The students are involved in the program once a week from October to May. Ito gives out awards to the students who can plant acorns that actually grow. The students in this program work in clusters of four. It s difficult to provide materials for each and every student due to the costs involved. Each individual in the group has their own responsibilities yet they all work on the same project.
Students make observations of the various plants, and they work on a rotation system.
The group might work with one fruit one minute, and then might pass it on to another group for a different observation that is recorded on a chart. This allows them to flow with the basic sensory experiences of gardening. They learn the texture of a plant or flower, or how many seeds were needed for the plant to grow. Students are not the only people benefiting from the program. The teachers are always in the classroom with the students experiencing the same things they do.