Planting Activity for the First Time

October 05, 2023

Planting Activity for the First Time

For the first time since I became a teacher, I get a chance to plant trees at school. Yeah, it's so exciting and thrilling at the same time. I haven't planted any trees for so long, so yeah I need some guide to do it again. Luckily, I don't do it by myself. I do it together with my beloved students and fellow partners in grade 3.

Basically, this planting activity is part of our lesson in the first unit titled "Living Things". As part of the "Taking Action" stage of our inquiry learning, me and the other grade 3 teachers discussed together about the perfect activity to do with our students. We came to a decision to plant trees. We struggled to pick the type of plant that we would like to plant. But then, we picked bok choy as one of the easiest trees to plant which doesn't take so long to grow.

We plan to buy the seeds and the soil two weeks earlier since we needed to make sure the quantity. We bought the seeds via e-commerce, while for the soil, we bought it ourselves somewhere near the school. We did buy it more than the number of our students, just in case it is not enough or something bad happens.

We expected to plant the bok choy in the middle of September, but the situation in our city did not support as we are currently facing the smoke pollution. This kind of condition is mostly the damage of the forests burning in South Sumatera. Not only that, but also because of the sunny and dry season that is happening right now. It shocked me at first when I know that this impacts the air quality. The leaders of the school where I work even made a new policy for teachers and students to come to school a bit late than the normal time. We usually start school at 7 am, now we change it into 7.50.

We sadly had to postpone our planting activity because of the smoke pollution that gets worse every day that we need to wear mask everytime we go outside. My students started to grumble that they have been wanting to plant the trees because they have brought their own pot from home. I feel what they feel as I have been waiting for this activity as well.

At the beginning of October, which is on last Monday, we finally had the right time to plant the bok choy. Previously, me and my fellow partners have sowed the seeds on a polybag. We checked again the plants' progress on last Sunday to make sure that we can really move it to the pots for our students. And yes! They grow. They really grow with roots and tiny leaves.

As I said, we planted the trees (read: moved the small plants to the pots) on last Monday, October 2. My students were so enthusiastic which I can see from the way they prepare everything needed, such as the gloves, sandals, and shovel. Gloves are for our hands to protect from any dirt and help us to take the soil and move it into the pot. Sandals are for helping us walk and move easily around the garden area and prevent our shoes to get dirty and wet. Lastly, shovel helps us to pick the soil and smooth the hard and rocky soil so that it can be fit in the pot.

We made it for an hour from 10-11 am. My students started to complain about the very hot weather and the sun ray that made them sweaty and thirsty. Some of them asked me to go back to class and get some water, but I didn't allow them since we hadn't really done with the planting. I was still busy helping the other students who struggled with their own plants in their pot. So, I just asked these too-much-complain students to sit underneath the tree near our garden. We went back to the class after we watered the plants and put the name labels inside the pots.

Four days have passed, I visited the school garden to check on my students' plants. I'm so glad to see the growth that these plants show in each pot. Me and my fellow partners watered them and make sure that the soil in each pot is full.

Here are some photos of how the plants have grown so far (I'm going to update the photos until its final stage).