Plantings started at our school garden at ARISE Academy!

This week we had an exciting week with the HEAL students and we want to tell you all about it!

Finally the seeds that we started in the green house were ready to be transplanted into the ground.

Tomatoes, squashes and cucumbers ready to be transplanted

In order for kids to see (and eat!) more veggies we selected a variety of veggies to plant in the school garden some are: eggplant, yellow squash, golden peppers, swiss chard, spinach, okra, baby and strawberry tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, cantaloupes and bush beans.

Ms Parker, Makahi and Michael planting cantaloupe transplants! 

Group of HEAL students transplanting yellow squash plants

Michael and Kazaiah transplanting eggplants 

Okra, swiss chard and bush beans were directly sowed in the ground! 

Bush beans ready to be planted

Planting bush beans 

The kids also learned about the space needed between plants. They used the planting guide developed by LSU Ag center. You can find it here.

We also starting to build an arbor! (see the poles in the picture below) If you have spent a summer in New Orleans you know you need some shade! We can’t wait to see those pumpkins and cantaloupes hanging from the arbor! Kids will love it!

Ms Parker, Kimona and Thomson transplating tomato plants

MyPlate with HEAL Project Kids

Last week we had a fun, interactive lesson on MyPlate! HEAL Project kids and teachers enjoyed it very much!

The class started with the introduction to MyPlate. We printed a big poster of MyPlate, which can be found in the printable section of choosemyplate website.

In order to make the class engaging we included a cooking demonstration as part of the lesson!

Even though the lesson plan was focused on teaching children about MyPlate, we also used the opportunity to put their spelling skills to the test.

We started the lesson by placing butcher paper in the table and placing all ingredients on it. Each kid had the opportunity to go to the table circle an ingredient, write its name, and identify which food group the ingredient belong to. Although challenging at times kids loved it!

Did you know tomatoes and avocados are fruits not vegetables?

They also had the opportunity to prepare a delicious guacamole (which most of them haven't had before!)

After the guacamole was ready each kid had the opportunity to build their own wrap made with a whole wheat tortilla with quinoa. Yummy!

Even the school dean Mr. Sidney came and tasted the delicious food prepped by the HEAL kids! We can't wait to have more cooking demos in class they are definitely a powerful learning tool!!