Reflecting the Valley: Life Skills through Agriculture Blaker Kinser Junior High School, Ceres, CABlaker Kinser’s Life Skills Curriculum
The Blaker Kinser garden program engages students in a wealth of agricultural production tasks that “Make it real for the kids!” Students learn not only science, horticulture, biology and math, but more importantly, Life Skills. How does MikeJames, Agriculture & Science teacher, incorporate Life Skills into his curriculum?
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“We’re remaking the wheelbarrows because the old ones were in really bad condition and didn’t work. So we take parts from the good ones and we figure it out all by ourselves. We just follow how we undid them, and we do the reverse when we put them back together.” --student More than just a garden Mr. Jameshas created more than just a school garden program. It is a microcosm of the agriculture in surrounding StanislausCounty. Students grow products that reflect their county’s bounty. The garden produces a variety of summer vegetables including peppers and tomatoes, and winter vegetables, citrus, herbs, cut flowers and more. With their summer harvest, students enter the Stanislaus County Fair and win first places! They also have chickens, a lathe house for propagation and areas to gather. The garden has been in its present location since 1994 and every year they add to it. This year, they are building a walkway.
Read more about Blaker Kinser gardens… Mr. James’s Tips
Mr. James’s Number One Best Practice is to be sure to have someone in charge who is wholly dedicated to the students and the garden program and who takes full responsibility for it.
Read more tips from Mr. James… Sustaining the Program: Community + Partnerships!
Forging connections with the community and developing a variety of partnerships is the secret to this program’s sustainability.
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Students not only make the tools they use, but help make the tool shed as well! Learning the proper use and care of tools is an important component of the class and teaches students responsibility. |