Land to Learn
String beans growing in the garden at Sargent Elementary School, in Beacon, NY, on October 19, 2022.
Last week, I enjoyed a lovely visit with the 2nd grade class at Sargent Elementary School in Beacon, NY. We toured their classroom as well as their garden with Garden Teacher Sam Adels of Land to Learn, an ABZFF grantee.
Established in 2014, Land to Learn currently cultivates and maintains 10 gardens in three school districts in the New York towns of Beacon, Newburgh, and Kingston. Land to Learn programming features lessons about gardening, food, community, health, and ecology. Their learner-centered approach fosters understanding and agency within school-aged students.
During my visit, this 2nd grade class was focused on “Saving Seeds.” Students learned how seeds enable a garden to grow through various stages: seeds, roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds once again.
We harvested seeds from popping corn and green beans. The green bean seeds will be saved to be replanted, while the popping corn seeds will be popped in the school during in the winter. Sam said the entire school loves the wonderful smell of garden popping corn — no butter needed.
Milkweed
We also looked at milkweed seeds, one of which had a bug in it. Sam reminded us that milkweed seeds are carried by air and thus are naturally planted. Following, we went into the classroom where the students were given an assignment in their journal to create an entry — in comic book form — about “how I saved the seeds.”
It was a very nice visit, and I look forward to seeing what Land to Learn does next!
— Liz
