Abstract Details
'Alternate Container Gardening in Urban Schools' |
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Share use of alternate container gardening in urban areas. Raised beds, gutters, laundry baskets, pallets, straw bales, milk crates, and shoe bags are used to garden in areas where there is poor soil quality and limited space. We raise lettuce in the gutter garden, plant potatoes in laundry baskets, use pallets and milk crates as our herb gardens, and grow a vast array of crops in the raised beds. This innovative method has enabled our school to reach every student and provides a way to integrate state standards in science, math and language arts with agriculture. Workshop Session (all workshops will be one hour) | |
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Handouts: 599SherriHarkins.docx |
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Sherri Harkins Okaloosa Farm Bureau member and 5th grade teacher (850) 240-2931 harkinss@mail.okaloosa.k12.fl.us A graduate of Auburn University, I am a veteran teacher in the Florida panhandle and have taught for 31 years. I was blessed to have grown up on a farm in northwest Florida. Each summer was filled with days spent picking enough vegetables from our garden to feed all of the county, or so it seemed at the time! I will be forever thankful for those days on the farm. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to instruct students from first to fifth grade,but I have found my true passion to be science. After attending the State Ag in the Classroom Convention in 2010, I set my goals to build a GreenSpace that would become an integral part of our elementary campus. We had a newly built greenhouse and some space to grow and the conference sparked a passion to reach my students through agriculture. My school is a full Title 1 school with over 74% of our students considered economically disadvantaged. The GreenSpace has provided these students with an opportunity to experience the joy of watching a seed sprout and grow to maturity, the thrill of picking produce that you helped grow. Students love to eat what we produce and during the summer months, to share their efforts with the community through our local Farmer's Market where the members of the Urban Ag club share pictures and produce with interested community members. |