“Does everyone know what a boss is?” Shani Fletcher asked the first graders in Darlene Prado and Brenda Rosario’s classes at the Hernandez K-8 School. The students responded with an enthusiastic “yes!” Shani told them that as the Director for City of Boston’s GrowBoston program her boss is Mayor Michelle Wu. Since Pathfinders serve BPS students across all grades, it’s important for them to know their audience and prepare presentations based on who’s in the room.
The class has been learning a unit about plants and animals and how they grow and change. So a visit from Shani was the perfect complement, connecting their classroom lessons to real world applications through an age appropriate lens. Shani shared a video and slide presentation that showcased the importance of urban gardens and planting fruit trees as a source of food for the city’s residents, along with the importance of bees for pollination and greenhouses for growing winter crops.
Students talked about some of the plants they’ve been growing in their school garden, and asked what they might be able to grow indoors now that the weather is cooling. Turns out spinach and lettuce are ideal, as they don’t require a large amount of sunlight and are ready to cultivate within 2-3 months. The discussion also touched upon the plant life cycle and what plants like–soil, water, sunlight, and space–and how they are beneficial to humans as they feed us, bring beauty, and clean the air and supply oxygen.
Shani shared that not only vegetables are edible, but that some flowers are, too. A student was delighted to say he added nasturtium to his salad. Shani agreed that was a great choice and offered pansies as another option. In closing, she switched the topic from plants that offer us food to one that is carnivorous, the Venus flytrap. “It’s low maintenance and a good complement for indoor plants,” Shani shared, but students were far more taken by the plant’s ability to capture unsuspecting flies and bugs for nutrients.
