Jesse Ketchum School greens their schoolyard.
A Crack in the Pavement - Growing Dreams
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
GROWING DREAMS gives an inspirational overview of school ground greening. It shows what kids have done to transform bare pavement into dream schoolyards: growing trees for shade, flowers for butterflies, vegetables for a food bank; building a greenhouse, a rooftop garden and constructing a courtyard pond as an outdoor classroom and refuge for wildlife.
'A Crack in the Pavement' is a two-part video series that shows children, teachers and parents how, working together to green their school grounds, they can make positive changes in their communities.
The other film in the series is:
Digging In - Jesse Ketchum School greens their schoolyard.
'A tremendous resource for school communities interested in transforming their schoolyards into havens for hands-on learning. The voices and stories of the students, teachers and communities' members involved in these projects will inspire all to see the opportunities that await just outside the classroom door.' Stephanie Stowell, Schoolyards Habitat Program Manager, National Wildlife Federation
'Colorful and energetic...Recommended. Both titles provide positive messages and solid information, and could be used with students ranging from kindergarten to high school. This series could also offer valuable viewing to community service organizations.' MC Journal
'Interspersed with witty cartoon graphics...serve(s) as a great way to introduce school ground naturalization to a club, class, staff, or parent group.' Green Teacher
'Sure to get kids thinking about similar schemes.' Booklist
Citation
Main credits
Basen, Gwynne (film director)
Churchill, Jane (film director)
Fukushima, Michael (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematographer, Jim Aquila; editor, Ewa Turska; original music, Chris Crilly.
Distributor subjects
Children's Films; Community; Earth Science; Education; Gardening; Outdoor Education; Sociology; Urban StudiesKeywords
WEBVTT
00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000
[sil.]
00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.999
We\'re just a bunch of kids
from Pauline Public School,
00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.999
and we have a playground that isn\'t very
cool. We want a school that\'s just like
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.999
the others with a playground we can
play with our sisters and our brothers.
00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.999
My schoolyard looks like a
parking lot or like a prison.
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.999
When there are no trees in your playground, it\'s
hard to sit down in the shade when it\'s a hot day.
00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.999
It\'s hot and noisy, and
kids are always fighting.
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
There\'s too much cement. Last
year, I fell on the concrete
00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
and I skinned my whole face.
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
It\'s just really boring. And when
there\'s nothing to look at, you can\'t,
00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
you know, enjoy what
you\'re doing or anything.
00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:25.000
We can think of lots of
ways to make it better.
00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
My dream schoolyard would be where
there\'s, like, lots of wildlife.
00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
And there\'s a pond, maybe like some
frogs and fish, and stuff in there.
00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
And trees, and like benches
and places to sit.
00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
And like a little place to play but not
cement, like sand or something really soft.
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
I also feel like I wouldn\'t,
I don\'t want to go to school
00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
because … because I just felt that it
wasn\'t welcoming. It\'s like a jail.
00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
It\'s certainly a lot more colorful
and it\'s sort of more energetic.
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
And I find you can certainly get a lot of
energy from just even looking at the flowers
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
and just it\'s a lot nicer to be around.
First, we … we had the idea
00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
of making a mural because our
playground was just all ugly and gray.
00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
It was really fun and it changed our school because
instead of it being all dull and concrete,
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
now we have a nice colorful
part of the playground.
00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
There we go. Okay. You were right. Take
them first. I\'ve … I\'ve got the purples.
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
I think that\'s black. Well, that\'s brown.
Okay. I\'ve got a purple over here.
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
Looks like the wood. (inaudible) birds.
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
A naturalization project is
good for the school, the kids,
00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
and really good for the wildlife.
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
[music]
00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
We\'re putting soil into the
planters so that the …
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
so that the plants will grow better because
there wasn\'t that much soil in there.
00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:18.000
[music]
00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
Over here, we have all, like, the grass,
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
plants and stuff. But over here, we\'re
trying to have forest part of our garden.
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
And, um, I find this side the
best part of this garden
00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
because it, um, mostly
represents the forest.
00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
And, um, I\'m more into the
forest than rather the garden.
00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
Our school is part of a project to get a
million kids to grow a million trees.
00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
This is one of them. We put
them in and when they\'re tiny,
00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
little trees about this big, and
now look what they\'ve grown to.
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
They\'re huge, and hopefully soon
they\'ll be giving us beautiful apples.
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
Well, it\'d be really nice to have, like,
vegetables and carrots, and all sorts of stuff,
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
you know, growing in our schoolyard.
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:23.000
[music]
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
(inaudible). Yes.
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
How do you cut (inaudible)?
00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
Just cut them finely into as
many… You cut them like this?
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
Watch. I\'ll do one for you,
and I\'ll just show you.
00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
Crumple them up as well as you can, and then
just cut them very finely into little bits.
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
Oh, like that? Yeah. Little bits like that. It looks so dirty, right? Yeah. But
be very careful you don\'t cut your fingers because that\'s a very sharp knife.
00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
Soft. That\'s good.
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.999
[sil.]
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.999
Open another bowl of soup. Get one.
I like the potatoes.
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
[music]
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
It\'s fun having a garden behind our school.
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.999
[sil.]
00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.999
Each class grows a row of vegetables, and
we give the harvest to the food bank.
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
Hey, you guys, look at the beet we\'ve got.
00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
Yeah. Look at this baby. Bet you
didn\'t get one as good as this.
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
Look at this one\'s better. Yeah, right.
Come on. Whatever. (inaudible).
00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.999
Hey, guys. Good job. Right there\'d
be great. Thank you. Excellent.
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.999
We got more beets than they\'ve got carrots.
More beets and carrots? We\'ll take them all.
00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.999
That\'s great. Good job.
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
Over here. Thank you.
00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
I\'m amazed at your gardening efforts.
00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
And as we all know, this is a total
community project. We have a very special,
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
what we call a Golden Hoe Award.
Graduations. Thank you very much. Thank you.
00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
[music]
00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
My perfect school would
look like no garbage.
00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
It all started with the
drink machines that we got.
00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
And we got lots of garbage all around our
playground. So, we decided to recycle it all.
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
Hi, can I help you?
00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
Do you have the compost? Yes, we do. Yes. That
is our compost. Uh, I only saved a little today.
00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
Tomorrow you can come back again.
Okay? Okay. Thank you. Bye bye.
00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
Bye bye. Bye.
00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
We go down to the lunchroom
and take the food scraps.
00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
Then we come back up to the rooftop
garden and dump it into the compost box.
00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:18.000
[music]
00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
We use compost to … to … to use any shrubs,
00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
or leaves, or anything dirt that
we don\'t use in the garden,
00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
we rake it all up, put it in the compost,
and then when we have outdoor lunch,
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
we use orange peels or banana peels,
and we fill throw them all in here.
00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
And then they, uh, then
they compost into Earth.
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
And this tool is much more simple
and easy than using a shovel.
00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:03.000
[music]
00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
My dream schoolyard would be where
there\'s, like, lots of wildlife.
00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:23.000
[music]
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
Mrs. Fairbairn, it\'s proboscis.
It\'s drinking the sugar water.
00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
It\'s on the ground. L Yeah.
00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
Can you see the proboscis? Yeah.
Yeah. It\'s long. Yeah.
00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
Yeah. It\'s trying to get a drink. It really
needs a flower. There\'s sugar water down there.
00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.999
Okay. I got it. (inaudible).
00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
Oh, there goes a bird. Come on.
There. Here. Hey, come on.
00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
Maybe it doesn\'t want to come off.
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
Usually butterflies don\'t get off
people when you have them on,
00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
because I had one on my hand last
time and it wouldn\'t come off.
00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
There. There. Stay there. Oh, cool.
Look at that one.
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
(inaudible). Looks furry. It\'s not moving now.
That\'s because it\'s probably taking a rest.
00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
Umm. Hard work, making a web.
Well, it says alien species.
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
Which means, I think, it
means it was brought in.
00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
From aliens? No. No.
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
Brought into the country from, um…
00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
Somewhere else. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah.
00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
We think the most commonly one in Toronto is this one. Oh, I thought it was that one.
This is a gall. And what it is, is it has a little, um, bug inside it called a larvae.
00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
And what it does is it
burrows itself in there
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
and then the plant grows over top of
it to makes it … to make its home.
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
Oh, yeah, there\'s one. Yeah. it says
right here in the book, it says.
00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
Oh, yeah. (inaudible). Yeah. It
says it\'s a pretty common bird.
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:23.000
[music]
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
My dream schoolyard would be that there\'s,
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
you know, plants growing everywhere,
and flowers, and fish, and ponds.
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:43.000
[music]
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
Well, there\'s hardly ever a day that goes by
that the stream and the creek isn\'t used,
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
like, whether it\'s for a math problem or a
science project, we\'re always using this creek.
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
And the creak, it\'s just a great
place for the salmon to live,
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
and we can also benefit from it
by learning about the Salmon,
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
and it\'s easier because we have a special model
right outside, like, (inaudible) in the schoolyard.
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
And so we don\'t have to go on a bus
and go to a museum or anything.
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:33.000
[music]
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
Last year, we built a greenhouse
in an empty courtyard.
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
[sil.]
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
See, you have to have the zero part
right, right where the tree begins.
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
Okay. Now turn that off,
and we\'ll go up. Good.
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
Is this yours? No.
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
(inaudible). Next week with
our genetics experiment,
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
so everybody should have an idea now. So next week you\'re going
to know exactly what you\'re doing, and we don\'t have to,
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
uh, go through the
instructions again, right?
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
[sil.]
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
When you come into the refuge,
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
it\'s so peaceful and the pond just relaxes you.
So, like, you\'ll get everything out of your mind
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
and all of the stress will be gone. My
favorite thing about this garden is,
00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
well, practically everything because
it\'s just like quiet with like not
00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
like the playground where it\'s all loud.
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
[sil.]
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
My favorite job is, um, picking
up the wood chips over there.
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:18.000
[sil.]
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
What I like to do up in the roof
is doing planting vegetables,
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
flowers, and doing the compost.
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
I like getting dirty.
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
If you have any of these in your
schoolyard, you can always pick them
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
and just take them and you
can harvest the seeds.
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
Um, well, Sometime in the fall,
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
we\'re going to go and we\'re going to plant
all the seeds in the butterfly meadow.
00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
These are all wild flowers.
These are Rudbeckia,
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
and Purple Coneflower, and Blanketflower.
And these seeds are all made of seeds
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
from a meadow in Parry in Winnipeg.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
Here chickens.
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
Chicky, chicky,
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
chicky. Chicky, chicky, chicky.
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
[sil.]
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
They, like, come like pets, like you take care of them.
They\'re just like you take care of a dog, you know.
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
They\'re just fun to take care of like they do
everything a dog does like they come around you.
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
They want to play with you, you know, and stuff
like that. But it\'s neat having them around.
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:53.000
[music]
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
Making a pond for, like, the refuge is really
good, because, like, nature always has water
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
and water makes, like, everything works.
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
So, when there\'s water and there\'s
a pond, there\'s like life.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
It\'s really changed a lot. There\'s a
car there, uh, got that pulled out,
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
and we had to dig it up,
and clean it out and…
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
All right. It\'s a good day to
be out here at Peaceful Pond.
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
We\'re going to have our science
class out here this morning.
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
The water looks like yellow.
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
Who caught it? I did. Let\'s see.
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
Oh, cool. Oh, cool.
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
Want to release them and put them
inside the bucket? It\'s okay.
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
Put the tadpole thingy in and we\'ll put all the water
bugs in with yours. I wonder what kind of frog it is.
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
I like it because, like, we get
to come out here and like,
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
like research it and stuff, and see what\'s all going on instead of just
like looking it up in a book like don\'t even know what\'s really happening.
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
And when you have a pond at your school,
you actually get the real experience.
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
If you believe in something
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
to keep on going, and there\'s always a
chance you can make something happen.
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
If you have a dream, just try to make it come
true. And sometimes everything can be possible.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
People sort of thought, after this
happened, of what our school could be.
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
Now what it is and it\'s going to stay that way. They, with the gardens
coming, they sort of thought, well, if we … if one person can do this,
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
then I could do this and make it
better and better and better.
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
It makes the environment a
lot more expressive and,
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
um, it shows, um, that our school
cares about the environment.
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
The next song is, \'My Earth\',
by the Men in Green.
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
[music]
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
My Earth is green, m Earth is blue.
My Earth is different colors to you.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
There\'s one color that you should mind.
It smells like smog and looks like fall.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
Kids, kids, kids. Can\'t you see? Mr. X is going to chop down the
trees. The birds and birds, and all the bees need to live in harmony.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
Okay. It\'s a sunny day. Go out and play.
Go for a walk because it\'s okay.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
When you\'re walking in the woods and you\'re singing
a song, just look at the trees and sing along.
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
The birds will chirp. The bees will
buzz because you\'re got nature love.
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
Kids, kids, kids. Can\'t you see? Mr.
X is going to chop down the trees.
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
Bugs and birds, and all the bees need to live in harmony. Now you\'ve
heard our rap, you see it\'s cool. Because we learned this all in school.
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
And this is who we learned it from. Her
name\'s Ms. Grin and she\'s not dumb.
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
Kids, kids, kids. Can\'t you see? Mr. X is
going to chop down the trees. Bugs and birds,
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
and all the bees need to live in harmony.
Now you see how much fun it can be
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
throughout our rap, and save a tree.
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:05.000
[music]
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 20 minutes
Date: 2001
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 4-8, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
Existing customers, please log in to view this film.
New to Docuseek? Register to request a quote.