Sterling Morton Students Plant Veggies in 'Kinder Garden'

One kindergarten class at Sterling Morton Elementary School is full of burgeoning gardeners.

In fact, the youngsters have dubbed the space behind the school the "Kinder Garden."

Dr. Tricha Schock's class spent time Monday planting tomatoes, onions, broccoli, beets, radishes, cilantro, corn and more in the garden. They've been learning about plants and their functions for a while, but now that summer has arrived, it's time to put those lessons to work.

"If you ask my kindergartners what plants give us, they'll tell you oxygen," Schock said. "They're pretty knowledgeable about our environment and how to keep it healthy.

"What I'm trying to promote with our new generation is that if we don't keep it sustained, we're not going to have an Earth when they get to be adults."

The garden is Schock's fun way of incorporating the science standards of the common core.

"We have to integrate more than we used to," said Schock, who has been teaching for 25 years. "Not only life science and weather, but also physical and Earth. One of the things I like to do is I started to plant with children a couple years ago. We plant seeds, watch them grow, and this year, I started charting everything on a big graph in hallway."

The kids also enjoy "Measuring Mondays," where they measure their plants. As for the Kinder Garden, parents have agreed to play a role, too. They have each picked a week in the summer in which they will come to the garden and tend to the plants. They're also free to take vegetables that have been produced by the time their week arrives.

"It's sharing with the community as well," Schock said. "The response has been wonderful."