Harvest Green Sets the Beet for Oakland Elementary Science Night

Harvest Green Farm Educators “beet” a path to Oakland Elementary recently, teaching students about the science of farming during the school’s Science Night.

Educators brought Chioggia beets to introduce students to the life cycle of plants. Students started at one end of the table with magnifying glasses and beet seeds, then followed the development of the vegetables as they increase in size during the growth process. A cut-open beet demonstrated that even the same vegetable comes in different varieties as the insides of Chioggia beets feature unusual candy cane striping. In addition, children were able to feel and smell soil and cilantro, as well as contribute to a poster about items they eat that come from farms. Some favorite answers were corn, carrots and cows.

The Farm Educators had a blast interacting with the students and are looking forward to their next visit.

Harvest Green elementary school-aged students currently attend Oakland Elementary until the community’s on-site James C. Neill Elementary opens in August. On-site Bowie Middle School and Travis High School are attended by older students. In April, The Bonnie Beard Agricultural Center will open adjacent to Travis for students enrolled in Fort Bend ISD’s Career and Technical Education agricultural program.

Harvest Green students also have opportunities to learn about farming outside of school as the development is centered on a community farm where families are invited to help with weeding and harvesting and soon will be able to rent their own growing plot through Harvest Green’s Farm Club.