An Interview with Ms. Ripandelli

 

Ms. Ripandelli is a teacher at Givens Elementary and is in charge of their garden club.

 

Who tends the garden? The school club for third, fourth, and fifth. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning at *:20am to 9:00am.

 

What do you do with the food you grow? We try to make recipe dishes out of the different foods for the kids to eat. There's not enough production of foods to sell yet.

 

How has having a garden benefitted your school? The garden brings together different grade levels, teaches the students about living things (plants, bugs, how they affect each other), and builds community.

 

How long has your garden been open? About four years.

 

How is growing a garden incorporated into your curriculum? Each teacher chooses how to incorporate the garden into their curriculum to meet the standards from K through 5.

 

Do you have any other comments? I think this is a wonderful project you are doing. I will definately use the website to locate other school gardens to see what they are doing and possibly incorporate what other schools are doing into our garden.

 

Note: Answers may have been edited for clarity.