Thursday, June 11, 2009

Thursday, June 11, 2009

We answered a 7:30 a.m., bus call to be whisked away by our friendly Ukrainian bus driver Alex. He dropped us off at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum, where we were treated to a tour.  The guide explained that Jane Addams was independently wealthy and felt there was much suffering in the world and set out to do as much as she could to eliminate and fight for rights of the oppressed.  She lived and worked out of her beautiful home, set in a neighborhood that she wanted to help.  She and her friends set out to do just this.  By the time she was twenty-seven she had gone through her inheritance and relied on generous donors to fund Hull House.  She went on to fight for immigration rights, women’s rights, health, safety and housing rights, arts education, labor rights, and was an advocate in general for social change.

The part of the Hull House tour that thrilled me, was the organic garden tour.  Like Princeton Elementary and the Amish that we saw last year, I was once again impressed that gardening is a worthwhile pursuit.  I remember catching just a glimpse of Jonathan’s old elementary school and noticing that they had begun vegetable beds on their school grounds, and of course when we went to the Amish home last June for dinner, I was impressed by the family’s reliance on their garden.  Also, on the Boston trip we went to view the Victory gardens and I fell in love with them.  So, for a couple of years, school yard gardening has been in the back of my mind, and when I saw the Hull House gardens I became excited and determined to do this at Pueblo West Elementary.   I am really interested in this project, as I asked my students this year how many had been to a farm and about three students raised their hands.  Oh my gosh!  So, I thought why not bring the garden to the classroom and have students work it.  How fun!  I can incorporate history – the heirloom seeds, victory gardens, Michelle O’Bama’s new garden, science, math, and of course reading.  This could be a really cool project.  Hopefully, I can talk my Principal into using some area of land for this venture.   While we were at the garden some teachers (thank you Dana and Chris) picked lettuce and broccoli for our lunch salad alongside mushroom soup, and rolls.  The Hull House does a soup kitchen meal once a week and we were able to experience that today for our lunch.   It was very tasty!

The boat tour on the Chicago River was very nice.  It was rainy and cold but I did manage to stand outside for awhile, and soak up the architecture that our docent was so nicely describing.  I think I got some beautiful pictures and will hopefully get today’s blog done and posted, so we can do something this evening.  It seems the weather makes everyone tired and lethargic.   It has been a nice day of touring although a bit damp.