During their time in school, students in ASD-W often learn skills in class which they are called on to apply in the community, as part of those classes. And the pleasant June weather saw residents at two Fredericton-area senior living facilities benefit from our students’ knowledge and skills.
Four Grade 3 classes from Gibson-Neill Memorial Elementary School visited Shannex’s care home this past Monday and Tuesday to plant food plants in raised beds built by Leo Hayes High School student Tristan Hallett.
And on May 30, several students worked side-by-side with residents of Stanley’s Nashwaak Villa nursing home to build benches at the location.
Both groups of students shared knowledge and skills with seniors learned in class throughout the school year.
Shannex Neill Hall
In September, Education and Early Childhood Development Enhanced Co-op Consultant Crystal Roberts proposed a trip to Fredericton’s Hayes Farm for all of the Grade 3 classes at Gibson-Neill. During the visits, students got their hands dirty with weeding, pulling dead plants, and planting.
“During the visit to the farm, Carol did a presentation on the “three sisters”: squash, beans, and corn,” said Gibson-Neill Memorial Elementary School teacher Anita Benoit. The Carol she refers to is Carol Muncer, Youth & Family Programming Coordinator with Hayes Farm. “The indigenous people grew these three plants together and they supported each other.”
Said Muncer, “The three sisters are probably the most ingenious method of gardening. It was developed eons ago by our First Nations. You plant squash, corn and beans—usually a dry bean—and the three together look after each other. It’s called companion planting. The squash protects them from animals. You can plant it year after year and it’s a totally regenerative way of growing food.”
Students also learned about the importance of pollinators.
The seeds the students planted at the farm were cultivated and became the food plants they planted for seniors at Neill Hall. In addition to the three sisters, students planted other plants such as cucumbers, marigolds, lettuce, kale, and tomatoes.
Residents enjoyed the students’ company and energy.
“They did a good job and the kids from Leo Hayes designed the beds,” said Jim Eddington, whose granddaughter Willow Boudreau was one of the Grade 3 students visiting.
Eddington, a resident of Neill Hall for three years, has a deep appreciation for the students’ efforts, as he used to be an avid gardener.
“We used to have a real big garden and Willow used to help me plant it,” he said of the garden he and his wife used to maintain at their home. “There were lots of vegetables like beans, and peas, and potatoes, and onions, and carrots, garlic. We used to have a cold room where I’d hang my onions up and used to have enough onions to keep us all year. And my wife used to freeze our beans and peas.”
Students Braelyn Akin-Lavway and Bailey Bennett ran down a list of their favourite pollinators: bees, butterflies, hornets.
“I liked planting,” said Akin-Lavway, who, with Bennett, was eager to show off the tomato, pepper, and Swiss chard plants they’d planted. “I think it’s really fun.”
The students’ fun activity served several purposes: providing a service for seniors in the community, and teaching students a skill that can serve them for a lifetime.
“The goal is that they learn now and keep these skills when they’re older and be able to grow their own food in times of hardship or just for their own enjoyment,” said Muncer. “It’s also a skill where they learn to enjoy nature and what good healthy food is, because what we planted was good healthy food.”
“The goal is that they learn now and keep these skills when they’re older and be able to grow their own food in times of hardship or just for their own enjoyment.”
Carol Muncer, Youth & Family Programming Coordinator with Hayes Farm
Nashwaak Villa
As part of a Develop and Lead Doership project initiated by Stanley Consolidated School Skilled Trades teacher Michael Valk, students worked with Nashwaak Villa Activities Coordinator Jeannine Brewer, to design and lead a building project that Villa residents could participate in.
Students designed a bench for the Villa common area that residents with varying physical abilities could help build. On May 30, residents worked with Stanley Consolidated School Grade 12 students Hayden Kranendonk, Jacob King, and Carter McDowell to measure, cut, or drill wood—depending on their capabilities—to create the bench.
“The boys did an amazing job,” said Brewer. “They also were great with the residents. The men are still talking about the bench.”
Student Carter McDowell was impressed with how eager the residents were help with the project: “I genuinely enjoyed how they talked to us about what they used to do and just smiled all the way through.”
“I hope they use the bench a lot because they made it themselves,” said McDowell
