'Growing a Better World'

Youngsters learned about gardening this past week during “Grow A Better World,” part of the Kasson Public Library’s summer reading program.
Children in kindergarten through second grade learned about plants, gardening tools, and food they could grow during story time.
Then they sang “Heigh Ho (it’s off to work we go),” from Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ as they trooped outside with instructor Carla Webster, a master gardener from Mantorville.
Webster showed the kids where and how to plant and how to water everything.
Then came Snack Time and a rest.
Webster, a retired teacher, was assisted by older students, including Stuart and Soren Weatherstone, and adult assistants Marge Ward and Becky Wheeler.
She said the goal was to get the kids a good experience of gardening and planting, “to improve the beauty of the library, as well as the world.”
“I enjoy the reading, teaching songs, and doing things together,” Webster said.
Children will meet five more times through the summer reading program to learn more about gardening and see how their plantings progress.
“They have planted the seed, and made a little garden center,” said Patrica Shaffer/Gottschalk, the library’s circulation technician.
The Collaborative Summer Library Program is a consortium of states working together to provide high-quality summer reading program materials for children, teens, and adults at the lowest cost possible for their public libraries.
See www.cslpreads.org for more information.