Florida Catholic | Beginning, Middle, Tomato, Broccoli

Beginning, middle, tomato, broccoli

MARY JO MURPHY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 04.04.08

PORT RICHEY | What started out as a language arts lesson at a primary school here is growing into a gift for the needy.

Bishop Larkin Interparochial Catholic School fourth-grade teachers David Caolo and Maria Tarver set out to give their combined classes a lesson on story structure. What they came up with was a creative way to teach the three parts of a story by planting a garden outside Caolo’s classroom.

“Planting a garden was the most graphic way we could teach beginning, middle and end,” Caolo said.

A good story starts with preparation and a solid beginning. The fourth-graders prepared the soil and planted seeds. And before long they had a story — tomatoes growing on tall plants, and a garden with strawberries, broccoli, kale, beet, potato, cantaloupes and cucumber plants.

Writers and gardeners share similar setbacks, the kids discovered. No only did each stage take the usual work, but the students ran into one challenge that they didn’t expect — ducks. Large Muscovy ducks that live in the pond behind the school began eating the leaves of the broccoli plants. The students solved this problem by putting a milk crate over each plant.

After they harvest their garden, the students plan to offer their fruits and vegetables to needy people in their community, which makes for a very nice ending.

Caolo was so pleased with the lesson that he plans to enter another garden in the School Garden Competition offered to elementary schools throughout Florida. Recognized teachers have a chance to qualify for money for their gardens and to gain recognition for their work.

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Beginning, middle, tomato, broccoli

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