Rowan Darwood and Phoebe Cole taste cantaloupe, Sun Gold tomatoes and carrots in Classroom in Bloom’s “sensory kitchen.” Photo courtesy Classroom in Bloom
By Laurelle Walsh
Classroom in Bloom invites parents and community members to attend its annual student farmers market on two days next week: Oct. 1, recognized across the state as Taste Washington Day, and Oct. 2.
Students will be at the market during their class time either day: 4th graders from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.; 6th graders from 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.; and 2nd graders from 1 – 2 p.m. The 6th-grade classes will give a special demonstration on how to make garden compost during their sessions both days.
Students and visitors will role-play shopping at a real farmers market. Depending on grade level, students will demonstrate their knowledge of produce, garden practices, recipes, customer service skills, and making change with play money, according to Interim Development Director Kate Posey.
“All lessons in the garden this week will prepare for next week’s market,” said Posey. Second graders will design artwork for posters and signs at the market; 4th graders will select their favorite recipes and prepare recipe cards to share with customers; and 6th graders will package 5-pound bags of compost for sale and review the process of making compost.
Due to limited supply, no produce will actually be sold at the market; however, 5-pound bags of “garden gold” compost — made on site — will be for sale, along with Classroom in Bloom mugs made by potter and garden coordinator Emily Post.
New seasonal schedule
Now in its 10th year of teaching gardening, botany, soil science and nutrition to students in the Methow Valley School District, Classroom in Bloom has reworked its seasonal learning cycle to provide more concentrated time in the garden and a less-rushed schedule, according to Posey.
Previously, during the fall and spring garden seasons, every class at the elementary school would have a 45-minute session per week “that felt like 30 minutes,” said Posey. “There would be 40 to 50 kids at one time in the learning circle, sitting two kids deep. It just didn’t feel engaging enough for us or the students.”
Starting this fall, Classroom in Bloom has switched to a schedule in which every student will have focused time in the garden every-other season. Second, 4th and 6th graders will be in the garden in the fall, while 1st, 3rd and 5th graders will have garden time in the spring.
Thus, a 1st-grader will sow seeds in the spring and reap the harvest in the fall of 2nd grade. They will then repeat the cycle between 3rd and 4th grades and 5th and 6th grades.
Class time has also been extended to one hour. Each lesson starts in the garden’s gazebo, where students get a preview of the day’s lesson, and record weather and temperature data.
Students then move into small-group projects, this week harvesting apples and pears, cleaning onions, and preparing garden beds for winter by adding compost and sowing cover crop seeds.
Each garden session ends with a closing circle, where students share a snack that was grown there. “Kids have a more connecting experience with the produce when they get to eat it in the garden,” Posey said.
During winter, Classroom in Bloom staff — Posey, Anaka Mines, Annie McKay and Emily Post — visit classrooms to do cooking demonstrations and involve students in the “sensory kitchen,” Posey said.
Some grades do special projects at Classroom in Bloom. Third-graders harvest corn, beans and squash — the “three sisters” — for their harvest dinner as part of Native American studies.
Rebecca Thompson’s high school foods class uses produce from the garden in its recipes, for example making basil pesto last week. Tyler Slostad’s 7th-grade earth science class uses the garden as a classroom every-other week to study science topics. And other classes, from art to welding to Spanish, have incorporated the Classroom in Bloom garden into their coursework, Posey said.
“We want to encourage teachers to come out to the garden at times when there aren’t already classes scheduled there,” said Posey.
To learn more about Classroom in Bloom, go to its website at www.classroominbloom.org.
