Frederick County Junior Master Gardeners

Situation:

South Frederick Elementary School (SFES) has a large percentage of minority and low income students and has been designated as an “improvement school” under the Federal “No Child Left Behind Act”. Childhood obesity, due to poor eating habits and inactivity, is a major public health challenge and too few urban children have guided opportunities to engage the natural world, in an active, hands-on way.

Action Taken:

In 2003 this changed! The “Snap Dragons” Jr. Master Gardener (JMG) program sprouted. A group of Frederick County Master Gardeners and a SFES fourth grade teacher organized the first Frederick County after school program to educate a very diverse group of 4th and 5th graders. “I find the diversity of the group amazing,” said co-leader, Bunny LaDouceur. “We have had students from El Salvador, Africa, Pakistan and one who spends summers in Jamaica. Some of these students are accustomed to seeing tropical plants like banana trees and pineapples growing in their everyday environment.”

Each year the group learns and experiences different aspects of eating healthy, where food comes from, careers in ecology and horticulture, our watershed, rain gardening, etc. During 2004 they were featured on the national JMG website. The 2005 “Snap Dragons” program highlights:

Healthy snacking. What did we just eat? What plant produced the snack? How does the plant grow and how does it produce our snack? Remember the session on peanuts. Each student portrayed a different part of the peanut plant and how it progressed through its life cycle.
Careers related to Horticulture and Ecology. A recent field trip to the Hood College Biology Department introduced the Snap Dragons to a professional who has been working in the Guatemalan rain forest. He then gave them a tour of their greenhouse. During their tour, each Jr. Master Gardener was able to collect and plant seeds to take home.
Native Tree Grow-Out Station. With the support and assistance from the Frederick County Master Gardeners, Community Commons and the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Snap Dragons established a program where the native trees they have planted in their ‘station’ will eventually be planted along the impaired streams within the Monocacy River watershed.
Rain barrel watering. The trees planted in the Native Tree Grow-Out Station and the school’s butterfly garden are watered using the rain water collected in the rain barrels donated to the Snap Dragons by the Frederick County Master Gardeners. The rain barrel program helps teach students the valuable lesson of catching and using rainwater for gardening.

tree planting
Snap Dragons planting trees at the watershed

butterflyrelease
Snap Dragons releasing butterflies at the
Demo Garden

Bunny & kids
Snap Dragons with pumpkins

Pumpkin planting, harvesting, seed saving and packaging. Early spring planting of pumpkin seeds by the Snap Dragons yielded a wonderful October crop of pumpkins at Thorpewood Environmental Center in Thurmont, MD. When the Snap Dragons return to harvest the pumpkins, they also learned how to save and dry the seeds for the next season’s crop. The students decorated envelopes (seed packets) for each batch of seeds and determined how much each envelope should cost. They are to be sold at the 2006 Master Gardener’s spring fundraiser.

Impact:

The education each of the Snap Dragons receives through the use of JMG curriculum materials, field trips and hands-on gardening is invaluable. They have learned

how to propagate and care for plants
how important healthy plants are to our environment
about our watershed, ecology, horticulture
making healthy food choices
beautification of their surroundings. They have planted bulbs in the school yard, receiving many compliments from teachers and staff
by working together on successful projects, the value of teamwork.

Success Headlines

For more information, contact Robin Hessey

Last updated: 10/5/2009