Posted on: Thursday, October 7, 2004
WHAT WORKS
Learning grows out of land
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Education Writer
At least once each week, first-graders in Pauline Jacroux's class get down in the dirt and tend to their garden.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Even math skills come into play, said parent volunteer Wendy Rosen, whose daughter Lyla is proud to have a classroom job as a garden measurer.
"I think it's really cool," said Rosen, who plans to help the children create garden T-shirts.
Over the past 10 years, Jacroux has often used the garden to teach about cycles of life and nutrition.
For students who don't excel at academics, the garden offers a place to shine. "They may have a knack for what they do in the garden and they love it," she said. One year a second-grade class donated a pumpkin that Jacroux's class recycled in the garden. As the pumpkin decomposed, some of the seeds sprouted and grew a new pumpkin. Jacroux's class made a pumpkin pie and shared it with the second-graders.
Jacroux does not follow a set curriculum. Students might plant a rainbow garden full of zinnias one year and moon garden with white night-blooming flowers the next. She sometimes has them plant a pizza garden, or a "three sisters" garden with corn, beans and squash, or perhaps soybeans, strawberries or edible flowers.
Jacroux wants students to taste fresh foods, since so much of what they eat is processed.
Eating from the garden drives home the concept of french fries coming from potatoes, which come from the ground, not McDonald's or Safeway. "If I work on that level in the first grade, in the future they may take better care of the earth and eat more healthily," Jacroux said.
Parents were surprised one year when children came home requesting sauteed zucchini after sampling the vegetable in class.
If you know of a schoolteacher, group or program with great results, help us spotlight them by sending information to tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or What Works, Honolulu Advertiser, 605 Kapi'olani Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96813. Or call 525-8014.
These 'Aikahi Elementary School students learn more than botany and environmental science in their outdoor lab. They improve writing and art skills by keeping a garden journal. They observe the real-life versions of insects they are reading about in "James and the Giant Peach."
Hague Bush waters the 'Aikahi Elementary garden as Lyla Rosen, center, and Riley O'Neill do other tasks with teacher Pauline Jacroux.
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| MAKING IT GROW
Lessons learned: "I learned that you do see another side of children. You hear them talk about their social lives or what goes on at home," Jacroux said. "Sometimes the leaders in the garden are not the ones from the classroom." The keys to success: "Persistence. Good parent volunteers and talking with other people," Jacroux said. Attending national symposiums and visiting the Amazon rainforest have helped her stay rejuvenated. How they do it: Jacroux started small, with only one plant bed, and gradually expanded to use raised beds and old sandboxes and wading pools to house different kinds of plants. This year, Jacroux had her students start by loosening the dirt and putting in compost one week. The following week they dug holes and planted seeds, and did some transplanting. For a teacher starting out, Jacroux suggests drilling holes in a wading pool or sandbox, filling it with soil and having students plant one type of plant. When that's done, teachers can decide how much to expand. |
