Our first potato sprouts!
We planted several things this year, but by far the biggest hit were the potatoes. They were easy for my young students to take ownership of throughout the process, which is not the case with all plants. If you've never grown potatoes I promise you, it could not be easier. Here are the bare bones of what you need to know. There are plenty of other fancy things you can do, but you've got plenty of other things to spend your time on so here is my Cliff's Notes version.
- Get some seed potatoes. These can be found at your local feed store. Keep in mind that one potato will be able to grow several plants, so choose your amount accordingly.
- Cut up the potatoes. You want chunks about the size of a golf ball (although not the shape of a golf ball!). Make sure each chunk has several eyes on it- these are what will start to grow once planted. Your students can cut the potatoes using plastic knives or butter knives.
- Leave the potatoes out for a few days. This is called curing the potatoes. Leaving them outside is preferable, but it's totally fine to leave them inside. We just put ours on a paper plate and ooooh'd and aaaaah'd over them in the science center on a Friday then when we came back Monday they were ready to go.
- Time to plant! You want to plant them about a foot apart- this is a great time to use a ruler! Children can plant their own or work in pairs. Let them dig their own holes- the potatoes don't have to be planted very deep. It's a good idea to loosen the soil yourself with a hoe or shovel a day or two before having your students plant, otherwise the soil will be difficult for them to dig and it will also be harder for the potatoes to grow in the dense soil.
- It's hard to see in the photo, but we used large craft sticks with student names to mark each plant. Before the plants sprout it's very important to use markers so you can tell where you planted them!
- Water those potatoes! They just need water every four or five days for a total of about 2 inches per week, including rainfall. (For fellow Texans- the term rainfall is used when clouds fill with moisture and release it, causing liquid drops to fall from the sky.) You may need to increase watering in high heat or sunshine. Potato plants like their soil to be moist but not saturated with water.
- When the plant flowers, increase the watering to every two or three days to get those potatoes nice a big! The flowers are beautiful and a great talking point with your children- how many of them had any idea a potato plant had flowers?
- It's harvest time when the leaves turn yellow and start to die. You may not get to this point before the school year ends- we didn't. If you harvest early you'll just get smaller potatoes, which in my experience excite students more than regular sized potatoes.
90 days later
That's it!
Along the way, there are a bazillion activities to do and talks to have with your class. I began by bringing in a single potato and discussing it. Where have you seen potatoes? What are they for? Where do they come from? Pass the potato around and let the children touch it, smell it, and make observations. I guarantee you there are children sitting on your rug who have never actually seen a potato before, so this is an important step. It goes back to my lesson of nothing being too small for your students.
Next we discussed all the ways we can eat potatoes and recorded them on a chart. Once you get started, there are TONS of ways to eat potatoes! You will have to tell them about many of them and trust me, they may not believe you. Chips are made from potatoes? Crazy teacher, chips are from THE STORE. This is a great time to introduce research in your library and online. Make sure to make some vocabulary cards for all the new words they are learning!
Like I suggested above, let your students cut the potatoes with plastic knives or butter knives. If this FREAKS. YOU. OUT. rest assured, I have "those kids" in my class, too. I'm not telling you to hand each child a chef's knife and letting them go for it. I'm inviting you to have a few students come to your small group area and let them pass one plastic or butter knife around the table, taking turns while you guide them. You could also do this in a whole group setting the same way, going around the circle until everyone gets a turn. This is the time to talk about the eyes on the potato and why it is important that each chunk have a few.
Time to plant! Follow the steps above. This is the type of activity I typically do on a Friday morning or afternoon. It is time consuming so plan for at least 30 minutes in the garden. I like to have the children sit down around the garden area and we take turns planting each potato. I usually do my class's gardening alone, so you can adjust if you have other adults available. The fun part for those who are waiting is that they can mess with the soil and make all sorts of fascinating observations about the outdoors. SO MANY great lessons here that are completely real-world applications. If we are planting in pairs, how many potatoes do we need? If we are all planting our own, how many do we need? How much space do we need to plant these, and how can we find out?
Gardening is an amazing opportunity for our students. How better to learn about where their food comes from? How better to learn about measurement and growth? Life cycles? Weather? Cooperation and teamwork? Gardens are the answer! For anyone concerned about "Kids Gone Wild," which is a definite concern, I offer this advice. Approach gardening the same way you approach any other lesson in your classroom, with careful planning and organization. Make sure to treat the garden area like you would your indoor classroom. You have established rules and routines you reinforce indoors so be sure to do the same in your "outdoor classroom." This helps students understand that although they are outside, they are not on the playground and this is still a structured activity.
Next time I'll share what we did when we (early) harvested our potatoes at the end of the year. Get ready to see some tiny potatoes!
