With garden at school, kids’ experience grows

By Denise Dick

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

youngstowN

Fourth-grader Ne’Qwon Williams picks carrots, turnips and herbs from the garden in the courtyard of William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School.

Ne’Qwon and fellow students in Bonnie Gauding’s class planted vegetables and herbs in the garden last spring.

“When we returned this fall, we harvested,” Gauding said.

The children photographed the bounty, compiling the images into a book written by their teacher.

“We made a salad,” Ne’Qwon, 9, said.

A preschool teacher at the school last year wrote a grant to get the planters, xylophones, watering cans and greenery.

“The courtyard was always here, but it was kind of neglected,” Gauding said. “No one really came out here.”

After the school received the grant, each classroom received a plot on which to plant.

“I found a tomato,” said Devone Parker, 9, also a fourth-grader. “It’s a little baby one. It just hatched. Don’t squish it.”

James Rodriguez-Ashburn, 8, a third-grader, pulled out a carrot and showed his classmates, teacher and Lydia Mostella, teacher’s aide.

“Look, there are pumpkins,” Gauding said. “Little pumpkins are starting to grow.”

The students rushed around the courtyard, examining the plants to see what’s sprouted since they last looked.

“The kids love coming out here,” Gauding said. “They come out and water. They would be out here all day if they could.”

Gauding’s class is for students with multiple handicaps and behavioral problems.

“Reading is a real challenge for these kids,” she said.

Creating the book helps them make a connection between the words and the actual objects.

“It’s made it real for them,” Gauding said.

She included mistakes that the children will be charged with finding as they read: Some words are capitalized that shouldn’t be, and there are some punctuation errors.

“Look, it smells like candy,” Ne’Qwon said, lifting the rosemary sprigs he had clenched in his hand.

He tucked the herb into the teacher’s bag with the vegetables they picked.

“We’ll make another salad for a snack,” Gauding said.