This week we are highlighting the hard work of the student gardeners at Emerson Elementary. Emerson is a Kansas City, KS Public School. The garden was started by teacher, Maggie Scanlon, in 2013. The school has two raised beds, two apple trees and a pumpkin patch. We asked Maggie to share some of the successes of their school garden on our blog this week.
“Pumpkins mean fall is here! And although the weather has finally started to feel like it, fall has been at Emerson Elementary for about 2 months! This year marked our 3rd year of having a pumpkin patch.
Even though we never harvest near enough for each student to take home, the students feel like the patch and pumpkins are their own. They love seeing them all over the school!
Another reason we love having our pumpkin patch is because they’re so hearty! As long as you have plenty of room and some bees, they’ll grow like crazy. This makes it fun to get into studying the life cycle, making predictions based on the blooms, and having the students regularly help you with their care. Let the kiddos have at it!
We did many activities throughout the season. My favorite lesson was simply making predictions of the number of pumpkins. We did this after the life cycle lesson. The students were able to use their knowledge of male and female blooms when making an educated guess. It was fun to get the whole school involved!”
Thanks for sharing about your school’s pumpkin patch, Maggie. We love hearing about the neat things our students are growing in the garden, including this fun fall tradition.
