Author: B. Crocker

Hello Green Classroom Steering Committee and Friends!

School’s on again, and we’re busy getting the garden ready for our fall garden classes. We’re asking if any of you would be able to help us with a couple of projects that are coming up soon. We also have some on-going volunteer tasks that are listed at the bottom.

Saturday, September 6, 9:00 am to noon.
We need one or two people to help us this Saturday with a Volunteer Workday. We already have plenty of volunteers lined up to do the work, but we need a couple of people to help supervise the workers.

Wednesday, September 17, 1:00-3:00pm – Spread the Harvest Resource Give-Away
As part of this program, we are eligible to pick up a truck load of great compost for the Green Classroom! The pick-up takes place at the New Day Community Garden at 2215 E.M. Franklin, and we need a truck to be able to get the maximum amount. Does anyone have a truck to use for this project? In addition to the truck and driver, we will need some volunteers to help us load and unload.

If we can’t get a truck for the pick-up, we still need even more volunteers because we will need to bring lots of bags and bag the compost. It’s a lively scene there at the Austin Baha’i Center on pick-up day, so we hope you can join us for the fun!

On-Going Volunteer Jobs
Leaders and Assistants for weekly garden classes
Watering an assigned area of the garden once or twice a week
Occasional weeding and other maintenance
Website or technical support
Steering Committee for planning and organizing garden programs and activities
Site Construction and Repairs

Please let me know if you’re interested in helping out in any of these ways. We also welcome any of your ideas about other ways you would like to use your interests and skills in the Green Classroom!

Thank you,
Kathy
(512)478-9478

School has started, kids are getting their hands dirty, and seeds are sprouting at Becker Elementary’s Green Classroom. Every class at Becker has the opportunity to garden each week in the unique space across from the school known as “the green classroom” that is dedicated to growing vegetables, herbs, fruit, flowers, compost and other plants.

You can share your expertise or learn about gardening with the students while lending a hand alongside a veteran volunteer. Garden leaders work together to plan and lead a 30-45 minute weekly session with the same class of children throughout an entire school year. An orientation session, website with project ideas, and a resource library are available to help volunteers plan projects.

Come join us and inspire young children through hands on learning, create lifelong good eating habits, and dig in the dirt with other amazing volunteers.  

Becker students love the Green Classroom and their Green Classroom volunteers! If interested in volunteering or learning more about The Green Classroom, contact Kathy McWhorter at kmmcwhorter@hotmail.com or 512-478-9478 or Kelly Haragan at kharagan@me.com.

Have a fun summer!  We’ll stay in touch!
Kathy

We’re having our annual Spring Workday on March 22, 9am to noon.  We hope you can come help us get the garden in shape for the spring season.  We’ve got some fun tasks lined up, and we’re excited about the opportunity to get to know each other better while we’re beautifying the garden and getting it ready for spring planting.

We also still need help picking up compost on March 19.  

I hope you’re having a fun Spring Break!
Kathy

On a sunny morning in September, the Becker Green Classroom welcomed its newest garden teachers. Some were parents and some were from the community, but all were interested in teaching children through gardening. These new garden teachers are key to the future success of Becker’s Green Classroom program.  As the school continues to grow each year, we have additional classes of kids who are eager to learn about science, nutrition, gardening, and more in the Green Classroom.

The purpose of the orientation was not only to welcome them, but share the in’s and out’s of the garden, and convey some ideas about teaching a garden class.

• Kathy McWhorter started off the day with introductions and a tour of the garden.
• Paula McDermott, longtime Green Classroom volunteer and Chair of Austin’s Food Policy Board, walked the new leaders through, “A Typical Day in the Garden.”
• Lyndsay Razzazz, a representative from the Junior Master Gardener Program led garden teachers through several fun, engaging sample classes, taken from The Junior Master Gardener (JMG)Teacher/Leader Guide, Level 1. The Becker Green Classroom has an updated copy of The Junior Master Gardener Teacher/Leader Guide, Level 1. It is located in the library and available for garden teacher use.

  

• Lastly, Kelly Haragan, Sameera Balay, and Barb Crocker introduced the new Becker Green Classroom website.

BECKERGREENCLASSROOM.ORG

We’re happy to announce that our new website is up and running.  The updated website has a new menu called, Teacher Resource.  This new section contains four areas that could be useful to garden teachers.

• The first section contains Becker’s weekly science curriculum. Becker’s students often attend their garden class during their daily science slot. Because of this, we ask volunteers to try to incorporate ideas from their weekly science curriculum into the garden classes.

• The second section contains ideas for garden activities. As garden teachers discover classes that really worked, they are encouraged to submit them for posting on the website. This way the activity section can grow and be used by all the teachers.

• The third section contains specific information about the garden and its unique features. Garden teachers can incorporate this information into their classes.

• The fourth section contains general garden information that could be useful for garden classes, such as Travis County planting timelines.

We are happy to welcome our new teachers as well as express gratitude for our returning teachers. And we’re still looking for additional volunteers to make sure that every Becker class gets to come to the garden.  If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact Kathy McWhorter at 512-478-9478.

Let’s garden!

Wondering what to plant in your garden for fall?

School has started and we are all beginning plan which veggies to grow in the garden. Natural Gardener has a month-by-month guide that will  help you select appropriate veggies to grow.  It also has information on herbs, too, as well as gardening tips.

http://www.naturalgardeneraustin.com/what-to-do-in-september.html