Literature in the Garden: Junior Master Gardener Program

Bring your children (ages 8-10) to Gabis Arboretum for a reading in the garden with an educational craft afterwards. The class will be taught by Porter County Master Gardeners, Laura Tucker, Linda Mapes and Carolyn Dye.

Class size is limited to 15 so register today. Registration is required to ensure enough supplies for all attendees.

Location

The Adventure Garden at Gabis Arboretum

Books and Activities

June 17
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, Illustrated by Susan Jeffers

In this book, students will learn about the Eastern Woodland American Indians, who were first to collect tree sap for syrup making and the Lanape Indians’ use of blueberries. We will be doing an art activity called “pollution doesn’t stay where you put it” and remove the flowers and leaves from the flower presses to make bookmarks. The session will end with a tour of the Railway Garden.

June 24
The Gardener written by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small

After Lydia Grace’s father loses his job during the Great Depression, she goes to live with her Uncle Jim, a dour but kind baker in the city. Although the surroundings in her new home are dreary, the irrepressible Lydia brings her love for gardening with her and uses her green thumb to transform her surroundings with colorful flowers. We will be making a monochromatic, analogous and complementary color wheel to paint a picture of the garden and plant seeds in flower pots.

July 1
Tops and Bottoms written and illustrated by Janet Stevens

Poor but hard-working and resourceful Hare strikes a clever deal with rich but lazy Bear in this updated version of an old slave story. Hare convinces Bear to split their crops into tops, bottoms and middles; once the choice is made, Hare plants accordingly. When Bear chooses “tops,” Hare plants root crops; the next time he chooses “bottoms,” and Hare plants corn. We will be using vegetables to determine which parts of plants we eat and participants will be able to take home seedlings from last week.

July 8
Weslandia written by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Keven Hawkes

An outcast in his cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood, nonconformist Wesley creates a new civilization in his backyard. He discovers a new staple crop – the swist – and builds Weslandia around it, using his vast imagination. We will be making butterfly seed cards and engage in an insect mouth parts activity called “how insects eat.” Then we will view the Monarch Way Station and investigate monarch life cycles.

To request a disability-related accommodation, please contact the Office of Institutional Equity at oie@pnw.edu or (219) 989-2163 five days prior to the event.