Garden Gang

River rock helps with drainage.

 As part of the Dig Into Reading theme for Summer Reading, we are offering a monthly series of programs called Garden Gang.  This week we held our first program.  Afterwards I typed up some notes.

This month we planted seeds to take home and plants to grow at the library.  We hope that next month there will be some tomatoes to harvest and share as part of the program. 

Story:

Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens
 

Getting top soil for the pots.

Activities:

• Plant basil plants, tomato plants and mint plant into containers for the “patio” area.
• Take home: biodegradable seed cups (egg cartons and toilet paper rolls) with seeds (basil and marigold) sown.

Funds spent: $67 (plants, seeds, soil, river rock, planters, hand spades…)

Number of Attendees: 15 - ages 5-11.

Making a hole for the plant.

Notes:

• 16 registered.
• Definitely do this program outside!  Too messy for inside.
• Three 40-pound bags of top soil are just about perfect.  We had some soil left over, but used it with the leftover seeds.
• One packet of seeds is plenty!
• Each child was given six marigold seeds (for egg cartons) and four basil seeds (for the TP rolls). Two seeds were put in each.
• We had three each tomato and basil plants (different varieties) and one mint plant.  We put the kids in small groups to work together planting. 
• We had the kids put about 1 ½ inches of river rock in the bottoms of each pot.  This was to help with drainage.
• The TP rolls had mixed results.  The thinner rolls did not work as well as the thicker ones.
• TP roll an egg carton planters found here.
• We lined a delivery crate with a disposable plastic tablecloth and put the top soil in it.  Next time have at least two crates done this way. 
  

 Each child was given a handout with the following information:
 

Planting basil.

Things to remember:

• Watering your plants once a week should be enough…however check in on your plants to be sure. They should be damp, but not wet…you want them to grow, not rot. To keep the water from making a mess under the planters, place them on a plate.
• Keep the planters warm and out of direct sunlight.
• In about two to three weeks you should be ready to transplant them into the ground or into a regular planter!



Making pots from toilet paper rolls.

• The best thing about using these cardboard based planters is that once the seedlings are large enough to be transplanted you can actually plant the container as well. There is no need to fuss with removing the plant from the container…it will biodegrade in the new pot or in the garden.

Marigolds:

•  When the plants are two inches high, they are ready to be transplanted.
• These flowers love the sun! 
• When transplanted into the ground, place the plants eight inches apart.



Planting seeds in egg cartons.

• Flowers should arrive in 30-45 days.

Basil:

• Basil plants need at least six hours of sun a day. Be sure to transplant them where they will receive lots of sun.
• Space plants about 10" apart. They will bush out. Begin pinching the tops off once the plants reach about 6" in height. If you don't pinch or harvest, the plants will grow tall and gangly, with few leaves and will bolt to seed.

The library's patio garden.

First Book and Summer Slide

For the past several months I have been a part of a Local Advisory Board for First Book.  This organization is important to me not only as a youth librarian, but also as someone who very nearly became an English teacher.  When you throw in the fact that I cannot remember a time when books were not an important part of my life, it is understandable that I would want to be involved with First Book.

A non-profit organization that provides access to new books for children in need throughout the United States and Canada, First Book strives to alleviate the illiteracy issue plaguing our nation’s poorest residents by partnering with organizations, classrooms, and other groups in the community.  In addition to providing books, First Book raises funds to use for grants.  If you work with children in an area with a high level of poverty, you may be eligible for a grant through First Book. 

As school lets out children are susceptible to Summer Slide.  While this is an issue for all youth, it is especially so for those in low-income areas.  With little or no access to quality books or even computers, these children are at a disadvantage. Over the summer months, children in low-income households fall behind an average of 2 months in reading. Thankfully most libraries have free Summer Reading Programs that can help alleviate the educational divide, but unfortunately, many children may never step foot in a library. 

This is where First Book can help.  For instance, the local chapter of First Book has a program called Food for the Brain Campaign in which they visit a number of community meals and nutrition sites and give new, free books to the children attending, providing those from low-income households with reading materials.  By going to where the children are and giving them books First Book helps to fight Summer Slide.  

Want to help support First Book?   Local Advisory Boards are made up of people from all walks of life - teachers, librarians, business owners, retirees, parents, grandparents... anyone can volunteer.  They can use donations of funds or of time, whether ongoing or only once.  Check out their website to search for a Local Advisory Board near you.

Focus on Art: Portraits

Last month I had the third in a new series of programs for tweens and teens called Focus on Art.  This time we focused on portraits.

I decided to put the program on hiatus for the summer so I could offer other programs and evaluate whether to continue Focus on Art in the fall.  I do plan to bring it back.  Each month I had more attendees and both the kids and the adults repeatedly asked when the next program will be.

Back to May’s event.  I had seven children attend: two seventh graders, one fifth grader, three fourth graders and one second grader (the younger brother of another attendee). 

We started the program by playing a game called Roll-a-Picasso. 

After about ten minutes of this fun activity, we then continued on with a discussion of portraits and looked at examples, several of which I had displayed on the wall of the meeting room. 
 

 I showed that portraits can be done in any medium and style.  I also showed them how one person may make an original portrait and another turn that into something different, using the 2006 photograph of Barack Obama by freelance photographer Mannie Garcia and the subsequent poster designed by Shepard Fairey in 2008.  This in turn led into a shot discussion on copyright.

We then started working on drawing portraits.  The attendees could draw a portrait of someone else in the room, from their memory, from one of the books available or from one of the examples on display.  For the next 40 minutes they unleashed their creativity. 

We will be planning our fall programs soon, so I am thinking of themes for future Focus on Art events.  I hope they continue to grow in popularity!

Here's my Pinterest board for Focus on Art: Portraits.