Garden State Gardeners Book Process
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Garden State Gardeners Book Process It all started when Mr. Klock won the 2014 NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education grant. This grant was for Kresson Elementary School students to start a garden of vegetables and herbs. Ms. Rocco's class makes a book every year. So Mr. Klock and Ms. Rocco decided to combine their projects. Her 5th graders would write a book on the garden. Topics included information on the plants, famous planters, recipes and the process itself. That is how "Garden State Gardeners" was born. In order for the book pages to be similar, Ms. Rocco created a graphic organizer to help in our research. Once the topics were chosen, some started researching and getting drawings of different planters and plants. Others gathered information on various vegetables online and in encyclopedias. Once the research was completed, each student decided whether they wanted to be an author or an illustrator. Authors began to write rough drafts of their text using the organizers. illustrators drew rough drafts of their topic. Once the final drafts were completed, many students drew covers for the book. Mr. Klock and Ms. Rocco will choose the winner. To celebrate our project, NJ Classroom Close Up will be reporting on the project. They will the class on both parts of the project; planting and writing. Additionally, we will have a book signing in June. • We built 9 garden boxes. They came as a kit. • We put the soil that has fertilizer in the boxes. • We built a seed started that had 3 light beds. • We planted the seeds in peapods. • The seeds started to germinate. • We started to record data. • We measured growth, counted leaves, and took other notations. • We decided we where should plant the different seedlings and seeds according to the height, sunlight, and spacing of the plant. • We planted the seeds and seedlings into the boxes. • Each Friday we would observe each and every seed and/ or seedling. To check if they were growing the correct way and if the plants have enough sunlight. Jane Colden Having been described as "first botanist of her sex in her country," Jane Colden was an important and noteworthy early American scientist. Jane was born on March 27th, 1724 in New York City. As the daughter of a physician, she was home educated with an emphasis in science, particularly botany. In her career as a botanist, Jane Colden attracted the attention of respected contemporary botanists, like John Bartram from Philadelphia, Carolus Linnaeus, and Peter Collinson. Her use of the Linnaeus Classification System in America brought Jane to his attention. She was a big fan of Carolus Linnaeus's groundbreaking work so you can imagine how excited Jane was Jane Colden was an amazing woman and should be recognized, because she was a big inspiration to women everywhere. She showed that women can do anything that they set their minds to. Jane's work made an impact on the way botanists do their work today. She wasn't afraid to work in a field that was dominated by men. Many women were inspired by Jane because she wasn't a quitter and continued to do what she loved to do. •. 1' ..I II / Thomas Jefferson had many interesting things going in his life. One of them was learning about plants. Jefferson described botany as, "...the most valuable of the sciences." He considered his vegetable garden at his home, Monticello, as a laboratory for him to experiment with different varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia. He was passionately interested in nature, especially plants. Once he figured out how many pea seeds would fill up a jar (2,500 for your information). He also evaluated native plants for their usefulness to humanity. He was little when his father died and young Thomas was left the gigantic estate. Later Thomas attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia. There he met his mentor, a law professor by the name of George Wythe. And later in life he became a lawyer. Thomas Jefferson went on to write the Declaration of Independence, serve as Secretary of State under George Washington, and most importantly, he served as the third United States president. Jefferson appreciated good food and especially vegetables both familiar and exotic. He wrote, "Ihave lived temperately eating little animal food and that...as a 'condiment' for vegetables, which constitute my principal diet." Jefferson swapped seeds with local farmers with growing instructions. The English pea is known to have been the former president's favorite vegetable. He and his neighbors even participated in a tradition that whoever harvested the first pea of the season had to host a feast for all of the others. Thomas Jefferson was one of the greatest Americans of his day, and yet cared deeply for the science of botany. He was a pioneer in growing and developing many of the common vegetables we still grow in our gardens even today. You can visit his gardens and home at Monticello to learn about him and his studies. John Bartram John Bartram was born on March 23, 1699 in Darby, Pennsylvania. He was a botanist, horticulturalist, and explorer. He is sometimes known as "the father of American Botany". He had no formal education other than school. He had a large interest for medicine. He started a small farm. Then,he got in touch with European gardeners interested in North American plants, and the farm thrived. When Bartram was 24, he married Mary Maris. He had two children with her, Richard and Isaac. Unfortunately, Mary died in 1727. He married Ann Mendenhall in 1729. He had five boys and four girls with her. His third son, William became a famous botanist like his dad John. He co-owned an 8 acre garden with Ben Franklin in Kingsessing not far from Philadelphia. He also created the first botanic collection in North America. During his travel in the Eastern colonies, he collected plants. Sadly, he died on September 22,1777 at the age of 78. Luther Burbank worked on over two thousand five hundred kinds of plants;in fact, he made more new forms of plant life than any other man. His work was to make plants more useful for humanity. Luther Burbank was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts on March 7, 1849. When he was small his mother and sister noticed that he was fascinated with plants. He was so in love with plants that people would bring them to him at a very young age. Young Luther was interested in science at school, and was very popular with his teachers. When Luther was older, he had a friend whom he spent many days exploring rocks, caves, rivers, fish and birds. Luther Burbank moved to California in 1875 to the city of Santa Rosa. Burbank created hundreds of different varieties of fruit and vegetables, and plants. Some things he created are plums, prunes, pears, peaches, blackberry, raspberry, potato, tomato ornamental flowers and other plants. Some people say that Luther Burbank was a handsome, courteous gentleman, fond of fun, of young people and children, but I think he is an extremely smart man for all the fruits, vegetables and plants he created. Let's Move! "The physical and emotion health of an entire generation and economic health and security of our nation is at stake." - First Lady Michelle Obama February 9, 2010. Get outside and do something! You can jump, swim, and play. Being active is healthy for you. Eating healthy foods is also good for you! The "Let's Move" campaign was started by Michelle Obama encourages young people to become more active and healthy. To accomplish these goals, "Let's Move" teaches kids about the benefits of food and exercise. It also provides parents with helpful information. Mrs. Obama also wants to better school cafeteria food!. In order to be healthy, one should be physical active. "Get Active" encourages children to play for sixty minutes each day. You can spend those 60 minutes playing a sport,dancing or just running around. It might seem hard work but its real good for you! Doctors believe too many young children in America are overweight and are not getting enough physical activity. "Let's Move" recommends eating fewer calories, being more physically active, and making wiser food choices. This program teaches children how to become healthier! In ancient Greece, parsley was used in funeral ceremonies and to make wreaths for graves. Parsley was also placed in the wreaths given to winning athletes. The Greeks believed and thought that the god Hercules had chosen parsley for the garlands he wore. There are two kinds of parsley. There is a curly•leaf and a flat-leaved species. You should try growing your parsley in a rich, moist, well drained soil in full sun or partial shade. Sow the seeds outdoor when soil temperature averages 50 degrees. Parsley seeds germinate very slowly. You can speed the germination up by soaking the seeds in water overnight before planting. They mostly require 6 weeks before the seedlings poke out. Parsley has 0.3 grams of protein. They can provide vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin A. You can also use parsley to enhance flavor and make your dish look good! Dill was so important that it was even mentioned in the Bible! Many soldiers in ancient times used dill to heal themselves. Now we know that it is a good source of vitamin A. Maybe that's why soldiers used it. It is native to Russia, Africa and parts of Europe.