WESLACO Space should not be a problem this year in South Texas as Texas Cooperative Extension holds its summer Master Gardener and Junior Master Gardener training for school teachers June 5-10.
Every year, the event attracts more prospective participants than the facilities could hold but not this year, according to Barbara Storz, event organizer and Extension horticulturist for Hidalgo County.
“Each year we’ve had to turn people away for lack of space,” Storz said. “But this year’s program will be hosted by Weslaco High School, where facilities are quite spacious.”
Storz said some of the workshops will be held in the award-winning Botanical Garden Classroom created by Weslaco High School science teacher Dr. Debbie Villalon and her students.
“We are so fortunate that Dr. Villalon and her principal, Dr. Isidoro Nieto, were willing to share this beautiful environment for our training,” Storz said.
Villalon completed the summer Master Gardener training two years ago. Then she and her students built an outdoor garden learning lab, which recently won the Governor’s 2006 Texas Environmental Excellence Award.
“We all learn by example, and the Weslaco High School Botanical Garden is a great example to share with teachers from throughout the Rio Grande Valley,” she said.
This year’s training for educators will include outdoor workshops and indoor presentations by other successful teachers, Master Gardeners, Extension staff, and local professionals. Teachers will learn how to develop outdoor, hands-on classrooms that cultivate success for their students, Storz said.
“Teachers will then spend the year sharing their gardening knowledge and working toward certification as Texas Master Gardeners,” she said. “Their students will become certified as Junior Master Gardeners.”
The program now has five Junior Master Gardener curriculums. Three are geared to the elementary level and two at the middle school level. All are tied to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills in math, science, language arts, and social studies.
“The curriculums are filled with hands-on activities that truly engage youth and improve test scores,” Storz said. “This year, librarians and teachers at the elementary level will choose one of three curriculums. One is Literature in the Garden,’ based on six classic children’s stories; Wildlife Gardener,’ which establishes a habitat garden; and Health and Nutrition from the Garden,’ which is based on building a vegetable garden and learning about nutrition.”
At the middle school level, educators will choose from “Operation Thistle: Seeds of Dispair,” a botany course involving “missions” to rid the garden of the “bad” Dr. Thistle character, or “Water and Earth’s Resources,” which takes students hot on the trail of the evil Dr. Thistle, while exploring the important roles of water and soils in supporting life.
“The elementary level curriculum can be adjusted for kinder through high school,” Storz said, “and the middle school program can be adjusted to high school, which is what Dr. Villalon did.”
Cost of the six-day training, including adult program books, youth curriculum, and vegetable and flower seeds is $150. Registration deadline is May 19.
Weslaco High School is located at 1005 West Pike St. in Weslaco.
For more information, call the Extension office in Hidalgo County at (956) 383-1026, or e-mail Storz atb-storz@tamu.edu
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