Mounds Park Academy: Last Day

Abby and I went in for our third, and final, day to the 3rd and 4th grade classrooms. It was by fair my favorite class yet, as the students were finally able to eat all the delicious microgreens that they have been growing. We started off the lesson going over the main nutrients that are compacted into microgreens. These nutrients included: Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and Beta Carotene. We then asked the students to produce the benefits that each of these nutrients bring. For instance, vitamin c strengthens our immune system, vitamin e helps with red blood cell production, vitamin k helps with bone strength and blood clots, and beta carotene is transferred into vitamin a to help with vision and skin. Now, after completing that task, the students were asked to identify foods that had lots of these nutrients, as well as mention any nutrients/minerals that had not been mentioned that are equally important. Following this, we reviewed health and safety by having the students indicate the steps that we would need to take before being able to safely eat the microgreens. The first step we had them do is wash their hands. Secondly,we had to wash the microgreens. We went over the importance of this, especially in regards to produce bought at the supermarket (role of pesticides, herbicides, etc). Following this came my favorite part: eating the microgreens. The two fourth grade classes were a little more reticent than the two third grade classes. The kids enjoyed the microgreens with a variety of food, but most often the crackers that we brought to class for them. It seemed that the majority of them enjoyed the green peas more than the sunflowers. While the green bean microgreens tested identical to the green peas we eat in casseroles, the sun flower microgreens were described as being a little more bitter. Luckily, the day was an overall success and a great way to end off the teaching experience. We talked about the various kinds of food that people can add microgreens to, and some students said that they were going to now try growing some at home!