Children Plant Spring Flower Bulbs

NORTH WILDWOOD – With less than three weeks before the arrival of the biggest day of the youngsters’ calendar, 62 pre-kindergartners took to their school yard Dec. 7 to look forward to warmer weather and get down and dirty – and it was all done with not only teacher and principal approval, but with their encouragement.
As part of a cooperative effort between Glenwood Avenue Elementary School’s Pre-K and students at Wildwood High School’s Property Maintenance Program, four raised-bed planters were created to help the small students learn the life cycle of plants.
During the planters’ unveiling, 13 high school students filled tiny red buckets with soil from a wheelbarrow, with younger students patting the soil into the beds to make a warm bed for crocus, daffodil, hyacinth and tulip bulbs.
The pre-kindergarten, located in the elementary school’s annex at St. Simeon’s Episcopal Church, was abuzz with excitement at the chance to be outside and playing in dirt.
Bringing a garden to the children was the brainchild of pre-kindergarten teacher Angela Bostard.
“We got a $500 grant from “Lunch with Lynch” to plant a bulb garden,” Bostard explained. “We decided to go with planters because we are in a rented space and for ease of access for the children; we could all stand around and plant at the same time.”
In keeping with the pre-kindergarten curriculum of using creative, hands-on activities to teach, four beds were constructed to allow each of the school’s four pre-kindergarten classes to own a piece of the garden.
Instrumental in the process of bringing nature to school were the 15 high school students who brought the planter idea to fruition. Under the tutelage of Property Maintenance teacher Michael Crane, the high school students oversaw construction of the planters from concept to delivery, all for a grand total of $326. Soil for the planters was donated by Garden Greenhouse in Swainton.
“The Property Maintenance program was developed to help prepare our students for career and technical training,” stated Crane. He added the program acts as a “bridge” to post-secondary education in the fields of construction trades and branches of engineering.
Bostard approached Crane last summer with the idea of planters.
“I gave him my specifications,” she said.
The rest was left in the hands of the 13 high school sophomores, juniors and seniors. Crane explained students oversaw every detail of building the planters, including developing plans, pricing the job and actual construction.
As students walked up to add their bucketful of dirt to the planter, other students sat at picnic tables as their teachers explained what a flower bulb is.
“They’re flower bulbs, not light bulbs,” a teacher told her students as they sat to wait their turn to plant.
As their teacher taught, two 3-year-olds tenderly lifted bulbs up to their noses.
“We’re smelling them because there are flowers inside,” said one little girl with a smile.
Photos D.McGuire