generally speaking the tomato, pepper and onion seed is really, really small. An option for planting really fine seed with dexterity issues is to make 'shaker' jars with the seed mixed with a bit of sand. Is this something we should start working on for week two? Sensory issues? Anybody going to hate the feel of dirt? Not tolerate the sun? Kids with eating issues? If so, we could create a day of feeding the plants - maybe get creative with weaving in the importance of food to plants and food to humans.

I asked to be put on the list for some of the pea seeds. This is another food crop that is super easy to grow in Florida. These peas as well as the squash are plants the kids could take home and plant in the ground and have a relatively high chance of success. Provided it doesn't freeze over this winter. But, I digress. The purpose of the pea seeds is for a rain out day activity. In case we get rained out one day, we can have a handy-dandy lesson plan and activity around planting peas! In preparation for this activity, you will want clear plastic solo cups again; as well as a bunch of pinky finger width branches and/or bamboo and a spool (or two) of natural twine. The branches and twine is to make a teepee for the bean vines to grown on. You might want to be on the look out for some suitable size branches to collect. They should be roughly 18" long and about the diameter of your pinky finger.

There will be a small group of us working on your special garden on Wednesday morning. Feel free to drop by, or drop me an email here if you have any questions and/or suggestions!

Three of us went down and took the chop hammer to the overgrown butterfly garden.  We had some super helpers for about an hour that bagged up a lot of what we chopped.  I can not believe I failed to get a before picture.  Duhhhhh ...

Oh, and last but not least - making garden signs - a coloring and/or painting activity for the kids.