Fourth grade farmers?!?!?

Yep, it's true. Fourth graders are gearing up to become farmers!

This week our fourth graders received an exciting shipment. What's in the boxes? Well, that we can't tell you.....but we can give you some clues!!

1 - Our seeds will not be planted in the ground.
2-  We will use NO soil to plant.
3 - Our gardening will be 'state of the art'
4-  Our gardening can be done indoors and in small spaces!!

Stay tuned to our blog to see what we are up to!!!!

The Kingswood Magnet First Grade came together in a Community Meeting to discuss "What is a Garden?" This is what they had to say!

A garden is somewhere that plants grow.

A garden is a place that we put seeds and then it grows to a big garden.

A garden is where we plant seeds.

A garden is where we plant fruits and vegetables.

A garden needs water to survive.

A garden is where we plant fruit.

A garden needs sunlight to survive.

A garden is something where you can grow.

A garden is where you can grow trees and other things.

A garden needs soil to survive.

A garden is a little place where you plant seeds to grow.

A garden is somewhere where you plant seeds and it blooms into a beautiful rose.

A garden is where flowers grow.

A garden is a place where vegetables come from.

A garden is a place where lots of pretty flowers grow.

A garden is where you plant fruit.

A garden is a good place to plant flowers and foods.

A garden is where bees help to make new plants.

A garden is where the plants grow and you can get nutrition from apples on apple trees.

A garden is a place where you plant food.

A garden is a place where you can plant fruits and vegetables.

You can grow all kinds of flowers in a garden.

The plants in the garden grow leaves.


Student's Writing About "What is a Garden?"

Mrs. Smith's Primary Class enjoyed matching seeds to the fruit they produce, using a parent-made work!

Kindergarten Kicks Off Plants!

Kindergarten had a blast with the introduction to plants. 

We began with the plant life cycle and then used a pumpkin to investigate these stages further. 

Two representations of the plant life cycle.

                                                  

The class got a glimpse of the inside of a pumpkin. 

Each child glued and labeled a pumpkin seed into their STEM notebook.

Green Thumbs in Third

Third graders are getting ready to test out third GREEN thumb as we observe plant growth in the classroom and our greenhouse! We will be looking at how the environment impacts plant growth and will be graphing our results to tie in math content. In addition, we will be partnering with the fifth grade team to see how our results differ. Get ready to see the third grade in action through our blog posts and pictures! We can't wait to get growing :)

2nd Grade is ready to GO GREEN!

Today we began our planning to get ready to GO GREEN! This year students will be planting a variety of plants and observing their growth. First semester, we will be learning how weather affects their growth. Students will be collaborating while researching all about plants and their growth cycle. We will be pairing with 4th grade for peer teaching opportunities. 4th grade will be using hydroponics to grow the same plants we will be growing using soil. We are excited and look forward to see what the students will learn!

Another Exciting Year at Kingwood Montessori STEM Magnet School!

Kingswood Montessori STEM Magnet School embarked on a journey of taking learning outdoors a  few years ago.  We partnered with Randy Senzig of the Center for Human Earth Restoration, went through the Aldo Leopold training and started learning outside of our classrooms.

In case you don't know, students at Kingswood have monitored blue bird nesting boxes on our campus, gardened in raised beds, used our wonderful greenhouse, and become more environmentally literate citizens thanks to the Center for Human Earth Restoration, Cary Central Rotary, and Wake Ed Partnership.  These organizations have have donated time, energy, and funds to help all the students at Kingswood learn outdoors!

This year we will embark on a new journey involving soil gardening, hydroponics, and aquaponics!  Our whole school will be answering the question, How do plants grown with water and nutrients compare with plants grown in soil?  This will be a new journey for us and we hope you will follow along as we blog our failures (FAIL = First Attempt In Learning)  and successes and learn from it all, to become more environmentally literate citizens!