CASCADIA ELEMENTARY 3RD GRADE GARDEN PROGRAM
This week we started our first period class with a necessary but disturbing activity, a lock down drill. We the educators and the students were prepared and warned days before, so we just simply followed procedure. Taking the class back indoors we went into the first classroom available, turned out the lights, shut and locked the door, and everyone quietly crouched away from windows and doors. It was a very eerie experience. The children handled it very well, taking the drill seriously. As the drill ended a very bright young boy asked me, “Reid, have you ever been in a real lock down?” Oh, this hurt my heart to even hear this question posed by a third grader, because through asking this question, it demonstrates a very comprehensive understanding of the drill. I was not entirely sure how to respond, but I reassured him that I had not and how rare such events are. He accepted the answer and quickly was drawn to something else.
Again, as last week, we had a lesson in flower’s anatomy and function. The lesson was nearly identical to last weeks, so not much to report there. Like last week we broke into three groups after the lesson to do some garden maintenance. I seem to be lead of the annual garden, as I took my group of students there to tackle some important chores! I am most comfortable in this space because of my experience in the Evergreen program, Practices of Organic Farming. We had some harvesting to do! So many alliums! Unfortunately they were not developed enough to distinguish whether or not they are a garlic or onion, but their smell certainly gives off the distinct smell of the allium family. Some students thought it was so gross and others were salivating telling me they love when their parents cook up onions at home.
TINY TREES OUTDOOR PRESCHOOL
After last weeks hectic end, loosing a child, we started this week on a review of safety. Our lessons focused around who is safe to talk to, and how to read a map. The children were also issued bright orange vests to wear when we leave the class space, so they are completely visible playing in the park.
For the map lesson we looked at a map of Jefferson Park. We identified were our classroom is, where the Beacon Hill Food Forest is, and where the community center is. We talked about what maps are used for, some ideas were; finding where you are, finding treasure, and how to get somewhere. We ran with the treasure idea! Setting out on a treasure hunt, we read maps that would lead the class around the classroom to find a prize at the end. The prize at the end was an invitation to explore rocks across the park.
World Trade Organization Seattle 1999 Documentary
“This is What Democracy Looks Like”
With May Day coming up, and after reading a few references of The Battle of Seattle in Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel, I thought I should inform myself on this historic event. This documentary filmed by multiple documentarians and activists, gave a stark but hopeful vision of this day. One of the first over militarizations of police in the United States was this day in November, 1999. The WTO demonstrations were in response to human rights as workers. How can we undermine other nations production and economies by flooding the international markets with our subsidized produce. Is it appropriate to be apart of this globalized economy if we are simply going to wreck their chances of participating in the globalized fairly?
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