Sweet Melodies and Vegetables: Houghton Elementary School 4th Graders Visit the Garden

4th Grade Students from Houghton Elementary School

On Tuesday, May 31st, the Houghton Elementary 4th Grade art class visited the garden to hang beautiful clay bells they created.

The students were inspired by the Ben's Bells project of Arizona. The goal of the project is to:


Inspire, educate and motivate each other to realize the impact of intentional kindness and to empower individuals to act according to that awareness, thereby changing our world.

Hanging bells.

Upon entering, the students circled the garden and proceeded to hang their bells on each fence post. This was followed by the singing of the "Shalom" song taught to them by Mrs. Campbell. The field trip ended with a rousing game of "Ideas and Community" Tag. In the end, a fun time was had by all. A video of the event can be seen on TV6  here.

Racing past the idea.

Mrs. Hall's 4th grade class.

On the following Thursday, Mrs. Hall's 4th Grade class made the annual trip to the garden to plant in their specially designated beds. With help from garden volunteers, the children learned about growing vegetables and flowers from seeds and small starter plants.

Pulling lots of weeds

One of the beds has been turned into an experimental greenhouse to see if it will improve plant growth and increase production. In the fall, the students will harvest their garden and enjoy a special lunch specifically made from the vegetables they had grown.

Additional photos can be seen in the garden slideshow.