Digging Deeper

By Eden & Sydney Greenberg

Project Description

After receiving a Bloomberg Philanthropies YCAF Microgrant last year, and assisting in building a greenhouse in Zinsser Community Garden, my sister and I decided to educate younger children at the greenhouse. Our project goals were to educate in a fun, hands-on way, through activities, gardening, walks, etc.

Lessons learned

It was a great experience for both me, and my sister Sydney, and we both enjoyed it very much. While doing our project we gained a lot of great experience working with kids, educating others, and even learning new things about gardening, native and invasive species, and pollination. We also learned responsibility through the process of organizing, purchasing items, finding age appropriate, educational, fun crafts, and coming up with engaging lesson plans. We also learned how to put together lesson plans, and structure fun, and interesting activities around the lesson. We also learned that New York State Conservation Kids had amazing, fun magazines that the kids enjoyed, and learned a lot from. We learned how to use our resources, and find educational, and fun worksheets for the kids, as well as find optimal crafts and activities. Overall, we learned many lessons through this program, and we are so grateful for the opportunities we were given through Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund.

Students Involved

1 project leader aged 15-24
1 project leader age 13
20 total project participants (excluding project leaders)

Outputs

10 1st and 2nd graders educated.
10 3rd and 4th graders educated.
20 children learned about planting, native plants, and pollinators.
A pollinator festival on October 12th for 1st - 4th graders and their families. Held at the James Harmon Community Center in Hastings-on-Hudson,

Outcomes

As a result of 10 1st and 2nd graders educated, children are able to bring the information and tools they learn into their homes, classrooms, and everyday lives.
As a result of 10 3rd and 4th graders educated, children are able to bring the information and tools they learn into their homes, classrooms, and everyday lives.
As a result of 20 children learning about planting, native plants, and pollinators, children start learning at a young age about the differences they can have on the environment, and how they can make a difference and educate others.
As a result of a pollinator festival, the children in our program, children we couldn’t accommodate, and parents learn about pollinators, through a fun guest speaker, crafts, and socialization.

Process

Sent out an email to the town informing them of our program.
Going through Google form sign ups, and accepting people on a first-come first-served basis.
Beginning our program the first Sunday of the school year, and continuing for 6 weeks.
Educating 1st through 4th graders about gardening/plant life cycles, native vs. invasive species, and pollinators. Through three sessions for 1st and 2nd graders, and two sessions for 3rd and 4th graders.
Having a pollinator festival on the last Sunday of our project to celebrate our program and accommodate both the children who were in the program, as well as the children we were unable to accommodate due to space.

Using a fun drawing activity, Sydney & Eden teach third & fourth graders about native vs. invasive species during their first session.

Flyer for the series

The children listening to Sydney & Eden talk about planting their own gardens and plant life cycles.

A child's beautiful drawing of flowers for her flower pot. Each child designed and colored their own flower pot for native New York wildflowers.

Third & fourth graders holding up their pots that they planted their very own seeds in.

Children’s pot designs & plant names

First & second graders holding up their drawings of their favorite New York native wildflower.

Third & fourth graders drawing their favorite native New York flower, after a lesson about native and invasive species in New York.

Two third graders planting their Native New York wildflower seeds in pots they designed and colored.

A pair of third graders helping each other on a fun and educational native species word search.

Digging Deeper participants learning about pollination through fun crafts.

Pollinator Festival!

On October 12th, we hosted a Pollinator Festival for 1st - 4th graders and their families. Held at the James Harmon Community Center in Hastings-on-Hudson, the event featured crafts for the kids to make that included painting and assembling bird feeders and pollinator themed snacks, including cinnamon "bug bite" cookies and bee and butterfly gummies, and featured a talk from local hobby beekeeper, Tom Heyman. Tom spoke for about 45 minutes about his experience purchasing bees, setting up his bee colonies, and explained how he collects and mostly donates 160 pounds of honey annually from his hives. He also took several questions from the kids who were curious to learn things such as how far his bees traveled, whether the bees ate their own honey, and how a queen bee becomes a queen bee. Overall it was a successful event where the kids had fun, were educated, and went home with goodies including a jar of Tom's honey, seeds for them to plant at home, stickers and stamps, and their crafts.

Thank You's

A big thank you to Mayor Armacost for all that she has done to help our project. She has been a tremendous help to our program, from getting the word out, to being an all around big supporter. Thank you to all of the children who showed up, ready and excited to learn about everything we were teaching. Thank you to Tom Heyman for teaching the kids about apiculture. A big thank you to our parents, especially our mom. Both of our parents were so supportive during this process, helping us brainstorm ideas, come up with solutions to problems, and of course drive us to and from the program! Finally, thank you to Bloomberg Philanthropies for this amazing grant. We are so grateful and are so happy we could make a small difference in our community.

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