Pictured: NSU Associate Professor Percussion Oliver Molina, father of NSU Elementary Lab first grader Elliott Molina, accompanied singers on bucket drums to perform “Grow, Grow, Little Seed” during “Garden Adventure” Reader’s Theater.
NATCHITOCHES – First graders at Northwestern State University Elementary Lab School presented a showcase of learning and celebration Oct. 17 to demonstrate their knowledge of seeds and growing plants in their school garden. The W.I.N. enrichment group presented the “Garden Adventure” Reader’s Theater for parents and friends, followed by a special percussion performance and a brass-led parade through the garden.
“We have become masters, experts in seeds and making them grow,” said Lisa Wiggins, E-Lab librarian and school garden coordinator. “We learn through reading and music. Music is magic.”
After sprouting kale seeds indoors, the students transplanted the leafy greens outdoors to the garden, caring for them until they were ready for harvest. Wiggins baked the kale leaves into chips that students met with mixed reviews.
Oliver Molina, associate professor of percussion at NSU, led students in a bucket drumming performance of an original tune called “Grow, Grow, Little Seed,” sung to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” His son Elliott was dressed as a farmer. Carlos Camargo Patron and his son Gabriel, dressed as sunshine, led a second line through the garden with Camargo Patron playing “Oh When the Seeds Get Planted Snug” on trombone to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
The E Lab garden works as an outdoor classroom where students grow vegetables, herbs and flowers that attract pollinators. Educators say school gardening encourages interest in several branches of science with math, language arts and other disciplines incorporated into learning how plants grow and where food comes from. School gardens get youngsters outdoors and working with their hands and kids are more inclined to eat vegetables they’ve grown themselves.
The Elementary Lab 4-H Club will host a Veteran’s Day program beginning at 8 a.m. Nov. 7 in the school gymnasium. NSU First Lady Martha Genovese, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, will be guest speaker. For more information, contact Wiggins at Lwiggins@npsb.la
Gabriel Camargo Patron, with his dad Carlos on trombone, led NSU Elementary Lab first graders in a second line through the school garden to the tune of “When the Seeds Get Planted Snug.”