The Rookery

We have continued work on our roof garden.  I have been very excited by how the theme has taken shape.  On Tuesday, we set out to map our gardens.  We wanted to be able to see how much our plants had grown (or which plants we lost) over the summer.  To do this, of course, we had to know what we had planted, where it was and how big it was.

Test gardens at the University of Minnesota use wire grid to measure plant distribution and growth.  We set up the same system on our plots by measuring 5 cm intervals and taping string across the plot.  We began to draw our plant maps to scale on graph paper.

Unfortunately, a single day on the roof top loosened all of the masking tape we'd used.  We needed a better solution.  The Herons found the answer.  They drilled holes at 5cm marks using drills borrowed from the Village wood shop.  Then they pulled wire through the holes and secured it.  The result was a permanent grid that we'll be able to use next September to look at how our plants fared.

The students' work has been very self-directed and at conferences many fourth graders have talked about the garden and continuing work on it next year.