Spud Measuring

Over Spring Break our spuds sprouted.

This week we busily hilled them each day.

This year instead of measuring the plants I set up some paper plants

for the children to use.

They laid the blocks along the stalk till they reached the leaves

then counted them.

They recorded their number on our clip boards.

On a shelf to the side were other materials the children could use.

 The measuring tape was a popular choice.

This boy used toy fish and then the measuring tape.

Wine corks were another choice.

This picture gives you an idea how much the plants grew this week.

It's Spuds Time

We have participated in the Spuds in Tubs program since 2010.

It's a fantastic program that I would recommend to everyone.

The program includes the tubs, soil, fertilizer and the seeds.

It provides an opportunity to learn about gardening.

This week we filled the five tubs with rich, dark soil.

The children mixed the fertilizer into the soil.

Enjoying the feel and getting dirty.

Next we checked each seed and removed extra sprouts.

The children dug holes in the soil, dropped their seed in

and covered it up.

One more step - water.

Then they rest till we come back from Spring Break.

How much will they sprout?

Celebrating Another Project

Each year for the past six years my StrongStart centre has taken part in

 the Spuds in Tubs program.

Each year I share it with at least one other teacher in the school

so we can share ideas and come together at the end

to celebrate.

This year I shared the tubs with Ms Irwin's grade 2 class.

And our big buddies class had their own tubs too.

So today was celebration day.

We started off the morning mashing our potatoes 

to have Mashed Potatoe Sundaes.

Then all three classes met in the multi-purpose room where the potatoes and 

toppings were waiting.

I learned today that the connections between our StrongStart children and their 

big buddies are real and can be a comfort when one is anxious.

One child who is fairly new to my program, but has met the big buddies before,

entered the multi-purpose room for the first time and yelled.

That is a reaction I noticed he does when he is transitioning to a new location.

I approached him and offered to show him around and asked

if he recognized any of the buddies.

At that same moment his big buddy, who was across the room, started

waving his hand at us.

I could see the little buddy's body sag with relief and he

went running over to join his big buddy

with no further concerns.

Perfect!

We started with a brief talk about potatoes 

and shared how many potatoes were harvested.

Then it was time to eat.

For toppings we had shredded cheese, sour cream, green onions, bacon bits,

hard boiled eggs, corn, gravy and dirt.

Students who have participated in the Spuds in Tubs with StrongStart before

remember having dirt as a topping.

Some could keep the real name of the dirt a secret.

Some hesitated to try it until a friend told them it was 

crushed Oreos.

If you work in British Columbia and have a chance to participate in this great

program I would highly recommend it.

Moving Day for our Spuds in Tubs

Our potatoes have been growing since early March.

They are tall and skinny and trying to grow to reach the sunlight past 

the window.

Today we got them ready to move outdoors.

We transferred them easily on scooter boards that I borrowed

from our gym.

Once they were settled in our garden space

we filled the watering cans and gave them a good soaking.

We'll be back in a couple of days to see if they have filled out.

Spuds in Tubs 2016

We are participating in the Spuds in Tubs program again this year.

We prepped our tubs but the soil was very wet so we had to wait two days

before we planted.

When it was time we talked about the seeds and looked at the sprouts.

We added the fertilizer to each tub.

Mixed it in with our hands.

Then dug holes 

and carefully put our seed potato in the hole.

Once they were covered

they were ready to water.

When we get back from Spring Break in two weeks we should see

evidence of growth coming out of the soil.

A Surprise in the Garden

One morning, a week ago, as I was walking into school I passed the garden
                   and noticed some plants growing in our Spud Tubs. 
                      
                 Some were weeds but one looked just like a potato plant. 
                    
As the nights are becoming colder I was starting to worry about frost so
                        today we decided to harvest the plant.
                        
                   We dug in the soil but couldn’t find anything.
               
Then I pulled the plant up and there was one little potato attached to the roots.
      
The children continued to dig and we found one more.  I think a great experiment, for next year, would be to plant a second crop of spuds after we harvest our spuds next June.  Would they grow over the summer?
                    
              We noticed a different plant growing beside our spud tubs. 
                                 I think it is a pumpkin plant.