Ask a student in Ann Roozen’s kindergarten class about their latest project, and the young scientists will launch into an explanation of soil nutrients, varieties of lettuce and other lessons in hydroponics.
The students at Satilla Marsh Elementary have been engaged in a year-long exploration of hydroponics, a technique of growing plants using water-based nutrient solution rather than soil, through a new initiative introduced by Roozen and the school parent involvement coordinator Lauren Sapp.
A hydroponics lab at the school features a a commercial unit that has about 216 pods. Nineteen deep water units are also set up in classrooms around the school for students of all ages to observe and enjoy.
“We got a grant from Green Our Planet, and that’s what started this off,” Sapp said. “Now we are all about hydroponics. Ms. Roozen’s class grew lettuce, and we fed the cafeteria.”
The class grew more than 100 heads of lettuce that were used in meals made by the cafeteria staff. This allowed some students to be introduced to new types of lettuce they’d never tried before.
“It’s been really fun, and we were really excited to bring the lettuce into the cafeteria,” Roozen said. “They were so proud of themselves. It was exciting to be able to grow salad for the whole school.”
The students have also grown tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, radishes, mint, cilantro and more.
“It’s so awesome that they’re getting to see from seed to cafeteria, and they’re getting to eat what they actually grow,” Sapp said.
The indoor growing experience has been an ideal way to ensure the students were active participants in the project, Roozen said.
“Here, if you do an outside garden, the harvest time always happens in June and they’re all gone,” she said. “So this way they get to see the harvest and everything and be a part of it.”
Among the standards for kindergarten education in Georgia is learning the parts of the plant, Roozen said. She wanted to find a hands-on way to make the lesson memorable for the class.
“As a school, we have a project-based learning initiative that we’re working on,” she said.
Sapp and Roozen hope to expand the project next year to include more students in the learning experience.
The program they’ve used came with video lessons that are teacher- and student-friendly, Roozen said.
The students have grown in many ways through this experience, she added, gaining confidence in their green thumbs and expanding their taste palates.
“With this age group, they’re willing to try it all,” she said. “I got a lot of pushback when I told them we were growing peppers, but then when they saw them they kept asking if they could eat it yet.”