Dear Families,

We are so excited to begin our new school year with STEM + Plants: Gardening and Hydroponics! As a class, we recently worked together to clean out our spring garden. The students loved being outdoors, pulling weeds, trimming back plants that were no longer living, and giving the garden a fresh soak. This hands-on experience was a wonderful start to our fall STEM project.

🌱 Our First Project
Each student has been asked to bring in one small vegetable plant or potted flower to add to our garden. The best place to find these is at HEB, which usually sets up outdoor shelves with a wide selection of fall vegetable plants. Plants are typically priced around $1.50–$2.00 each.

Students may begin bringing in their plants as soon as next week. HEB typically stocks fall vegetables in early September, but sometimes they arrive a bit earlier—so we’ll keep our fingers crossed! In the meantime, students are welcome to choose a plant they’re excited about—either a vegetable they enjoy eating or one they would like to try growing for the first time. With teamwork, consistency, and dedication, we hope to harvest vegetables before winter arrives.

🌱 August & September Theme: Let’s Grow from Seeds
Our classroom theme for August and September is “Let’s Grow from Seeds.” Along with planting vegetables and flowers in our outdoor garden, students will also explore how seeds sprout, what they need to grow, and how plants can thrive in both soil and water through hydroponics. This theme encourages curiosity, patience, and responsibility as we learn that big growth often begins with small steps—just like our students starting a brand-new school year!

🍴 Cooking with Our Harvest
One of the most exciting parts of this project is that we will use our harvest to create a few recipes in STEM class. The students love this experience because they get to do all the work themselves—measuring, mixing, reading recipes, and of course, tasting what they make! Cooking with ingredients they have grown builds confidence, teamwork, and joy in learning.

We are looking forward to watching our garden grow together and can’t wait to see the plants your children choose to bring. Thank you for supporting our class project!

Warmly,
Ms. Rebecca Martinez