Andon Malott, 8, left, and his brother, Torin Malott, 4, work at planting lettuce seeds at a healthy habits program at Ruth Ann Monroe Primary School in Washington County.
Image Credit: Kevin Gilbert, The Herald-Mail
Rosa Parada-Reidy knows exactly what she and her 8-year-old daughter Catherine will be doing when school gets out this year — gardening.
The mother-daughter duo already has spent time tending to their bamboo, lilac hydrangea and sweet pea plants, but the message of just how much time will be spent in the soil under the summer sun was made all the more clear Thursday night at Ruth Ann Monroe Primary School, where Catherine and her classmates showcased the “Growing Healthy Habits” curriculum they have been absorbing all year.
In partnership with the University of Maryland Extension-Washington County, which provided the federally funded curriculum and supplies, the primary school’s second-grade teachers this school year implemented weekly nutrition lessons with an emphasis on growing food from the ground up.
“It’s an interdisciplinary program really. The curriculum incorporates reading, math skills, science skills — even though it focuses on nutrition education, they’re learning all of those other skills and that’s why it’s a perfect fit to have it in the classroom,” said Jennifer Bentlejewski, Western Maryland director of the University of Maryland Extension.
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