Kanabec County Master Gardener Roberta Haight oversees Mora fifth graders as they shovel pea gravel as part of a tree planting project at Mora Elementary School on May 13. Photo by Kirsten Faurie
Check out this great article in the Kanabec County Times by Kirsten Faurie about the Mora Education Foundation grant to the Master Gardener’s.
Gardening is Science
Mora Elementary School is now in it’s fourth year of collaboration with the University of Minnesota Kanabec County Master Gardeners to create “Gardening is Science” programming for third and fifth graders.
The Gardening is Science programming began with discussions between Mora schools and Master Gardeners about how the Master Gardeners could provide additional opportunities for the students related to science. The Master Gardener’s received a Mora Education Foundation grant for $7,500 over the next few years.
One project was to create raised beds for each fifth grade class. Every year, each class plans, designs, grows plants from seeds, transplants and then ultimately plants their garden in their bed. Recovering Hope clients and Master Gardeners ensure that the beds are watered, weeded and harvested through out the summer months. Any harvest is given to the food shelf or to Recovering Hope clients. Fifth grade students throughout the summer are allowed to come to the garden and water, weed and harvest also.
On June 4, fifth and third grade classes toured the Mora Community Gardens. Students had a “Veggie Tasting Party” where they learned about “eating the rainbow” and the parts of a plant we eat. Classes sampled raw vegetables like beets, peppers, kale, rhubarb and more.
A special project for the third grade classes this year was to plant apple trees, raspberry bushes and a bulb garden. The apple trees and raspberry bushes were planted at the end of May. This coming fall, third-grade students will be planting bulb gardens outside each of the windows of their classrooms, and in the spring they will be able to see tulips, crocuses and daffodils.
The projects came to fruition through a large variety of community volunteers, collaboration and donations.
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If you would like to help support innovative learning projects like these, join us at our annual fundraiser. This year is Back to the 50s!, Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 5:30 – 9:00 pm at Fish Lake Resort. To get your tickets click here.