Inch by inch, row by row
KMS life skills students
LEFT: Grace Chambers, Connor North
RIGHT: Cassie Knapp, Colton Burchfield, D.J. Smith, Luke Walker, Elijah Johnson
Molly Roberts
KELLOGG—Famed British horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll once said, “A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches trust.”
Students in Kellogg Middle School’s (KMS) Life Skills class, under the tutelage of Terry Loudon, spent time learning the skills it takes to plant, nurture and grow food and flowers in preparation for their annual greenhouse sale.
KMS students spent May 6 and 7 selling tomatoes, hot peppers, marigolds, and so many more varieties of flora that they planted and grew themselves.
For many years, the greenhouse sale has been implemented in the KMS class in a safe environment, learning life skills that can help them long-term.
Learning outdoors can give students the chance to learn through discovery and where students can apply the academic skills that they learn in the classroom in a real-life setting. Other benefits and skills learned through doing can be responsibility, gardening skills, socialization and teamwork, and sensory stimulation.
An exciting benefit for the students is that they could choose from various seeds Loudan brought and grow whatever they wanted.
“I chose to grow a cucumber, a pumpkin, and a marigold,” explained life skills student Grace Chambers. “Marigolds keep bugs away from the sweeter plants like tomatoes. Anything that’s a fruit.”
Allowing students to grow something themselves will enable students to learn these skills and encourages them to be excited about learning.
“I’m most excited about seeing the basil grow,” said life skills student Cassie Knapp.
When asked what he was most excited about growing, life skills student Connor North exclaimed, “Cantelope, and cucumber.”
Loudon explained that although the KMS life skills students have held their big annual sale on May 6 and 7, there are still plants left. All plants for sale are three dollars each and can be paid for at Kellogg Middle School. All proceeds are funded directly into the Life Skills and Special Education program.