FOODPLAY comes to FES!

FOODPLAY is a national award-winning theater show promoting healthy eating and exercise habits.  Its cast of colorful characters, fantastic feats of juggling, motivating messages, music, magic, and fun came to FES on  Friday, December 13th, thanks to a generous grant from the Falmouth Education Foundation.

During the fun-filled performance, children follow the antics of Johnny Junkfood, whose dream is to become a national juggling star, but keeps dropping the balls. The problem – his poor eating habits! With the help of the “Coach” of the National Junior Juggling Team and the audience of enthusiastic elementary school children, Johnny learns how to juggle the foods he eats to wind up with a balanced diet. FOODPLAY introduced USDA’s new MyPlate food guide, helping children learn to fill half their plates with a rainbow of colors from fruits and vegetables, choose GO foods from all five food groups, and cut down on soda and sweetened drinks. Children learn how to see through TV commercials, decipher food labels, and make choices that are good for their health and good for the health of the planet. As the children walk away to the beat of “Treat Your Body Right!” FOODPLAY’s message comes in loud and clear – feed healthy foods to your body, positive messages to your mind, and have fun being active every day!

For more information on Foodplay, free snack recipes,and tips for kids and families:http://www.foodplay.com/ Other kids' health information is available at www.letsgo.org. 

The Wellness Team extends a special thanks to Martha Poliquin,Food Service Director,Kim Walker, Kitchen Manager and all of the wonderful kitchen staff for their hard work in bringing healthy GO foods to our school lunch daily. We also wish to thank FEF (Falmouth Education Foundation) for their support of wellness activities in Falmouth. 

How soda destroys teeth

FES students enjoying the show

The Garden is Put to Bed

The Learning Garden is officially put to bed for the winter season. The pictures below show students  harvesting vegetables, planting garlic and daffodil bulbs that we will all enjoy next year. We have had a successful fall garden season at FES and look forward to gardening again in the spring.

3rd Graders from Mrs. Brown's class

Planting daffodils

Kindergarteners from Mrs. Guerra's class planting bulbs

5th grade buddy helps Kindergarteners

Mr. Olins class harvesting basil

Mrs. Bacon's class learns about vegetables

Mrs. Bacon's Class working in the garden

Preschool and 4th grade harvesting the stew garden

Harvesting rutabagas

Mrs. Bianchi's
4th grade class and preschool

Goodnight, Garden

After School Garden Club Weeks 4-6

Check out this video of the Garden Club Kids cooking in the kitchen with Martha Poliquin!

The video and all pictures below are from Amy Winton.

On Week 4 students planted daffodil bulbs around the front of the school. 

Bulb Planting in front of FES

Ready to plant!

More bulb planting

Week 5 =cooking Kale Chips in the FES Cafeteria.

Preparing Kale Chips 

Cafeteria Tour 

Cooking with Martha

Week 6= Putting the Garden to Bed

Harvesting marigolds

Final vegetable harvest

A bed of straw

Garden Club Kids

AFTER SCHOOL GARDEN CLUB, WEEKS 1-3

Garden Committee staff members are sponsoring an After School Garden Club through Community Programs this fall. All proceeds from the Club go directly into the Garden Budget. This fall the funds purchased 450 daffodils which have been planted by students all around FES and the straw to put our garden to bed.

The pictures below show the first 3 weeks of the club. On week 1 we worked in the garden to prepare for the Open House and created a temporary garden sign. Week 2 brought us to Idleknot Farm, where Elwin and Jean Hansen gave us a tour of the farm and a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. The third week we determined the daffodil planting areas, toured the FHS garden and created seed mosaics on a beautiful fall afternoon. The pictures below highlight the fun.

Working hard/ week 1

Starting the garden sign/week 1

Friends at Idleknot Farm/ week 2

Pumpkin lessons/ week 2

Pumpkin gardeners/ week 2

Garden Art/ Week 3

Seed Mosaics/ Week 3

Creating garden mosaics/ week 3

Our Garden Theme


Check our Blog frequently for fun Garden updates.

Integrating the Fall Garden into the School Curriculum

The fall garden is providing teachers and students with unique outdoor educational opportunities.  Kindergarten classes released monarch butterflies in the garden where the children learned firsthand about plants and flowers that promote the life cycle of butterflies. Students in other grades are harvesting vegetables, bringing them to our school cafeteria and learning about the benefits of LOCAL foods. Many teachers are using the Sensory Bed to teach the 5 senses to individual students and whole classes. The pictures below tell the story of how we are integrating the Fall Garden into the school curriculum.

3rd Graders in Michelle Brown's class

Carrots from the 2nd grade Salad Garden

Martha Poliquin and the PTO/ Chard Tasting in the School Cafeteria 

2nd Graders and Julie Clay with their carrot harvest

Happy students bringing carrots to Kitchen Manager Kim Walker

Releasing the monarch butterfly

Kate Bacon with first graders watering the garden

Hanging in the Garden 

Kindergarteners studying butterfly habitats

  Garden Open House, Sep. 28, 2013
WCSH Garden Open House 

On Saturday, Sep. 28 we participated in the Maine School Garden Association Open House. Students led community members on garden tours. Watch the video WCSH Garden Open House 

to see how we Grow and Learn in the FES Garden.