What is composting?

This week we are reading Charlie's Dirt Day, by Canadian author, Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli, also a Canadian. In this story, Charlie learns all about composting so I thought it would be fun to try composting in our Library Learning Commons!

I wonder how long it will take to make our compost?  We know that it needs brown (dry leaves, twigs), green organics (grass clippings, orange peel, banana peel), water (just until it's crumbly), and air.  We will have to give it more water and a stir every few days.  Now we wait!  Maybe we will be able to use the compost for our avocado seeds that are looking ready to sprout any day!

Can you tell what went into our compost?
We started with some dirt, twigs and dry leaves and added grass clippings, orange peels, banana peels, coffee grounds and tea leaves.  Then we added some water and mixed it all together with a gardening fork.  

The bottom picture shows what our compost looked like once it was mixed up.  The plastic container has small holes in the bottom and we put the black lid on top and put the compost in the window where it will get some sun.

Update:  May 2nd

Update: May 9th

Can you spot the mold?  What does the mold do? What do you notice that's different since last week?  Since the beginning?

Update: May 16th

What changes do you notice in this week's photo?  Do you think the compost is ready yet?  Why or why not?

The Promise

This week we are enjoying reading "The Promise" by Nicola Davies. It is nominated for the Surrey Schools' Picture Book of the Year award. Have you ever planted a seed or grown something? I love plants and flowers and have created a windowsill garden where students will be able to watch plants grow. We have avocado seeds, a sweet potato, a pineapple top, and the cut off bottoms from celery and romaine lettuce. We've talked about the plants needing water and sunlight and look forward to watching the changes over the next few weeks! Here's a picture of the garden on the first day.

Update: April 11th

Update:  April 22nd, Earth Day

Here's what's still growing:  Celery is getting very leafy, carrots are growing taller leaves, avocados are starting to crack on the top, and sweet potato has tiny shoots starting on top.  Stay tuned!

Update: May 2nd

So after waiting patiently for a month, we can now see the leaves sprouting on the sweet potato!  So exciting!

Update: May 9th

Wow!  Look at the growth since last week!  We are still waiting for roots but the leaves are doing well.  

Update: May 16th

The sweet potato continues to grow well.  Still no sign of roots.  I've been talking to students and we are thinking that maybe it needs soil.  We may plant it in a pot soon.

Our Thanksgiving Garden

This week some of our Grade 1 and 2 classes created a garden wall showing some Thanksgiving foods and how they are grown. We used Tumblebooks to read Caldecott Honor Book, Tops and Bottoms, by Janet Stevens and determined which part of the plants we eat, the tops or the bottoms! To read this book on Tumblebooks at home, students can click on the online resources link--elementary--Tumblebooks and use the username and password for our school.  If you need the username and password, come and see me in the library learning commons!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our windowsill garden

I was cutting up celery for my lunch last week and decided to try and regrow it. As a child, I loved growing things on the kitchen windowsill. I remember growing carrot tops, avocado, sweet potato and even orange seeds! One orange seed grew into a small bush I had for many years but I never did get any oranges!

Have you ever grown plants on your windowsill? Tell us about it in the comments below. I will add pictures of our windowsill garden as it expands! 

We are going to overwinter this geranium plant on our windowsill.  I wonder how long the bloom will last?