We had a great year last year! My students grew beans, peas and tomatoes! I had students sneaking veggies because they loved them so much! We even had some beans and peas around report card time so the parents were able to get a taste of our garden which they too enjoyed! We tried a few others like carrots and peppers, but no luck with those:(  With my new class, we will try these veggies again and hopefully be successful. Good luck to everyone else!

                                                                       2nd year LGT   Rhonda M-H

Hello from Lloydminster!  My name is Mr. Saulnier, and my grade 5 class is now in the second year of the program.  The kids are really excited to be composting and growing vegetables.  Our tentative start date for our garden is January 2010, but right now we are actively composting.  My class will not be using this blog this year; however, we will be actively updating my class room webpage with our garden happenings.  Please look for the Little Green Thumbs link  once on our webpage. 

http://queenelizabeth.lpsd.ca/teachers/JSAULNIER/

Queen Elizabeth School is having an author visit next month.  David Bouchard will be at QE on April 2 and 3.  In preparation of our visit each class in the school had to write a page for a book to present to him on the visit.  The writing follows the format of his famous book “If You’re Not From the Prairie…”  My class chose to pick the Little Green Thumbs program as our theme as a shared writing project. 

If you’re not from Queen E,

You don’t know E-28’s plants,

You never have seen plants.

        The grow light is ever so mighty bright

        When it turns on as you are sleeping at midnight.

        The plants are as high as a drilling rig

        But under the soil the fibrous roots dig.

                                        If you’re not from Queen E,

                                        You’ve never seen plants.

The garden at QE has now been growing for 2.5 months.  We have started to see plants flower.  The students are amazed at how our cucumbers and peas are trying to grow towards the light.  Our plant endeavor has been expanded to include the Tomatosphere project as well as planting petunias and lupins to give to our mothers for mother’s day.  It is very cool to see students rushing off the bus into the classroom every morning to see the gardens progress.

Our worm population is rapidly growing on a diet of banana peels and apples.  This is what the students believe they like the best. 

Also, we have been testing Carbon Dioxide levels within our classroom and a similar classroom.  We are trying to conclude if the plants in the class are providing better air quality.  So far we have had inconclusive results.

Welcome to the Hot Jalapenos School Stories page, where the schools have the opportunity to post updates and photos of their gardens as they happen.  Stay tuned for regularly updated posts to this page and check out the School Pages for more information about which schools are part of this group.

If your school is part of the Hot Jalapenos, and you would like to post a story, photo, or video to this blog, simply click on the LOG IN TO POST link on the Right hand side and follow the directions.

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Happy Posting!