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The PLANT-A-GEN!US has been especially designed for kids working with their school and comes with 4 divisions [seasons] and a CD-ROM. I envisage that the School will buy a PLANT-A-GENDA for the Teacher, and a PLANT-A-GEN!US for the children.
The CD-ROM includes photos of every vegetable and herb, what to plant when; how long before you can eat it; recipes that kids' can cook, [a good Health project], organic spraying, making compost, the Perfect Soil Recipe, nutritional facts [a good science project] plus lots more.
As a past Primary School teacher, I envisage that a school would get the parents and children to make elevated garden beds - waist high for an average child [gives wheelchair access]. This would take a weekend, and the plans are in the Newsletters page, beneath this one.
This is a good Maths assignment to work out how to build it, and what needs buying or finding at the Tip Shop [recycled materials.]
The best thing is to go through the CD-ROM and find out what kids will eat, and order those on-line through either Eden Seeds, Seed Savers, or Diggers. Get seeds for the whole year, and then file them in the box. It wouldn't cost each child/family more than $2.50 a year.
Plant the seeds.
There will be too many, so when it is time to thin them, the children can take the thinnings home and plant them there. When the vegetables are ready to pick, the children sell them to their parents. The Children might like to sell them to the neighbours, if they have planted enough. The neighbours might even like the children to grow vegetables in their garden.
The school might have a vegetable stall once a week or so. So many win/win situations!
Other suggestions are that children each nominate to take photos of a particular vegetable, and photograph them every week until picking time. These photos can be made into an album, and the following year, every child will be able to identify which seedlings are which, without markers [- although markers are always a good idea!!] Another good science assignment.
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