The ACES GardenMagazine2012-2013

Aventura City of Excellence School

In this Issue...

Page 3 A Shared SpacePages 4-5 Preparation & PlantingPage 6 Garden BuddiesPage 7 Animal FriendsPage 8 Seed to PlatePage 9 RecipesPage 10 Garden Inspired Art Page 11 Music & Creative WritingPage 12 Just for Fun

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Editor’s Note

The ACES Community Garden is a special place where students in grades

K-8 come together to learn, work, and play. Students use the space to learn how to care for plants, why compost is useful, and the benefits of growing our own food. They also get to experience hard physical work and the joy of getting their

hands dirty. Our days in the garden are enhanced when our friends Roger the Bird, Gary the Slug, Fluttereby the Butterfly, or Spidey the Spider come to visit.

In this issue of The ACES Garden Magazine, you will see the progression of the garden from a field of weeds to a vegetable buffet of tomatoes, peppers, greens, and herbs. Students share their experiences tasting the plants and their ideas for recipes. You will read about our Garden Buddies program where middle schoolers act as tour guides for our younger garden guests. You will also see how the garden inspires students to create art, poetry, comics, puzzles, and music. Our garden has enhanced the educational experience of our students and staff as we come together to celebrate nature.

- Lindsey B. Cohen

Layout & Design:

Laura VanHellemontTechnology Specialist

Top 10 Reasons to Have a Garden

By: Eric Perczek

1. While caring for the garden, a per-son enjoys the outdoors.2. A person can save a lot of money by growing his own food.3. You know exactly what you’re eating when you’ve grown it.4. A garden can make any house look beautiful.5. Herbs are great healing plants.6. You can become an expert on all different kinds of plants.7. Gardening is a relaxing hobby.8. You can give fruits, vegetables, and flowers to your friend.9. Successful gardeners compete in contests and win prizes.10. Gardening can be a way of making friends.

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The Outdoor ClassroomBy: Lindsey B. Cohen

The ACES Community garden is used by many teachers and students in a variety of ways. In addition to tending to the plants, students use

the garden space as an outdoor classroom to make connections with science, math, literature, technology, art, and video production.

Students in Ms. Schulze’s 8th grade science class investigated the pH of our soil. They collected dry soil samples from the beds, added distilled water, and dropped small amounts of vinegar and baking soda on the soil. Their background research indicated that if the soil reacts with the vinegar, it is basic, and if the soil reacts with baking soda, it is acidic. They discovered that our soil is slightly acidic and ideal for growing vegetables and herbs.

Biology students are currently studying companion planting. They learned that certain plants can add nutrients to the soil and help each other grow. They planted carrot seeds in the control group bed and carrot and green bean seeds in the experimental group bed. Students record growth every two days and will present their conclusion next month.

Mr. Mangeym’s math class used the garden to practice their geometry skills. They measured the length, width, and height of the garden beds and calculated perimeter, area, volume, and surface area. They devised how much mulch would be needed to cover the garden and the beds. As a culminating activity, students used their measurements to create maps of the garden.

Ms. Laird’s language arts class read Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman. In the book, an urban community

transforms an empty lot into a beautiful garden, while transforming their own lives in the process. She wanted her students to understand the experience, so they worked to transform a weed-filled garden bed into a space suitable for plants to grow. Matthew Baquero commented, “Wow! Gardening is such hard work and I only worked for 20 minutes! Imagine how hard it was for Panchito to work all day!”

Ms. VanHellemont used the garden space to inspire 7th graders to create digital art projects. They used the iPad app DoodleBuddy to draw the vegetables, plants, and animals they saw while

visiting the garden. They also used Paint and Chogger to make garden comics, used the Internet to research recipes that feature ingredients growing in the garden and wrote Twitter conversations between the plants.

Art students, under the direction of Ms. Baertlein, made animal totems out of clay. Their totem animals represent a quality they admire about themselves. The totems are displayed along with Peace Day stepping stones next to the pond.

In the Broadcast Production class with Ms. Chiodi, students visited the garden to practice filming live action scenes. They edited the footage, added effects and voice overs, and presented their video on the morning announcements. Students loved seeing themselves on the screen.

A Shared Space

Daniel Bornstein and Hugo Mijares-Bracho measure the length and width of the beds.

Ms. Laird’s students read Seedfolks in the garden.

Sebastian Lopez creates digital garden art using Paint.

Angelica Gutierrez draws the but-terfly bush.

Garden Preparation Bed by Bed, Row by RowBy: Hilly Yehoshua

Our 6th grade science class has been recently going out to the garden to help grow plants. Before we began to grow food in the garden,

we had small tasks to fulfill. First, we had to make sure the soil was free of any other plants that would disturb its growing environment by taking up space for the plants’ roots to expand.

With our class, we went outside and, bed by bed, row by row, pulled out the weeds to help the garden grow. We pulled out the stems, leaves, and roots of the weeds so they would not have a chance to grow again. When we were done weeding the garden, we took some tools, like the shovel and rake, and tilled the soil.

After we were done preparing the soil, we started to plant the seeds. We did this two different ways. One way was by digging a trench and carefully placing seeds and then covering them up with more soil. We also dug holes to plant seedlings. The seedlings came in biodegradable cups that will degrade slowly into the soil as the plants’ roots grow.

In order to make sure the seeds and seedlings grew, we had to water them often. With a little bit of patience and time, we now have tomatoes, green beans, radishes, herbs, and flowers. Fresh food from the garden that is ready to eat!

Top 10 Tips for

Growing a GardenBy: Svetlana Vikhlyantseva

1. Make a plan.2. Find a sunny location.3. Remove any weeds and debris.4. Add soil.5. Aerate the soil. (This is very important)6. Buy seeds and seedlings.7. Water your plants every day.8. Wait.9. Wait more.10. Harvest and enjoy!

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Alec Gluzman and Eric Perczek are beginning the weeding process.

Aftercare students plant peppers in the first bed of the season.

Jennifer Brunstein is suprised to find a worm as she is weeding.

The First SeedlingsBy: Jaidyn Hollis

Planting in the garden was a lot fun. Before planting, we had to aerate the soil

by tilling it with rakes, hoes, and shovels. After doing this, we were ready to plant. We started by planting the tomato seedlings while singing a song. The song went like this: “Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow!”

The last seedling that we planted was catnip! We all thought about Ms. Cohen’s cats and what they would do once they took a whiff of that plant!

We saw a big bug while we were planting the catnip. Ms. Cohen told us to leave it alone because bugs and insects are good for the garden.

After we finished planting, we picked up the watering cans to make sure all of the plants were well watered. This is very important to help them grow.

Once we were all done, we thanked Ms. Cohen for the experience and went back to our after-care program.

The Garden ExperienceBy: Kevin Ordet

I have had many experiences in the garden this year. My favorite trips to the garden were to plant seeds, pull weeds, and prepare soil. When our class went

outside to the garden for the first time, the beds were full with weeds. Today, months later, most of the crops have fully grown fruits and vegetables.

I liked going out to the garden to help get it prepared for what it is like today. I think that the change in the garden since day one is incredible. I am glad to have helped with the garden and am amazed at what has grown. I always enjoy my experiences in the garden, whether I am planting seeding, pulling weeds, preparing soil, or watering the plants.

and Planting

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Students planting the first seedlings.

Students use shovels to aerate the soil.

Jarel Roberts greets his new animal friend, Lowly the Worm.

Garden BuddiesKinder-“garden”By: David Rozenberg

I had a lot of fun giving a tour to my

kinder-“garden” buddies. They were very cute. It made me remember the time when I was in kindergarten. I was happy watching how fascinating they thought the garden looked. They seems to know a lot about the parts of a plant and gardens!

The first thing we showed them was the big banana tree. One of the kids wanted one! Then, we looked at the mini pond where all of the slugs are. Then, we showed them the tool shed with all of the garden tools, like the watering cans, hoes, shovels, and rakes. Then, we took them to see all of the different vegetables and herbs that are growing in the garden like tomatoes, radishes, and basil.

I think both the 6th graders and the kindergartners really enjoyed this great garden adventure.

Back to Our RootsBy: Carla Salamanca

I had amazing experiences

at our school’s garden. We have done everything from pulling weeds to tasting the different herbs and vegetables.

My favorite part is when we met our garden buddies. They were all from kindergarten. We taught them how plants grow, and what they need to grow including sunlight and water.

We started by showing them the different types of vegetables and herbs that we grew in the garden. We showed them the green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, and squash. Next, we showed them the pond, the supply closet, and our banana tree. They were so happy to be a part of our garden.

The last thing we did with them was pull weeds. We were able to let them touch the roots of the weeds and they thought it was so cool! They had so much fun at the garden.

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Alexandra Schek is showing her buddies the roots of a weed.

The first meeting of the 6th graders and their kinder “garden” buddies.

Hilly and Daniella share a snack of green beans with their kindergarten buddies

Students are checking on the growth of the zuchinni blossoms.

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Animal FriendsRoger’s AdventuresBy: Zach Ordet

Hello, my name is Roger. I am a bird and I live in the ACES garden. I am known by all of the 6th graders. I fly around and sometimes eat

the tomatoes. One day, I even pooped tomato seeds into another bed! This made a new tomato plant!

Yawn! I just woke up, and I am going to visit the 6th graders in the garden. During my visit, I see my best friend, Gary the Slug. He lives by the pond. I also swung by the butterflies at the butterfly bush. Today was so much fun!

Summoning RogerBy: Shai Zachar

In our garden we have a very special visitor. His name is Roger. He comes and visits us every time we go to the garden. Roger is a small brown bird

that likes to eat seeds. One time he dug a hole and ate the sunflower seeds in our flower bed.

Roger is so special that when we do not see him in the garden we are sad. We then decided to create a dance and song to summon him. We gathered around his favorite bed, the tomato bed, and began to dance and sing. Believe it or not, he actually came! Ever since then, we always have a visit from our garden bird when we go out to the garden.

Our Garden PetsBy: Michelle Poreh

When we go to the garden, we expect to see plants and vegetables. However, we also see birds, snails, worms, lady bugs, spiders, and

butterflies. We’ve named some of the animals that we see very often that are close to us, like Roger the Bird. Roger always comes out when we are in the garden and he eats the jalapenos and sunflower seeds. He watches us pull the weeds and harvest the vegetables. He is always being spirited.

Another one of our “pets” from the garden is Gary the Slug. Federico found him slithering around the garden. We call him Gary because he reminds us of the cartoon snail from SpongeBob Squarepants. I’ve never held him before, but I’ve heard he’s pretty slimy. He’s still really cute.

Now that we’ve discovered our new companions, we can be with them as they grow with the plants. We love going to the garden, not just for vegetables and herbs, but also to see our new friends.

Victoria Vieria’s portrait of Roger the Bird.

Federico Waldman when he first found Gary.

Matthew Baquero illustrated the various insects he saw in the garden.

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Seed to PlateFresh Grown with LoveBy: Alana Tarlow

My experiences at the garden are great! I enjoy tasting vegetables and herbs from the garden. All of the vegetables and herbs are

very fresh and grown with no chemicals. It is very interesting to taste some of the herbs and veggies I have never tasted before. The arugula was very spicy and the chocolate mint tasted like dessert. It was so cool to eat

food that we actually grew and cared for with our own hands.

Harvesting FunBy: Esther Treusch

Our class has been working in the garden since the beginning of the school year. We have watched them grow over the last few months

since we planted them. Our plants, vegetables, and fruits are finally ready to harvest. It is tasting time! We tasted pineapple sage and green beans. The tomatoes aren’t ripe yet, but I’m excited for when we will actually be able to taste them. At the end of the school year, we are planning to harvest the remainder of the garden to make a big salad for everyone.

Yummy in My TummyBy: Liran Vaknin

Overall my favorite part of the garden was tasting the different herbs and vegetables that we grew. My favorite was the green beans. I

am also very excited to taste the other vegetables that are not ready to harvest, like the tomatoes and peppers.

Everything has tasted so much better than what you buy in the grocery store because they are fresh, they don’t have chemicals on them, and they are not from a factory.

Shai Zachar rises to the challenge of eating an entire leaf of spicy arugulla.

Rhiannen Reig is making notes of which herbs she would like to use for the tea party.

Students ready to chow down on radishes fresh from the Earth.

6th graders sample tea made from lemon thyme, pineapple sage, and peppermint herbs.

Garden Recipes

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Salsa de AlexIngredients

• 3 medium tomatoes• 1/4 cup cilantro• 1 whole green pepper• 1/2 cup of white onion• 1/4 cup of jalapeno pep-

per (optional)• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Wash, chop, and measure ingredients2. Combine all ingredients3. Refrigerate for 2 hours4. Grab your favorite tortilla chips and enjoy!

By: Leen Shlomo

Garden Inspired Art

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Sabrina Hurtado was inspired to draw the garden vegetables.

Angelica Gutierrez used pastels to draw the beds of the garden.

Samantha Lozano imaginatively designed a digital garden fantasy scene.

Jordan Streete combined his love of video games and gardening. Judy used Doodle Buddy and an iPad to represent the delicious

bounty of our school garden.

Mayrav Lapidot expressed her love of gardening using tomatoes and carrots.

Music & Creative Writing

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Garden! Garden!Where we plant the seeds!Garden! Garden!Where we pull the weeds!Where we plant the tomatoes!Like salsa and pico!Where we plant zucchini!And some spicy salad greens!A wonderful place!With our friends!A wonderful place!Hope it never ends!Now that they have grown!We can make a salad!Now that they have grownWe can plant more!

A Wonderful PlaceBy: Michelle Poreh

Great things happen in our garden space. It is a colorful, nice, and delightful place.

Animals hang in our garden and relax in the sun. They eat plants, drink water, and have fun.

Roger is our garden bird. He has been flying around and eating our seeds, I have heard.

Doing the weeding was such hard work. Eating the vegetables is such a perk.

Enjoy the garden, it is a blast. You will have so much fun the time will pass so fast.

Not going to the garden makes me sad. So when Ms. Cohen takes us I am so very glad.

- Kevin Foo

By: Carlos Aguado

Written & Translated By: Mark Itkin

Just for Fun

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