Diversity Planter

By:

Diversity
Planter

Our school has a long term project
to encourage thoughts about nature and respect for diversity. Each class has
been rooting plants since December. Not only has each class watched the roots
grow from a variety of cuttings donated by families, but we have planted the
cuttings in soil that is rich with compost that the first graders made in our
school tumbler. Our planter is named, The Diversity Pot.

In March, the 5th Grade Green Team
put on a play called, Roots of Respect. It is a story about plants that argue
about their personal superiority. A princess wants to honor them all by putting
them together in one planter. The play did not have an ending, but rather
challenged students to create an ending by suggesting a way for all the plants
to co-exist in spite of their diverse needs. The Play was re-enacted during
Environmental Earth Week with the winning conclusion.

This is a win-win project, combining
literacy with an increased knowledge of plants and sensitivity to diversity. It
is delightful to note that the play stimulated other works of creativity beyond
the school setting. Quite spontaneously, several teams of children brought in
posters and others created a puppet show about improving our environment. They
did all of this, “just for fun,” during play dates.  It is equally exciting that some children have become so interested in rooting plants that they are creating planters of their own at home!