AMONG SCHOOL GARDENS 



To avoid overlapping of work, a school that 

 uses a garden for group work almost entirely 

 gives its kindergarten children several kinds 

 of seeds to plant and watch grow. The first 

 grade had radishes and nasturtiums; the second 

 lettuce and zinnias; the third had in the fall 

 indoor bulb planting and in the spring (the 

 garden season was April to June and September 

 to October) the planting of onions, peanuts and 

 beans. The children of this grade also made a 

 study of some flower, planting it as one member 

 of a group or family. As the children ranged 

 from five to sixteen years in age, the fourth 

 grade added transplanting to their work, and 

 took up, in the experimental plots, the study of 

 corn, wheat and oats. In the fifth grade cotton, 

 hemp and flax were grown to illustrate their 

 lessons in geography, while the sixth worked 

 with tree seedlings, the seventh with a wildflower 

 bed and made simple experiments with vege- 

 tables. The eighth took care of a decorative 

 border on this 200 x 25 foot garden, growing 

 both annuals and perennials.* This school had 

 500 home gardeners among its 600 children. 



Variety of work may be secured by studying the 

 same subject from different points of view. An 

 exhaustive study of a plant is not suitable for the 

 lower grades. How corn grows and its conver- 

 sion into flour is interesting to young children. 

 Its pollination is a good study for several grades, 



♦ Carroll Robbins School, Trenton, N.J. 

 250 



