We hosted our third Little Green Thumbs Teachers Workshop here in Saskatoon on September 11th and 12th, 2009.  This years workshop featured lessons for first year teachers including garden kit set-up, composting with worms in the classroom, overview of the program, cultural components to the program, and a fabulous sharing session with experienced teachers.  We are also thrilled to be having our experienced teachers return to the workshop to extend their knowledge of in-classroom gardening and vermicomposting, as well as working together to plan and create the gardening experience in their school.  One of the best parts of this workshop was the feeling of community that was generated when so many wonderful teachers got together to share their experiences in hands-on education and helping their students to get in touch with nature.

This year, we had 37 teachers in attendance from Black Lake to Assiniboia and Lloydminster to Ochapowace First Nation.

Chief Mistawasis School hosted Janelle and I for a wonderful morning of gardening tips and a delicious lunch on May 14th, 2009.  The students prepared presentations about Flower Parts, Vegetables, Fruit, and read the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk aloud.

They were so proud of their garden and had great tomato plants and lettuce to show off.

On May 6th, 2009 Athabasca School hosted 4 other schools for a Celebration Event which included gardening and agriculture related sessions, lunch, and presentations with songs and skits.  They also hosted special guests from Heifer International as well as the Minister of Environment, Honourable Nancy Heppner, the Minister of Education, Honourable Ken Krawetz, and the Minister of Agriculture, Honourable Bob Bjornerud.  The students proudly showed off their Little Green Thumbs, and everyone had a fantastic time.

The teacher's hard work paid off when they were awarded Certificates for Excellence in Gardening! (L-R: Jean Wilson, Deana Kempel, Melissa McKechnie-Sullivan, Larry Bogdan and Adrianne Begg- Coordinator)

Students from Eyebrow, Avonlea, Athabasca and Robert Southey Schools

Here is an excerpt from the “Hot Jalapenos” School Blog where Queen Elizabeth Students share how their involvement in the Little Green Thumbs program is impacting the rest of their studies.  This is a tremendous example of how the garden experience can play a role in all different subjects and enhance the learning environment.  The students are very excited and proud of their accomplishments, and you can tell!

GREAT WORK LITTLE GREEN THUMBS! 

We have many schools involved in the Little Green Thumbs program and this year we are very excited to offer more french resources than ever before! This is a photo of the kindergarten class at an all French school in Prince Albert- École Valois.

The students at École Valois are so proud of their garden and their little beans, peas, worms and tomatoes are doing great! They have even been the stars of a newspaper article in the Prince Albert Herald!

Keep up the great work École Valois! Bonne Chance avec tous les plantes!

Well Little Green Thumbs, it is already that time of year when the birds start chirping outside our windows reminding us that spring is on its way!  While we have been busy little bees and butterflies in our gardens all winter long, Mother Earth is getting ready to thaw and start gardens outdoors all over the province!

One of the best things about Little Green Thumbs Saskatchewan is that when spring time comes, it is time for us to CELEBRATE!!!  Father Robinson School in Saskatoon has already hosted their Celebration Event at the school.  I was so excited to be invited and share some of the goodies that they grew in their garden!

There were many people filling up the classroom on February 25th, 2009 with 24 students, 3 teachers, and between 23-30 parents and siblings!  The guests were excited to see the garden (which is still producing green peppers and tomatoes!) and we all had a great time sharing a wonderful lunch of veggies, buns and fruit.

The highlight of the event for me was watching the video of the students taking turns performing the “Plant Parts Rap”!  (You can find the lyrics to this rap at JMGkids Online.) I can definintely see some very talented Little Green Thumbs coming out of this school!!!

I asked the students what their favourite parts of Little Green Thumbs was this year and some of them said:

• I loved harvesting the vegetables!
• I enjoyed watching the plants grow!
• All of the kids liked having the sun bulb in their classroom!

I also asked some of the parents if they had noticed a change in their children since the garden has been in their classroom:

• The children seem more aware of where their food comes from.
• They were very excited about the worms and were even recommending them to their parents and other students for science experiments and projects.
• The celebration event “feels like Thanksgiving!”.

Although Father Robinson has celebrated their garden already, they aren’t finished!  They are planning on growing some flowers for Mother’s Day!

(oops, I hope I didn’t ruin the surprise!)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HOSTING THIS WONDERFUL EVENT FATHER ROBINSON!

GOOD LUCK WITH THE REST OF YOUR GARDENING EXPERIENCE!

The Little Green Thumbs Saskatchewan teachers have 5 options for the second classroom presentations:

1. Where does your food come from?
2. Agri “Culture”
3. Amazing Plants
4. Spectacular Seeds
5. Super Veggies

So far, ‘Where does your Food Come From?’ is the most popular.  I love leading this session, as it gets the students to explore our food system in ways that they may know, but have never fully put together!

Classroom Anecdote:
One great moment occurred when we were discussing a can of Green Beans with a group of Kindergarten to grade 3 students.  I asked the students to look for the country that it came from, and they found that this can of Green Beans (just like the ones we grow here in our gardens), came from CHINA!!!

We decided to show the kids how far China is from Canada on a large map, and while we were doing this, a little boy had an ‘Ah Hah’ moment.

“Woah, you’d have to take a boat to get those here!!” he exclaimed.

His teacher and I looked at each other with surprise and amusement at his discovery, and we were so happy that the kids- even at that young age-can put the concepts together.

The other children fed off his enthusiasm and proceeded to name all the ways the food arrives in Canada… Trains, Planes, Cars, Trucks, Ships… which was next on my agenda!

Older students got to work as teams to create a chain of events giving us a visual display of where their food comes from.  Through these exercises, students learn that many foods that come from the grocery store come from far away, and they learn to make informed decisions about where they are getting their food from.  Encouraging students to look at the stickers on their produce to discover if the foods has been produced locally helps our local economy, as well as the environmental costs of transporting the foods.