A Rainy Thursday

Let the rain kiss you.  Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.  Let the rain sing you a lullaby.  

~Langston Hughes

This morning was a rainy day at the garden. First, Julia and I started weeding some of the beds, and then a big black ominous cloud came across the sky. Julia and I decided to take shelter in the shed while the pouring down rain passed. I thankfully took a picture of the garden before it started pouring. The garden is really coming along, even from week to week when I come back, it has grown. I am so excited to see how the garden will look at the end of the semester. Despite all of the rain it was a good morning. While Julia and I took shelter in the shed, we got together the materials for the kids to come out.

While getting the materials together, it was a little difficult to decide how many kids that Julia and I would have, since we were the only two there today. We decided that each of us would have two cups and in each cup we put two seeds, as the lesson plan said. Before the kids came out we tried to find a space where the rain wouldn't be as bad and we decided to put the blanket out under the tree.

It is amazing how fast these plants are growing, all of the rain over the weekend must have helped tremendously. I was so happy that the cucumbers and squash that Julia and I planted last Thursday have sprouted and look really good. Julia also mentioned that in her other group they trimmed them a little bit and she said the leaves smelled just like cucumbers.

The kids came out right at 9:30 and luckily not all of the kids came today. It was only ten kids, so Julia and I were able to split them up equally. First, Julia read them the story and they really liked it; there were three kids who raised their hand after every color and gave very good answers. One of the little girls that was in my small group last week remembered me and it was very cute. When we split off to do the seed activity she ran to me and held my hand. It was a bit hectic with five kids and two cups because every kid wanted to do every job.


 Since it was raining still we stood under the tree and did the activity. We weren't able to get the last part of the activity done with the clipboards because it started raining harder by the end of the shift. It has only been a couple weeks, but being at the garden and making a difference in these children's lives is turning out to be pretty amazing!

Must we always teach our children with books?  Let them look at the stars and the mountains above.  Let them look at the waters and the trees and flowers on Earth.  Then they will begin to think, and to think is the beginning of a real education.

 -  David Polis

Jessica Stitt