Filbert Street Garden: Great Ideas Are Sprouting Up

In cooperation with Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle School, the Filbert Street Garden has started to pilot a sprouts growing program for winter. With quick germination times, mess free growing, and no need for special equipment, sprouts are a teacher's best friend when it comes to growing edibles in the classroom. The first part of this program consists of 4 45 minute long lessons. Both Ms. Wells' class and Ms. Ahmann's class just had their 1st lessons recently, and they are off to a great start.

Students work in groups, or if the class is small enough, as a class.

After we learn a little bit about sprouts and sprout anatomy, the taste test begins!

Students use the color-coded plates to help them remember which kinds of sprouts they liked the most (Alfalfa and Broccoli did well for themselves) which they liked the least (poor Radish, getting no love) and what one distinguishing characteristic of each sprout is.

After the taste test is over, each group is challenged to come up with their "Perfect Sprout Recipe."

What blend of the

varieties they tasted will yield the tastiest sprout salad?

The teams use a very basic pie graph to color in

how many slices of each sprout type they want...

using the colors of the color-coded plates.

After each group has colored in their recipe, they share their pie chart with the class, and recognize the similarities and differences in each other's preferences.