This summer at ONE Arts Community School in Colchester we got a late start on our garden. We started the summer off by planting tomato sprouts. The children helped Shannon dig holes in the soil to place the plants and then cover them back up. They then used watering cans to water the plants. The tomatoes are doing well and are still not ready to harvest but we are seeing lots of baby tomatoes each morning when the children go to check on the garden.
Then last week the preschools helped weed the larger garden beds to get ready to plant more veggies and seeds. Once the garden was free of weeds the kids all worked together to plant flowers in one of the beds. The preschoolers were learning about bees and so we created a pollinator garden. Once the flowers were all planted the children moved on to help plant different vegetables that can still grow at this time of the year. We planted lettuce, kale, cabbage, and different herbs. In the middle of the garden beds, the children planted carrot, beet, and radish seeds! The kids at ONE arts help water the plants each day it does not rain and check each morning to see what is happening. This morning the seeds had started to sprout!
In the morning when the classes were all combined on the playground Maddy read the book Up in the Garden Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner. This book talks about seasonal growing and life in a garden bed. The children then pointed out pictures and asked questions about all of the different wildlife they saw in the book. At school, we have worms and other insects in our garden as well as rabbits that like to visit from the woods.
Something else that’s growing at ONE Arts is the flower Queen Ann’s Lace. This flower can grow to be very large and in our toddler rooms, the teachers thought the flowers would make the perfect natural paintbrush.
Our preschool class took Queen Ann’s Lace and performed a science experiment using food coloring and fresh cut flowers to see what capillary action can do.
ONE Arts Community School 