PORT ANGELES — The latest stop on the Clallam County Master Gardeners’ 2005 North Olympic Peninsula tour of second-grade classrooms brought the green to Franklin Elementary School on Wednesday morning.
Several volunteers — most of them retired teachers — wore green Master Gardeners shirts as they led a series of presentations designed for second-graders that focus mainly on the magic of how plants grow and their critical role to man’s survival.
“We want to get the students interested in things that are real, things that are living,” said Shirley Honore, a retired teacher who showed a group of Franklin Elementary students to plant their own seeds.
“We want the students to get involved in something that doesn’t happen in an instant and gets them outdoors at the same time.”
Watching seeds grow
One project that is designed to grab students’ long-term interest is watching how seeds grow over several weeks.
After viewing an educational show by Master Gardeners volunteer Susan Erzen and featuring “Herbie” the puppet illustrating the life cycle of plants and flowers, students were broken up into different groups.
Then volunteers provided them with plastic cups, soil and five different kinds of seeds — bean, pea, corn, sunflower seed and radish.
“Now what’s the difference between dirt and soil?” one volunteer asked the children before the hands-on project began.
“Soil has nutrients that helps plants grow.”
The students nodded in approval and examined the clear plastic cup before them.
They then proceeded to fill their cups with prepared soil and placed seeds in them, from which they will be able to watch the plants grow over time.
“I love peas and corn,” said one student as she watered her cup.
