Teacher(s): Ms. Demas, Ms. Riorda

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Grade: Pre-K - 8th

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Date: Every school year

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Description: Ms. Demas, the Food for Life resource teacher, uses the garden and her kitchen classroom to teach about growing our own food and eating locally. In her afternoon garden club, students decide which plants they would like to grow after learning about Baltimore's growing seasons and then students sow the seeds, water and weed the beds, and harvest the food grown and then cook it and eat it! Ms. Riorda, the Nature Exploration resource teacher, uses the garden as a discovery classroom space for students. In the garden, the students lead the discoveries and engage each other in making observations about characteristics of plants, in discovering where seeds and cotton come from, witnessing pollination in action, and to actively understand how food chains and life cycles work in nature. After school, students and parents wander down the main path of the garden to investigate all the different ecosystems and to smell and taste the different herbs that grow there.