What
is Project Green Growers?
It’s an initiative created by WGVU and the Grand Rapids
Youth Commonwealth. Students from the Commonwealth are exploring
PBS web sites about healthy living and the ecosystem, and
then taking their knowledge out of the computer lab and into
the gardens! They’ll be planning, planting, caring for
and harvesting a community garden this summer.
Hear from the Green Growers and Project Managers!
Click Here for the :30 version
Click Here for the :60 version
How did the project come about?
WGVU and GRYC received a grant from the National Center for
Outreach, to run the program in conjunction with PBS Kids
GO and pbskids.org/go.
Who runs the project?
Project Green Growers is facilitated by Tim Hileman, Program
Coordinator at GRYC, Officer Jim Meeker of GRYC, Emily Maurin,
Marketing Coordinator at WGVU and Steve Chappell, Grant Administrator
at WGVU.
How’s the project going?
The kids at GRYC have been exploring the web, learning about
gardening and trying out fruits and vegetables. In late
May and early June, they planted their seeds in the garden
plot. Now, they’ll spend the summer taking care
of their crop of everything from watermelons to jalapeños!
We’ll be posting updates on the project here all summer,
so check out what’s new in Project Green Growers!
Download: Green
Growers Contract.pdf
Download: Green
Growers Handbook.pdf
How can I help the Green Growers?
If you would like to donate supplies (gardening tools, seeds,
etc.) to the Green Growers project, or if you would like to
volunteer your time, please contact Tim Hileman at 616-233-9370
or Emily Maurin at 616-331-6785.
Week 1: Intro to Program- What is it?
Rules for the group
Went over and signed student agreement
What to Grow?
a). Listed Items/discussion of what each fruit or vegetable
is.
b). Voted on what we are going to grow
Talked about next week and next weeks snack (cucumbers)
Week 2: Introduction to PBS and PBS web site
Visited PBS backyard Jungle - Group decided to do two activities
from the challenge section - Activity 1 and 4 will be done
for the project. (Visit
the site here!)
Played PBS Game - Kratt's Creatures (You
can play, too! Click here)
Played Dragon Fly TV Game - Matching fruits and vegetables
to their individual tree or roots. (You
can play, too! Click here)
PBS Website free-time
Studied Cucumbers in our packet
Snacked on Cucumbers
(See photos below! Click to enlarge!)
Week 3: Overview of last week
It's my Life website - Food Pyramid (Visit
the site here!)
Went over strawberries in packet
Broke into groups and played MAD MONEY game from It's my Life
web site - the team of Jose, Jimella, and Taylor ended up
with the most money. The kids had a great time with this!
(You
can play, too! Click here)
Snacked on Strawberries
Week 4:
Went to About.com to learn how to design a garden site (Visit
the site here!)
Studied the right time to plant seeds
Seasons of a garden
Studied Air pollution
Worked in book on grapes
Free time on PBS Kids GO web site
Snacked on Grapes
Emily, Tim and Jim traveled to Madison, WI to report on the
progress of the project to the NCO and other grant recipients
Week 5: No meeting
Week 6:
Children went to camp to clean up trash after talking
about recycling and pollution. The children also went on a
nature hike and enjoyed a game of kickball in the sun.
Week 7:
Children went out to camp to mark the spot for the garden,
and continued to clean up area.
(See photos below! Click to enlarge!)
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