Use a clear plastic container to view and explore how plants grow Ages 5+ ~45min
Looking for a project kids can continue to track and monitor over the next 3-4 weeks? This project is a great way for kids to examine and observe how roots grow over time through a root view cup. You will need a clear plastic cup or other clear container for each child (your recycling bin is a great place to start looking for this), scissors, dark paper, soil, and seeds. First, cut out a paper sleeve for each root view cup, to block the light from the roots. The sleeve should be approximately the height of your container and long enough to wrap around the container and overlap at the ends. Punch or drill three holes in the bottom of each cup for drainage- any sharp tool works, but a drill is quick and easy. Demonstrate how to fill the cups to the top with soil and give the children time to fill them. Show how to plant seeds right against the inside of the cup, so you can see the seed through the side of the cup, and you can see the root when it starts to grow. Demonstrate how deep to plant the seed, using a ruler and information from the seed packet. You can also have children measure a part of their finger with the ruler and then use their finger to drill the seed down to that depth (i.e., poke the seed down to your second knuckle. That’s about 1 inch down.) Then demonstrate how to cover the seed with soil and water it gently until the soil is as moist as a wrung out sponge. Next, demonstrate how to wrap the paper sleeve around the cup and tape it to itself where it overlaps (not to the cup, so it can slide off the cup when you want to observe the roots) and give them time to do that.
The sleeve is like a curtain to keep the soil nice and dark for the seed, but you can remove the sleeve whenever you want to see how the roots are growing! This sleeve, above, is cut to fit the curve of the cup, but cutting a basic straight sleeve works fine too. Keep the cups in a warm, sunny place and make your observations as your plant and roots start to grow. When doing this activity with older children, you can track observations in a data table, measure root length or plant height and make predictions about what you might see the next day.
Easy to do at home, no drill:
This version shows how to drill a hole, use a package of plastic drinking glasses, and create a template – good for a whole class:
All are welcome to join this interactive event on how food and librarianship can (and do!) come together! This event builds upon a series of informal, online conversations among a group of librarians and library partners interested in this topic, and interested in what we can do to support and grow….
Full-time Career and Summer Staff Positions in @pajarovalleyusd school gardens and the Life Lab Garden Classroom. On the @ucscagroecology farm @ucsc @pvusdschoolfood lifeLab.org/jobs … See MoreSee Less
"Colorful, stylized art and playful, accessible text… Inspiring and ‘kraut-chi-licious.’" So excited for our first review of Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild from Kirkus Reviews, just posted today! Full review below. Cheers to co-authors Jacqueline Briggs Martin and June Jo Lee for their followup to Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix, part of the award winning "Food Heroes" series, and the illustration debut for artist Julie Wilson. Such a fun team to work with! Just like June Jo wrote in her Author’s Note on visiting Sandor’s fermentation school, "we were all transformed—livelier, funkier, and more wild." Bay Area friends can come to joint book event with Sandor signing FERMENTATION JOURNEYS and co-author June Jo Lee signing Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild at South Berkeley Farmers Market/Ecology Center, 5/31, 3-5pm. Sandor will also make pao-cai, a chinese style of fermenting vegetables in a spiced brine that is perpetually reused. bit.ly/3wmhifZKIRKUS REVIEW A biography of food-fermentation guru Sandor Katz.Colorful, stylized art and playful, accessible text draw in readers, beginning with the endpapers’ beautiful cabbages. First, Katz is shown in his world-renowned fermentation school in Walnut Ridge, Tennessee, where his kitchen lies inside a house with a “crickety-crockety porch.” Next, readers learn of his boyhood in New York City, where he grows up loving fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kosher dill pickles. As a young man, Katz watches friends dying of AIDS and then learns that he is HIV-positive. He decides that the best way to take better care of himself is to leave his beloved city and “join a community of queer folks” in rural Tennessee. When their farm is overpopulated with ready-to-harvest cabbage, Katz is inspired to try his hand at sauerkraut. Soon, he combines that recipe with Korean kimchi spices and creates something that he dubs “kraut-chi.” A dazzling double-page spread shows him and his living partners at table as they dub him “Sandorkraut.” Katz markets his product and eventually travels the world, teaching, learning, and writing about fermented foods. The simple instructions—“chop, salt, squeeze, pack, and wait”—become the foundation for an accessible, six-step recipe at the end. Fermentation definitions are deftly sprinkled throughout the pages. Inspiring and “kraut-chi-licious.” • Book info @ bit.ly/35X4frY• Friends @ #TXLA22 can see the book at Publisher Spotlight booth 2140. • SANDOR KATZ will be published this June. Look for June Jo signing at #ALA2020 in DC this June. Stay tuned for more info.• Look for the audiobook from Live Oak Media later this year! ..#FoodLiteracy #FoodHeroes #FoodCulture #Fermentation #NoHeatCooking #Microbes #TinyWild #LGBTQ+ #QueerCommunity #PictureBookBiography#FoodBiography #FoodWriterNational Farm to School NetworkNational Agriculture in the ClassroomLife LabBig GreenSlow Food USAReal Food MediaThe Edible Schoolyard ProjectCenter for EcoliteracyFoodCorpsPilot LightThe Fermentation Association … See MoreSee Less
Conference Day 3 photo dump!Jen attended the seminars That’s Tasty! Garden and Cafeteria Connections through Taste Tests and Building & Institutionalizing a Sustainable School Garden Program Incorporating Horticultural Science Curriculum, as well as lightning talks about Salad Bar Success, Top 10 Takeaways for Building your Vision, Urban Agroforestry, Amplifying Indigenous Culture in the Classroom, A Community School starting a garden in a pandemic, How to diversify your volunteers.The seminars Lydia attended included Speak Their Language: Easy Peas-y Impact Communications for Diverse Stakeholders and From the Ground Up: Three Perspectives on Building a Districtwide School Garden Program, as well as lightening talks on soil, holistic care in the garden, program evaluation and regenerative forests. Key takeaways include the importance of sharing collected data back to stakeholders and of having ‘mission moments’ at board and staff meetings. Favorite lines from today:"The importance of having control over our own food and a safe plate of food on our table." "The garden is a mirror.""Which weeds in our lives are using up resources and taking up space?""Great conversations happen in the garden.""Empowering students to become agents of change in their communities through science, peace and gardening."The evening concluded with a plant-based dinner-dance party where attendees made music with vegetables (see video!) and @djcaverm had the group shouting "kale life!"#veggiecatethefirststate#growingschoolgardensLife LabSprouts Farmers MarketSchool Garden Support Organization – SGSO – Network … See MoreSee Less
Conference photo dump Day 2!The day started out with a group session where we wrote our best school garden tips on a piece of paper, turned them into paper airplanes and flew them across the room! A fun way to wake everyone up and get the day going!Sessions we attended included: Growing Garden Leaders, not Garden Weeders!, Our Garden Mocktail Mix: Teachers, Models & Advocacy, Use It or Lose It: Maintaining Long-term garden program and Growing our Youngest Gardeners: Garden Design and Creative Education. Some of our favorite quotes of the day are——"The next frontier is right beneath our feet.""Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.""Soil is the living skin of the earth.""Landscapes shape mind-scapes.""We are part of a movement that honors life."" We need to embrace growth-oriented discomfort"#veggiecatethefirststate#growingschoolgardensSprouts Farmers MarketSchool Garden Support Organization – SGSO – NetworkLife Lab … See MoreSee Less
Life Lab’s 40th Gala – Sunday, October 13th Celebrate 40 years of bringing learning to life in gardens.
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Life Lab's 40th Gala
Life Lab provides truly inspiring training. Their breadth of experience, joy for teaching, and commitment to sharing knowledge highlight the best practices in food and garden education.
Erica CurryTraining and Professional Development ManagerFoodCorps
Thank you for such a wonderful field trip experience! Your leaders did such a great job at keeping our kids engaged.
Sheila BrickenKindergarten TeacherSan Lorenzo Valley Elementary
Terry had another awesome two weeks at Life Lab. I think he learns more there than in any other part of his year. School is great, but he’s passionate (and often dogmatic) about what he learns there.