May+2009+Training

=**May 30th Training**= On May 30th, 2009 we held our fourth training for teachers in the SLUG program. 21 teachers showed up to learn how to grow vegetables, compost, and incorporate gardening into their curriculum. Gardening skills varied from green-thumbed pros to rookies planting their first seeds, but there was something for everyone (including a ton of goodies to take back to the classroom!).

After introductions and an overview of SLUG, one of the first activity was seed sorting. We sorted seeds into separate categories and then compared them two by two. After seed soring came planting! We planted "mystery pots." For more activities related to seed starting, check out the Seed Germination section of the Garden Activities page. The next activity was starting seeds in 6 packs. Everyone got to plant 6 different types of seeds in their packs, and hopefully they are sprouting by now! If you want a refresher on how to start seeds, check out our detailed tutorial.

Teachers also got to try their hand at transplanting. These plants were a few weeks old and had their first set of true leaves. Someone asked a good question during the training: when is the right time to transplant? You can tell it's time to transplant when you can start to see the roots through the bottom of the pot, or if the plant seems to get dried out too quickly. For more info on transplanting, check out our wonderful tutorial.

Next we explored plant parts with a magnifying glass and recorded observations. It might be fun to work in a song about plant parts to accompany this activity. Check out the words and music for Roots, Stems, Leaves here !

Teresa demonstrates her sandwich bag technique. Sprouting a bean in a bag allows a great view of the roots!

Teresa draws the parts of the worm. Students can observe compost worms at their desk and try to draw them. Watch for them to try and draw eyes and a smiley face on them! For more worm-related activities, check out our Garden Activities page. And for more information about setting up a worm bin, check out the handbook !

After lunch we headed outside to explore some outdoor garden activities. Teachers dug around in the dirt to explore what kinds of creepy crawlies they could find. For more outdoor activities, check out the Outdoor Gardening and Outdoor Composting sections of the Garden Activities page.

Next we learned how to set up popup greenhouses. These help to extend the growing season well into the winter. It was really easy!

Eventually we headed back indoors for arts and craft hour. Teresa showed us how to make anatomically correct flowers out of paper, pipe cleaners and a balloon. We even sprinkled glitter on the stamen to act as pollen!

Teresa also demonstrated how to make a weather vane. This is very useful when teaching kids about the weather, and about the cardinal directions. For more weather-related activities, check out the Outdoor Gardening section of the Garden Activities page.

There was a display table of all sorts of books, activities and plant set ups. Below are a few pictures of this beautiful setup.