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My most successful activity with newspapers in the classroom was creating group gardens using the technique called "Lasagna Gardening" which requires layering newspapers, peat moss, mulch, and organic materials. I first read of it in an article by Dinah Pulver in The Daytona Beach News Journal one Sunday and thought it would be an excellent way to turn the sandpile in front of our classroom into a garden. I was awarded a FUTURES grant to buy the supplies necessary for the project.

The goal of this project is for students in the first grade classes to learn the processes and concepts related to gardening and master the related Sunshine State Standards (SSS) through hands on activities. At the same time, students will be learning the SSS relative to recycling. The initial activity was a discovery lesson about which materials would keep water from leaking through. Newspaper won!

Then the groups were each given the necessary materials and asked to make their own garden in a box for us to observe over 2 weeks so we would know what worked and didn´t work to keep our plants alive. The students were so involved in their boxes and kept using language like, "Cool!" "This is so much fun!" and "I like doing this!" Each group had decided on an amount of newspaper before they started, but when they put that amount of newspaper in their box, each group decided they needed more newspapers to keep the water in the box. They spent many minutes arranging the paper and deciding as a group if they had enough before layering on the dirt and fertilizer. We will plant a "Pizza Garden" using the lasagna gardening box method that produces the healthiest plant at the end of 2 weeks.

This project will enhance our program in that it covers many of the SSS for Social Studies and Math and over half the SSS for Science. For all students, but especially the younger student, hands on learning boosts learning substantially. Science promotes higher order thinking skills. Since FCAT will soon include a science section, it is important that our youngest students experience science processes and have fun at the same time. This project took the "sandpile" that is now our flowerbed in front of our classroom and turned it into a productive "learning garden".

Sharon Burch
First grade
W.F. Burns Oak Hill Elementary

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