Rachel Burton, teacher and chair of the Educational Advisory Committee for the Plant a Seed Foundation led the discussion at Coquitlam Library’s Plant a Seed-READ!
At Plant a Seed & See What Grows Foundation, we believe in outdoor learning experiences. These outdoor learning opportunities are probably at their best during summer as outlined in our recent blogs – educational summer ideas and staycation ideas. To further reach out to educate, inspire and help children thrive, we went to libraries where the kids are. We donated the Plant a Seed & See What Grows and What to do with What You Grew children’s books to libraries to promote our mission. So, we’re very excited to let you know that we partnered with the Coquitlam Public Library, BC with our Plant a Seed READ! program.
Why Plant a Seed-READ! at the Coquitlam Library?
“We were looking for summer activities for kids that were hands-on, science-based and fun,” said Barbara Weston, Coordinator, Youth Services Coquitlam Public Library. Additionally, Coquitlam has lots of kids and green spaces that only make the connection to their natural environment more obvious. In fact, Coquitlam has over 890 hectares or 2,200 acres of open green spaces. It is also home to over 80 municipal parks and natural areas. Coquitlam was a certainly a great place to start our Plant a Seed-READ! program.
The ABCs of Read
62 kids aged 4 to 10 years old attended the Plant a Seed-READ! program at Coquitlam Library’s Poirier and City Centre locations. The activity started with a book reading of the Plant a Seed & See What Grows children’s book. Then, Rachel Burton, teacher and chair of the Educational Advisory Committee for the Foundation led the discussion. The group discussed where food comes from, why grow your own food and what are the important natural factors to grow plants. Afterwards, Rachel instructed the children how to plant their organic non-GMO bush beans. Finally, it was time for the kids to plant! While there was a momentary disenchantment that the bush beans were not from the same strain as the seeds from Jack and the Beanstalk, Rachel reminded them that the seeds would show them the wonder of life!
All kids brought home with them their newly planted bush beans, wildflower seeds, coloring books and colored pencils. These were all for free from the Foundation.
Where to Next?
While we’re still in discussions with some libraries, we’re happy to let you know that the Plant a Seed-READ! was also held at the Norwich, ON public library last Wed. Oct. 12! Thanks to the wonderful help of our new friend Shannon Gentle from Natural Factors, community partner InsideU, volunteers Lillian Newton, Erin Bott, Kirby Zylstra and Dr. Jaclyn Perchaluk, ND who was the guest reader at the event.
Our Thanks
Our heartfelt thanks go out to Barbara Weston of the Coquitlam Public Library and her wonderful staff Chris, Ashley, Diana, Jila, Rachel Burton, the Foundation’s chair of the Educational Advisory Committee, Ladybird Montessori Learning Academy and Wayne Cutts, our fantastic community liaison officer!
Please remember that Plant a Seed & See What Grows and What to do with What You Grew children’s books are available to download for free. You can also purchase the books online here. All proceeds from the sale of these books are used to support the initiatives of the Foundation including the Plant a Seed-READ!
We would love to tell you more about how this activity meets our goals but we think the photos below will be worth more than a thousand words.
Enjoy!
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P.S. If you’re interested to do the Plant a Seed-READ! program in your library, store or to know more about this program, please email us at info@seewhatgrows.org
