How does their garden grow?

Woodland School teacher’s green thumb wins recognition.

By: Melissa Hayes
   It’s not uncommon to see Woodland School teacher Steve Feldman raking soil and planting crops outside with his fifth-grade class.
   That’s because Mr. Feldman has turned his love of gardening into a year-long lesson for his students. His students learn how peanuts grow and know the importance of turning over the soil before planting new crops.
   "They get everything from it," he said of the garden.
   Mr. Feldman has been incorporating Colonial American agriculture into his curriculum since the 1970s and was recently recognized for this by the Environmental Protection Agency.
   Mr. Feldman, who over the years has received recognition certificates through the agency for his students from five different U.S. presidents, was recently honored by the EPA’s Presidential Youth Awards Programfor his work with students and the environment.
   The Presidential Youth Awards Program was established by the White House in 1971 and is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Each year up to 10 winning projects are selected from the EPA’s 10 regional offices.
   The program is aimed at encouraging individuals, school classes, summer camps, youth organizations and public interest groups to promote environmental awareness, according to the EPA’s Web site.
   Mr. Feldman was given an honorable mention award April 21 for his work with the environmental station at Woodland School.
   The environmental station is an outdoor courtyard in the newer portion of the school. Mr. Feldman said there used to be stones paths and a small pond in the courtyard, but the school hadn’t figured out what else to do with the land. So, in 1977, he and two teachers took on the responsibility of maintaining it.
   Shortly after the three teachers took on the project, one retired and one was transferred, leaving Mr. Feldman to handle the responsibility alone.
   "It’s really quite something," Mr. Feldman said of the environmental station.
   From the beginning, he decided to incorporate gardening into his curriculum. By teaching colonial agriculture, his students are getting a history, math, writing, geography and health lesson while also gaining gardening skills.
   "I always try to work it into the curriculum," Mr. Feldman said.
   He has the students rake the soil and level the surface, measure distances and depth when planting seeds, write observations on their work and see what tobacco looks like when they’re learning about the effects of smoking in health class.
   The students plant and harvest cotton, peanuts, peas, pumpkins, grapes, strawberries, tomatoes, popcorn, peppers, lavender, and various herbs andflowers.
   "It gives them a balanced education," Mr. Feldman said. "They’re not just sitting in a classroom. It’s a good outlet for students with a lot of energy."
   The students really enjoy having Mr. Feldman as a teacher because of the supplemental education they are getting.
   On Monday, Brian McParland, 11, was raking the soil in the strawberry patch. He said he feels like he’s doing his part to help the environment.
   "It helps out with plant life," he said. "We get some biology lessons, too."
   Ten-year-old Jennifer Lynetti said she had no idea peanuts grew underground until she and her classmates started growing the crop in the garden.
   "It’s so cool how he can grow them," Jennifer said of her teacher, who is an avid gardener.
   Jackie Ricine and Meghan McClaren, both 10, were raking the dirt where they will plant vegetables and said they enjoy working in the garden even though they’re on display to the classes walking in the hallways around the courtyard.
   "He teaches us about different things that other classes don’t get to learn," Meghan said. "We don’t just get it from a textbook."
   A lot of the students had never raked, hoed or planted before being in Mr. Feldman’s class.
   Michelle Feminella, 10, and Alexa Carinici, 11, said Mr. Feldman gave the class small palm trees to bring home. Both girls have taken to gardening at home.
   "You get to have fun and learn at the same time and it’s interesting," Alexa said.
   Kristen Calavano, 11, said she’s also learned a lot about plants she had never heard of.
   The students all seem to agree that Mr. Feldman is a teacher like no other.
   "We learn a lot, it’s not just the garden it’s the stamps, too," Robert Glade, 11, said.
   Mr. Feldman explained that stamp collecting is just another way to make learning fun.
   He put a notice in Linn’s Stamp News, a weekly newsletter, asking for stamp donations. The notice brought in such an overwhelming response that Mr. Feldman has more than a million stamps in plastic containers in his classroom.
   Each student has a binder and different type of stamp that he or she is interested in.
   Robert Herd, 10, collects British Queen stamps and Black Heritage stamps.
   Robert said he likes to collect the 1928 Presidents Series.
   Mr. Feldman said the students get really excited about the stamps and want to know all about them.
   "You wouldn’t imagine the questions they come up with, they want to know about the currency in other countries and things like that," he said.