Afterschool Garden Class starts Tomorrow

I will be leading a one hour class for the next six weeks after school at CSS. I am doing this through the YMCA after school program and the training I have had to take to be an employee for them is impressive. Seems like I should have had to have similar training to be a credentialed teacher, but maybe I will when I get REALLY hired by the district. The child abuse and how to prevent child molestation trainings were haunting and enlightening. 1 in 4 girls is molested and 1 in 8 boys is molested. 60% of the time it is someone they know; 30% of the time it is a family member. Took my breath away and led to an intimate Q&A with my boys I should probably have had years ago.

Anyway, after all that, I am still looking forward to the class! Especially if the weather stays so spring like for the next few days. I have planned the first five weeks of the class out on paper, breaking each hour long class into fifteen minute time segments and trying to get a sense of what we can accomplish at each session.

First class will involve name tags and a look ahead at what we will be doing, what do plants need to live and thrive (a KWL chart), what do gardeners need- tools and keen observation. I will go over the tools and how to handle them, lay down the safety guidelines and then we will play an observation game. The kids line up in two lines facing each other. The kids will look at each other and try to notice everything they can, both lines will turn around with backs to each other, one line will change something very subtle- ring on opposite hand, untie shoelace, change hair slightly- and the kids will turn back to face each other and try and identify what changed. Then we will walk around the garden and have the kids make observations, documenting what they notice- end of the class is filling in the L part of the KWL chart. And the following week we have the list of observations to start with to see if anything has changed. I feel good about the class - we'll see how it REALLY goes. Ah, the difference between the plan and realty.