West Amory Elementary students get hands on lesson in gardening

Kindergarten students see how lettuce grows with a tower garden

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – It was a hands-on lesson for kindergarten students at an elementary school on how food gets from the farm to the table.

It was a hands-on lesson for kindergarten students at an elementary school on how food gets from the farm to the table.

Kindergarten students at West Amory Elementary were decked out in their farm clothes and even sang a familiar song about a well-known farmer.

After the well-known nursery rhyme, it was time for harvest day.

For the past six weeks, the students watched lettuce seeds planted, watered, and grown with a tower garden. It’s a garden with everything but dirt.

“They were able to get hands-on learning with this, also saw the process of how their food gets to their plates,” said Kindergarten Teacher Taylor Nevins.

Four tower gardens were provided through a grant by Juice Plus. Debra Pruitt is the cafeteria manager at West Amory Elementary and says the tower gardens are a fun, interactive way to teach kids about agriculture, and the importance of a healthy diet.

“Eating healthy at a young age is very important when you start at a young age, a lot of times you will continue through adulthood,” Pruitt said.

Each tower garden produces about five pounds of lettuce. That means on Thursday, every student at West Amory Elementary, will have a salad with their lunch made with lettuce harvested from the tower garden.

Students say it’s been fun watching the lettuce grow and getting to harvest the crop.

“They need water, nutrients, sunlight to grow,” said Kindergarten student Aria Raymond.

Students can plant, grow, and harvest lettuce with the tower gardens one more time before this school year is finished.