In the Community Learning Centres (CLC) network, we often struggle to explain what we do. That’s because the CLC is like an idea blowing across the province showing up in myriad ways. Here we share the stories so that you can see it and believe it too – CLCs make a huge difference to student engagement and the vitality of English Linguistic Minority communities across Quebec.

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Snacks from the Garden


Snacks from the Garden
Richmond Regional High School CLC
Danielle Hamel

Richmond Regional High School has a beautiful community garden, which Math and Science teacher Danielle Hamel decided to incorporate into her lessons.

Secondary-one science students started seedlings in March and transplanted them in the garden outside before the end of the school year.  When the students came back after the summer, they harvested what they had planted.
 
Throughout the summer, Ms. Hamel, a local resident of the community collected the most abundant fruit and vegetables which included zucchini, black berries, strawberries, tomatoes and garlic and placed them in her freezer at home.

When October came, she was teaching proportions in her secondary-two math class and had the students double or triple recipes for smoothies, muffins and dips. The class then spent a period cooking and baking.  Surprisingly, for some students, it was their first experience and some found it quite a challenge, but most students enjoyed it.

Through an annual survey of students, it was discovered that the healthy eating habits of teenagers could be improved.  The genuine service the students provided was the promotion of healthy, locally grown food. 

Students were asked to make pamphlets that included the recipe, nutritional facts and fun facts about the fruits and vegetables. The class then shared the snacks with the students from the high school, the elementary school, the nursery school, the day care and two local senior homes. The class wanted to promote locally grown, healthy snacks as well as reaching out to our community, showing positive things that the teens are doing at the high school.

To read more about the project, click here.

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