Today, we had the privilege of donating some of the harvest from our school garden to a local food bank, called the Parkdale Food Centre.  This is a unique and amazing food bank in that it is the ONLY food bank in the city that is accepting fresh produce.  It offers unique services to its clients by offering the opportunity to pick up fresh produce, meat and dairy.  They offer free cooking classes; freezer space to store prepared meals (that are often made right on site with Parkdale Food Centre staff) and a cozy eating area for clients to enjoy food with friends.  It was so fabulous to see the harvest from our school gardens go to a meaningful place that will be enjoyed by so many.  They are looking forward to enjoying tomatoes when they are ready from our gardens and have invited us to participate in making tomato sandwiches for the clients.  It is a truly unique centre!

Dropping off huge bags of lettuce, kale and spinach

Look at all the fresh produce that clients can choose from!

Pantry staples

Guided with the belief that all individuals have the right to healthy, fresh food, the Parkdale Centre atmosphere and enthusiasm for healthy food is inspiring and contagious!  

Our kale, lettuce and spinach garden is now all harvested with the hopes that they will grow again this summer.  Let's wait and see!

Week 2 of summer vacation and our school garden is growing so well!  We have lots of kale, lettuce and spinach that is ready to harvest.  We have potatoes, onions, cucumbers and pumpkins.  And we have tomatoes - tons of tomatoes that are flowering and growing.  If all the flowers turn into fruit we will be looking for great ways to use them up!  

Kale is growing in abundance!  

Lettuce!

 K

There promises to be pumpkins come the fall

Potatoes!  

June 27

These radishes are our first pick of the crop in our community garden!! Super exciting!! 

June 2

Mr. Daher and Mr. Armstrong’s Grade 4 classes planting potatoes in the school garden! We can’t wait to harvest our crops and share the food! Students had fun digging, measuring, and collaborating while following procedural instructions on how to properly plant and take care of red potatoes!

Friday June 3rd, 2016

Tomotosphere - Grade 3 Inquiry

Today all 5 Grade Three classes got together to plant our Tomatosphere plants in the St. Cecilia garden.  The students were so excited to prep the gardens, plant and water.

We decided to plant the larger, stronger plants first and wait until our tiny seedlings become a bit stronger.  The Grade Three Students are looking forward to continue their observations over the next few weeks and see how our plants grow and change now that they have more room to grow!

  

May 31

Mme Nathalie JKSK5 and Mrs. Smith’s Grade 1 Class

We have a great gardening block this week. We decided to plant cucumbers and snow peas in our garden bed. All the students helped by getting our soil ready. It was super dry. All students watered a section. Then they had a chance to plant a seed in the garden. The students also noticed that there were weeds growing around so we spend some time taking the weeds out of our bed and around the beds as well. Here are some pictures of the day:

May

Tomatosphere - Grade 3 Adventure!

The Grade 3 classes are participating in a garden project that is super exciting, called Tomatosphere. They have received “special” seeds that have 2 packs. One package contains seeds that have been sent into space and the other package contains the “control” group, which have not been in space. The grade 3 students will learn how to conduct a scientific experiment and compare the germination rates of the two groups of seeds. This inquiry will help the children learn what plants need to survive and also help astronauts understand some of the issues related to long-term space travel. “It is an out-of –this-world opportunity for the Grade 3 students!! We wish you luck with the tomatoes. We can’t wait to see how they progress.