Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders is pleased to share that three ConVal elementary schools have partnered with the Cornucopia Project of Peterborough to provide hands-on “edible education” to students.
The Cornucopia Project is a local non-profit organization that provides hands-on garden and nutrition education to nine elementary schools and 4,000 New Hampshire residents annually. The Greenfield, Hancock and Peterborough Elementary schools have partnered with the organization to bring fun hands-on learning activities to students’ science curriculum.
This past spring, Grade 1 students at GES, HES and PES began their work with Cornucopia to prepare their living classrooms, the school gardens, by planting and nurturing their crops.
This fall, the students ー now in Grade 2 ー are exploring the effects of good and harmful garden critters, harvesting the potato crop they planted in the spring, making ranch with the garden’s herbs, and tasting many fresh garden veggies such as chives, parsley, kale, corn, carrots, peas and radishes.
Students engage in lessons taught by Cornucopia representatives and learn about where their food comes from, how it grows, about living organisms, the life cycle of plants, and more. After each plant and garden learning lesson, students head to the gardens to complete a variety of tasks including weeding, harvesting, watering, and/or debugging, that supplement their analyses.
One student exclaimed that he “liked trying new foods,” and another said that she “liked harvesting, eating, and making ranch. Everything we did was fun!”
Students have been keeping journals of their predictions, discoveries, and observations.
“The Cornucopia Project brings nutritional education to students in the Monadnock Region, providing them with a direct connection to their food source through hands-on science and nutrition-based lessons,” said Cornucopia Education Specialist Olivia Clark. “This spring at the ConVal Elementary Schools, first graders planted seeds and seedlings, learning about the lifecycle of vegetable plants and how to nurture them. As second graders, they have returned to their living classroom to finish the ‘garden cycle,’ further investigating the garden environment.”
Students at Hancock Elementary will finish their work with Cornucopia by cooking up a Harvest Dinner on Tuesday, Oct. 17, from 5-6:30 p.m. Students will use their harvest from the HES school garden to create a meal for their families, peers, and HES staff.
The dinner, which will feature a variety of soups, bread, apple cider and apple crisp for dessert, will be prepared and served by HES students with assistance from staff, Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) members and their families. The PTO will also run a silent auction during the dinner to fundraise for their yearly events.
“ConVal’s partnership with the Cornucopia Project allows our students to take charge of their learning and have fun while doing it. The students love each lesson, and cannot wait to get outside to tend to the garden each week,” said Superintendent Rizzo Saunders. “We cannot thank Cornucopia enough for this wonderful partnership!”
