The London Experience

While I have traveled fairly extensively all over the world, this trip was particularly exciting because we had a purpose; we were there to explore new ideas for gardens in American schools, and develop cultural awareness  in ourselves as well as the students we interacted with in the classroom. Having said that, I did not really understand how we were going to fulfill our purpose when I arrived.  Despite how hard we tried to be prepared, the best we could do was prepare to be unprepared.

Our first stop: Brandelhow Primary School

I felt a little unhinged because I wanted our presence to be mutually beneficial to both us, as U of M students, and the students/teachers at Brandelhow, but did not know how to strike this balance.  At the time of our visit I was still in a state of adjustment, trying to develop a feel for basic teaching philosophies in the UK compared to the US.  I found that they put more emphasis on formative assessment, particularly informal formative assessment, which may contribute to their academic competitiveness.  Just like any system, there are pros and cons, but what is interesting is that the garden provides benefits to both systems, English and American, no matter their assessment emphasis.

Second stop: Hampton Hill Junior School

This is where I really felt our purpose was defined and the experience was beneficial to all participants. The primary reason for this positive development was Jim Bliss from the Royal Horticulture Society.  His lessons were so applicable and easily incorporated us into the instruction.  We got to participate in an inquiry based lesson on herbs and work in the garden with the students.  Many thanks to Jim for helping us define our purpose and direct our efforts in a cohesive and productive direction.

Third stop: Growing Schools Conference

Participating in this conference provided the opportunity to obtain high quality teaching resources and idea sharing pertaining to school gardens.  The day was slow to start, but ultimately valuable.  I even took advantage of the chance to explain aquaponics to some of the teachers in my workshops. Speaking of the workshops, there were so many good options, but we could only participate in 3 so I did the Inquiry based learning, Hands-on Farming: with Livestock in the garden, and the Hatfield House tour.  I found it very interesting to be on the house tour with people that live relatively close to Hatfield, but were just as intrigued as I was.

Fourth Stop: Brockwell Community Greenhouse and Garden

In contrast to the schools that we had been visiting, this garden was located in the middle of a park that was previously an estate.  It had a very projecty feel, meaning that there was a lot going on, but also a lot of potential for new projects.  The primary objective was to use the space as a practicing area that allows people from the community to learn and work together.  They did a significant amount of work with at-risk students who tend to be criminally inclined and with students with special needs.  The manager was known for her bug hotels in particular, which illustrated the marriage of science and art as one beneficial and beautiful project.

Fifth stop: Christ Church Primary School

Again, Jim Bliss artfully orchestrated another classroom to maximize the benefit for everyone involved.  Jim taught the children and the children taught us how to sow tomato seeds. Then, at the end of the class, Jim finished the teaching cycle and taught some of us how to prune the pear and apple trees.  While Jim did a great job teaching, I am still not very confident in my pruning abilities, but he did inspire me to do a little more research and experiment on trees back here in the U.S.

Final stop: Phoenix Secondary School

Just when we thought that we had everything figured out when it came to English school gardens, we visited Phoenix.  This school had the most  amazing garden complete with a learning area fitted with wooden desks, a beautiful pond, and rabbits. I was struck by how big the space was, especially after seeing all the tiny cramped spaces and discussing the issues of limited space in London.  After the garden tour we had a great discussion with some teachers and students about the importance of horticulture and communication.  That is when I realized that communication is important in any profession and that I want to emphasize communication in my classes when I become a teacher because communication leads to inquiry and inquiry leads to learning.

Now that the trip is over I am proud of the work we did and grateful to everyone I met for opening my mind as a teacher and as a student.  I developed a lot of ideas and had a lot of fun in the process.  I think that we fulfilled our purpose, but I would not mind going back and doing it all again.

London calling

Returning to London for my second time was just as amazing as the first.  I revisited many attractions such as the Tower of London, the Eye, Globe Theatre and Buckingham Palace, which were still just as amazing as the first time i saw them.  This trip i got to visit The National Gallery, where i got to see many of my favorite artists such as Monet, Renior, Degas, Van Gogh and Da Vinci. I also got to see Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and Hatfeild house, where i could spend days exploring.

One thing that made this trip memorable was visiting the Engalnd schools, Brandlehow, Hampton Hill and Pheonix.  The students and teachers were all very welcoming and friendly.  I had a lot of fun interacting with the students and watching them get excited about gardening.  The kids were one of my favorite parts of this trip, i'm very happy i got to meet so many great people. The schools gave me many ideas to help out the schools here in the U.S. 

This trip was so much fun and i learned a lot. Next time I go to London i will definelty have to return to the Palaces, Museums, Parks, Gardens Portobello Road and I will absolutely go to the Harry Potter studios! Hopefully the weather will be more coopperative than it was this trip. 

Phoenix High School

The final school we went to was Phoenix High School on Friday the 22nd. It was last but certainly not least! (If you'll excuse my cliche)  Their garden was fully staffed with a manager, community volunteers, and even a nutritionist who ran their markets.  I really love the Learning Zone.  They are a cruicial element to any school garden so a instructer can have a meeting and reflecting space.  This was the first garden I've seen with desks for students to use.

This is the layout of the garden.  Note the new bee area!

The outdoor Learning Zone desks

I really enjoyed presenting my Minneapolis case study school, the Minnesota Internship Charter School (MNIC), to an adult audience at Phoenix.  Both schools have a lot in common in regards to student and community demographics so our presentation sparked a lot of interesting dialogue with the Phoenix instructors we met with.  I was also able to talk with two of the four horticulture students at Phoenix.  I learned about their projects and got lots of ideas for MNIC, since this was the first school we visited with older students.  We hope to set a up a correspondence between their class and the MNIC students in the next couple months. 

Finally, I ate lunch with a woman who teaches several community ed classes at Phoenix, and as we were talking about about the local food movement she said something really great.... "It's just like that Kevin Costner film: if you grow it, they will come."

A Week in London

London...

I don't even know where to begin.  I had such a fantastic time in London, and I learned so much about gardening, education, and life in general.  The School Gardens Conference at Hatfield was very informative, and I learned quite a bit about incorporating science-based learning in the classroom and working with children in a vegetable garden.  The Hatfield Estate itself was beautiful.  I enjoyed working with the kids at all four schools and seeing the joy in their eyes as they worked in the garden, planting, digging, and playing.  All of the teachers we met were clearly passionate about gardening and the benefits it brings to their school and community.  Each school had a different design for their garden, but all were beautiful and functional.  I'll may individual posts about the schools in the coming days.

London is a beautiful, bustling city full of many things to see and do.  Exploring between school and garden visits was exciting.  The food, people, and city were all wonderful and made me feel welcome.  I can't wait to go back!

Where it all Began

Earl's Court was the start of many journeys on our trip to London.  A typical day in London started around 7am (2am for the folks back in Minnesota) and arriving at the tube station no later than 9:30am.  My first experience on the tube was going to a church service at Westminster Abbey. Thankfully I was with a group of people because I had not learned how to navigate the public transportation yet.  I would normally arrive back to think Apartments around 5pm and head out in a hour to get something to eat in the town of London.  I had very many good eats on the trip and I always enjoyed eating on the Thames river because of the beautiful view.

On our first class day Monday we headed to a primary school where we were warmly greeted by the head teacher and the students at Brandlehow primary school. We gave the childhood presentations about apples and wild rice to a very young class.  I was surprised at how well behaved the students were compared to my elementary school days.  Later on in the day we visited Hampton primary school.  We met Jim Bliss from RHS who works with multiple schools creating a friendly teaching and learning environment surrounding horticulture.  As week progressed we visited a few more primary schools and one highschool.  Overall I really enjoyed working with the kids in the garden at Hampton and Christ Church Primary.  At Hampton I worked with Jim and a few students from a grade four class plant and prune a tree.  My favorite interaction with a student was at Christ Church Primary.  I worked with a kid named Jack who was able to brighten up my day (I had no sun in London to brighten it up) by being super friendly and interesting.  Jack told me that the London Eye got its name from the aerial view in the eye and that there is no number 13 cart on the Eye.  He was very intelligent for his age and that is something I can respect when a younger kid has the skills to fully communicate with an adult.  I learned a few interesting ideas I would like to present to the schools back in Minneapolis which are creating a bug hotel and collecting rainwater from the roof.  

The entire trip wasn't just school work thankfully, I was able to enjoy the numerous sites of London which entails: Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Globe Theater, Phantom of the Opera, Platform 9 3/4, Hatfield House, Kennsington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Museums, Kew Gardens, and much more.  The picture on the left is me about to head off the Hogwarts school of Wizardry and Witchcraft. To me Kingscross was cool because I was able to see a specific location where the Warner Bros filmed Harry Potter.  By the end of the week I wanted to stay longer in London and was not ready to come home because I loved the city and enjoyed the company of my classmates.  I would go back in a heartbeat if I ever got the chance to see London again.  The only thing I would change is the weather.

 

Christ Church School

Today we visited a school, Christ Church School, where they had a "secret garden". I really enjoyed working with these students and seeing first hand the excitement that comes alive when you begin to discuss the garden, let alone give them the opportunity to show you the garden. These students were thrilled to learn from us just as much as we were thrilled to learn from them. The students were engaged throughout the entire session with us and when told we were running out of time, they were bummed! We were all shown what a positive experience that is gained through bringing education into the garden and how engaged students are. I was shown today how exciting learning can be for a child and how a little "secret garden" can turn a not as exciting lesson plan into one that they wished never ended.

A little surprise was given to us from a student with a poem he wrote, it read:
You wanted another poem Mr. Bliss
So I decided to write you this
As the wind is blowing
The trees are slowly growing
The apples are becoming ripe
There are lots of different types
We're having people from the USA
They're coming a very long way
The garden will be a real big treat
The new log cabin might be complete

By: George

Activities for the garden

Between school visits and the conference we attended yesterday, my head is swimming with ideas for garden activity ideas for children.  At our first school visit, we got to see Brandlehow Primary's garden. Their pond was the thing that stood out to me first.  Children love to observe the frogs and insects in the pond. For me it was definitely a highlight of the garden.

Next, we visited Hampton Hills Junior School.  Jim Bliss, a fantastic representative from the Royal Horticultural Society, got the kids involved with an herb activity.  He passed out different herb plants, and then passed out a seed from one of the plants and the children had to figure out which plant it came from.  It was really fun for the kids, and it got them thinking about scientific method.

Hampton Hills Junior School also has a great pond.  I liked that theirs is raised so the kids can see well into it.  We got to do some gardening with the kids outdoors. It was wonderful to see how engaged they were.

At the Growing Schools Conference, I attended two workshops.  The first was about how to keep an entire class active in the garden at the same time.  They emphasized having multiple groups doing different activities.  Some activities should require less intensive supervision so that focus can be put on kids using tools, for safety reasons.  We did some soil texturing, weeding, and they had a scavenger hunt.  To get us into groups, the leaders passed out cards with different crops on them and we had to find people in the same plant family. It was very clever.

Today, we visited a community garden that does a ton of programming with school children.  I loved their bug hotels.  I think this could be a great thing for Minnesota schools to incorporate.

So far, I am having a wonderful time here and have already learned a lot.  I'm sure new ideas will keep coming.  I can't wait to put some of these ideas into use with our partner schools in Minnesota!

The Secret Garden - Christ Church School

Today we had a marvelous time with Christ Church School and Jim Bliss of the Royal Horticulture Society.  The level 6 students were very excited to work with us--almost as excited as we were to have some hands on experience.  Their garden was once an abandoned lot in their neighborhood that they have turned into beautiful raised beds, fruit trees, and other learning spaces.  It was really cool to see theories we have learned about in action!  Students really come alive in the garden <3 

Earl's Court to Hatfield

Today we had the privilege of attending the Growing Schools Conference at the beautiful Hatfield Estate. This incredible house was built in 1611, and has been in the Cecil Family for over 400 years! The grounds surrounding the house, including the gardens, have been there even longer as they were part of the old palace grounds as well. It is under an oak tree on these grounds where Elizabeth I found out she was to be queen.

Hatfield House

During the conference we had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with educators from all over England. Presenters told us of the importance of bringing agricultural education to students with in the state (public) school system. We then continued the afternoon with gardening workshops and grounds tours of the Hatfield area.

We began the afternoon with a tour of the Hatfield House itself. The house was even more amazing on the inside, and you'll just have to believe us because we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the home. We were honored to have the opportunity to visit, because formal tours of the house don't begin until April, and the family does still reside in the home. The house has 223 rooms, yet only cost 10,000 pounds to build (at the time of course). The grounds are also beautiful, and are being restored to classic English countryside style of woodland pasture.

Hatfield Grounds

The day was inspiring and everyone was so great to talk to. We learned a lot and feel blessed to have had such a wonderful opportunity. Thank you to the staff that made the Growing Schools Conference Possible.

EXTRA!

Things we learned in merely three days:

• Words such as "lovely" and "brilliant" should definitely be used as much as possible. We love to hear you say them!
•  Also "in" and "on" seem to be used interchangeably. 
• There is good food everywhere you look so don't be afraid to try anything. 
• The public transport systems are not as scary as they seem to be, and we are becoming wonderful navigators. 
• Dalmatians look best with the countryside, so make them your first choice of pet. 
• No one can afford London, even those who live in the city. Even kings and queens, and ladies and lords.
• Traffic is horrifying, unless you enjoy playing Frogger. With your life.
• Everything comes back to Harry Potter.
• Everything is beautiful. Every building is intricate and well made. Every garden is well tended and cared for. This place is brilliant.

More next time, we are still suffering from jet lag.

Love Heidie and Abby

London!

Big Bus Tour, lunch at The Hung Drawn and Quartered, celebrating St. Patrick's Day at Trafalgar Square, mass at Westminster Abbey, and fish and chips for supper

Food in London and Sightseeing

Goatcheese, tomato and aubergine for lunch

Airport and arrival in London

We were glad to see the sun and green grass in London. We toured the area near our apartments and looked in some of the private garden squares and parks. Flowering cherries and daffodils are blooming.

King's Cross

This photo is from the 2007 class trip, we will be updating this soon!

Leaving for London

Today, March 15, 2013 our class leaves for London, we are visiting 4 schools in London and touring their gardens. We are doing presentations for students and teachers. We are attending a conference on Growing Schools at Hatfield House and touring Kew Gardens. Look for updates here!

Blooming Heights School Garden

Blooming Heights School Garden

Blooming Heights is the name of the garden at Columbia Heights schools. Now in its 3rd year, it is used by a large number of classes.

Micro greens on food

The microgreens on a burger.  The taste of cress was well covered up by the juicy meat.  It gave a great appearance to the burger, improving the overall aesthetics.   I would highly recommend this to anyone who thinks cress has to strong of a taste.