Return trip to gardens helps elementary school program grow strong roots

With kindergarten students rolling down a hill and then drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, and fourth graders digging in the dirt, energy was contagious a couple of weeks ago at the Allen County Purdue Extension Office gardens. A group of Purdue University Fort Wayne School of Education faculty and staff were guiding the Abbett Elementary students in the continuation of a program introducing them to the joy of gardening.

After an initial field trip for 100 students in October, the PFW group led by Julia Smith, assistant professor of early childhood education, Sharon Parnin, clinical assistant professor of educational psychology, and Hyun Jin Cho, assistant professor of education psychology, made weekly visits to seven Abbett classrooms. Along with many discussions and examples, they talked about the science of growing seedlings and planting using grow towers to maximize space. Sometimes they brought treats such as salsa and chips to talk about where peppers and tomatoes come from.

“I like that our students have started these plants in our classrooms; they’ve cared for them, and now they get to see the next part,” said fourth grade teacher Mike Flohr. “They’ve gotten to see things grow and track the progress, and now they are getting to plant them here.”

Flohr said he hopes the students’ interest continues this summer and carries over until the fall when they will return to the PFW campus to see and harvest mature plants.

Kindergarten teacher Staci Parnin, Sharon’s daughter-in-law, said she’s noticed a difference in her students’ academic language, especially when discussing the project in class.

“They are using more vocabulary that I hadn’t heard before we started this,” said Staci Parnin, whose grow towers are currently sprouting with green beans, “especially with the English language learner students who are now thriving with the plant aspect of English.

“This morning, the children were stoked to see even more seeds. Watching them from the beginning of their observations when things were very tiny and now seeing their observations as things get bigger and bigger has been a lot of fun.”

There were also a handful of experiment stations during the second field trip to the extension office gardens to teach students various aspects of plant life while they were waiting their turn to plant seedlings.

“We look forward to going back to the school in the fall to share the produce with the children and their families and make salsa,” Smith said. “I look forward to seeing those beautiful, smiling young faces again.

“Now that we’re at this point and we’ve seen some of the results, I think this has been better than we expected. I forgot how much I loved working with that age group. They are just so fresh and excited to learn.”

As Sharon Parnin said with a chuckle, the PFW group is rooted at Abbett Elementary. There are plans to start the process over with new classes in the fall, and maybe even host seminars for elementary teachers to share what the PFW faculty has learned from the experience.

“We created a partnership with the teachers and that’s been a very enjoyable aspect of this,” Sharon Parnin said. “I enjoy being reminded what working closely with the children is like, but also with the teachers as well. It informs my instruction in my own classes.”