Sydney and Hayley love to visit classes to speak about sustainability, growing, and much more! When teachers reach out to book sessions, we always love to customize the sessions to the class. Today's class was extra special as we had a surprise for the end of the class; we were going to read them our new book!
On a sunny Monday in January, the ladies went to Monsieur Shoemaker's Kindergarten class to see what they were growing in their classroom. They found so many different types of growing. They were growing with hydroponics, aeroponics, AND aquaponics!
- Hydroponics is growing your plants with water and nutrients that are added to the water. Most systems also use an air pump to provide oxygen to the plants.
- Aeroponics use misters to moisten the roots of the plant with nutrient-rich water.
- Aquaponics uses live fish to help grow plants. The fish are fed, while the plants use the fish waste and the water to grow bigger and stronger. This class used beta fish for hydroponics.
The class loved showing us everything they grew, and showing us how they harvested their produce. Every child received an opportunity to harvest, and they were very respectful of each other and of the plants. The class was so proud of everything that they grew. Today, the class decided that we would adventure and try a kale basil lemon pesto. Each child tried a taste of the new pasta. Although some of the children did not want any more than one bite, there were several children who asked for seconds. One child even said "Monsieur, I am going to ask my mom to make this for me at home!"
The tried and true option with this class are kale chips, if you will believe it! We are not quite sure what Monsieur Shoemaker's secret recipe is for his kale chips. But whatever it is, his children can often be heard chanting for them down the hallway. It is great to see younger generations loving superfoods! Along with some information on growing with their gardens, we also brought our "Colour a Better World" colouring and activity book for the class to use. The class chose to colour hero #6, and seemed to have lots of fun doing so. They did a great job with their artwork!
At the end of the lesson, we asked the children if they would be interested in reading a story. They were all excited to read a story together as a class. We are sure they had no idea how nervous we were to read our book aloud to our very first class! The children gathered around to hear about Rori and her story of responsible consumption and production.
The students learned about reusing, reducing, recycling and so much more. We then got to reveal to the children that WE were the authors. As Monsieur Shoemaker informed us "we don't often get to meet authors and that is an amazing thing for children to know. Also wanted to mention how thrilled I was to see the inclusivity in your SucSeed superheroes. ALL my kids could see themselves reflected in those people at the end of your book." It was amazing to see little faces light up when they hear someone local made something they thought was so cool. We felt like real superstars.
At the end of the week, Sydney and Hayley checked our mail and we noticed a special surprise waiting for us. The class had mailed us artwork! We were so proud to see all of their drawings that we had to display them in our office for all of our guests to see.
We would like to send a huge thank you to Monsieur Shoemaker for letting us come and speak to his class. We cannot wait to see what you grow next. You are all superstars in the making!
Sincerely,
Hayley and Sydney