“We could share our bags with our families.  We could even share it with your family, Ms.Cushner!”

As friends began learning about markets in their classrooms, we realized that we needed reusable bags for our school garden market! We began by observing a variety of bags and noticed that most had words, images or both.  Friends also shared with each other where their families had used reusable bags before and what they carried in them.

Kourtney: You could put snacks and food in them.  I do that to go to my grandmas house.

Dayana: You could put things in them to go on vacation.

Declan: I think that bag says “strawberries are sour.”  Or “strawberries grow.”  They put pictures of strawberries so I think the words are about strawberries, too.

Elijah: We should put our names on them.   It could say “Elijah is the best” with no pictures, just colors.  And rainbows.

Africa Grace: We use bags to bring things home from the store or to someone else who needs them.

Cesar: That bag has recycle symbols.  The recycle symbols are the leaves on the tree!

Isaac: Our bags could say that strawberries are healthy, and they’re red.  And that I think hyenas like to eat them.

Theo: A recycling tree!  I think the words say “I recycled your trash into a bag.”

Mina: Sometimes my family uses them to carry a little baby potty for my sister.

Brandon: If you’re going to the park, you could put food and toys inside.

Naila: That bag is from Whole Foods!

Elizabeth: You could put groceries in it.  You could put junk in it and give it to someone to build a monster truck with.

Mason: You could put a lot of books in it.  Or a small lamp.

Kendul: I went to Walmart to get a Shimmer and Shine doll and they gave me a bag like that and it says “Walmart.”

Connor: I want my bag to say “when you go to the strawberry field, you don’t want to pick the rotten ones, you want to pick the good ones to take home.”

Kendul: But we learned a lot about peppers.  It could say “let peppers grow… let the sun let them get juicy.”

Luca: I use those to get food and to give presents to people.  And to carry my beach stuff.

Mariyah: I use bags for putting my clothes in the bag to take to my auntie’s house.  My brother takes soccer stuff in bags.  And you can use it for carrying lasagna stuff.

Sammy: I think the bag could say “you can kiss your family and you can play and go out somewhere with your family… you could go on a field trip with your cat.”

Julian: We know a lot about strawberries.  It could say “you can plant them but you can’t eat them when they’re green.”

Daniela: Bears eat tomatoes, so do persons.  We should tell people that.

Mateo: My mom always tells me to eat my tomatoes.  I want the bag to say that!

Julian: We need to tell people about daffodils.  Let’s say “daffodil colors are not just yellow, they could be white or orange.”

Uhura: I put toys in them.  You can carry them to a far away place if it’s too heavy.

Nazeer: We could share our bags with our families.  We could even share it with your family, Ms.Cushner!

Scotland: Let’s tell them that some peppers are spicy and some aren’t!

Asa: If you want to carry heavy things, it’s a good thing to use!

Ali: My grandma has a bag like that.  It’s orange and green.

Amie: My dad got a bag from a drawer in the kitchen and put my swimming suit in it!

Jax: We could say “we’re tomato experts… when tomatoes turn brown, don’t eat them and that tomato seeds grow in the plants!”

Joelle: We can write “no picking flowers or they will die and the roots won’t grow again.”

Abbie: Strawberries have seeds and they have a stem.  And a little flower that’s white.

Irvina: I want to tell families that tomatoes grow on vines.  They don’t grow on trees.

Phew! Once we began brainstorming about our bags, we decided it was best to share information about the plants in our courtyard garden that each class became “experts” on.  Children came up with slogans and then voted on their two favorites at Morning Meeting!

Elijah: Peppers grow on vines.  They all start green but when they grow they turn to different colors.  They can grow upside down.

Africa Grace: We made strawberry jam.  It’s good on crackers.

Isaac: Strawberry jam is kind of delicious and kind of not.

Theo: Ketchups made from tomatoes.

Leba: Daffodils don’t move.  They’re not animals.

Mina: You can make sauce with tomatoes.

Kate: Peppers look like teeth.

Luca: Strawberries have 102 seeds on them.

Mateo: It’s OK to eat the tomato seeds.  Nothing bad will happen.

Briana: Some strawberry seeds are yellow and some are black.

Amie: Tomato seeds look like raindrops.

Friends began doing observational drawings of tomatoes, strawberries, peppers or daffodils to add to our garden market bags.




Mason: I want to try to draw this daffodil.  It’ll be hard for me.

Julian: Count the petals so you know how many to draw.

Nazeer: I see a little curve, a little circle and another curve.  There’s a down line next to it.

Joelle: I have a really challenging one.  There are so many daffodils to draw!  It’s like I’m at work and I have to focus really hard.

Abbie: I’m adding a flower because I see a flower in the picture.




After children voted in classrooms, we began writing the words to accompany the pictures on the bags.  Friends chose if they wanted to write in their regular handwriting, or if they wanted to try writing with fancy letters.



Connor: I only have to write three letters and the “s” is so easy.

Luca: I gave the “r” a little hat.  That’s silly.

Montre: Fancy letters are like if you want to give a letter a mustache.

Amie: I put sleeves on the “L” and that’s silly and fancy.  And I turned the “S” into a bear.  I put ears.

Alina: I made ponytails on my letters.

Kaleb: I turned my letter into a tomato head!  And I made the “M” in tomato into a rainbow.




Next, we transferred our text and images onto a piece of styrofoam to use as a stamp!  Friends mixed ink, rolled it onto the styrofoam stamp and pressed it onto their market bags.  We hope you enjoy using them to shop with at the PK Garden Market on 5/17 from 9-10 am!


Declan: Ink feels soooooo sticky!

Kourtney: Wow… it’s on the bag!

Mina: It’s kind of hard to roll ink but when you roll it, it turns smooth.

Naila: Oh, I think I know… it’s gonna stamp on the bag!

Aaron: Ink is so messy.  But it’s so good.  I’m working really hard on it.  That is a big, big, big stamp.





Kendul: Roll, roll, roll… roll the ink!

Luca: I can’t wait to take the bag home after the showcase to use at REAL markets!

Katherine: The ink gets very scratchy.

Gerson: The stamp is getting so covered.  It’s like a bulldozer.

Julian: I know it’s going to go on the bag.  It looks beautiful!




Adele: I saw someone paint a wall with a rolling tool like that.

Geo: My mommy… she gonna like this!

Asa: Rolling the ink sounds like a lawn mower.

Briana: It’s hard to make the ink flat.  It’s easy to make it have lines.

Amie: It sounds like a cat is walking around and scratching with his claws!





Additional market bags, tea towels and seed balls will be for sale at the PK Garden Market tomorrow (5/17) between 9-10! See you there!


“Sleep tight, little seeds!”







Julian: Clay is hard to get cutted and flatted.

Alden: You could use your hands as a tool.




Alina: Can these seeds grow banana flowers?



Kourtney: Mine is gonna grow 24 pounds of flowers.


Elizabeth: I hope we grow daffodils and carrots.




Gerson: Make sure they are cozy, cozy.



Vanessa: The seeds look so cute.  Like babies.

Joelle: I hope it grows daffodils and tiger lillies.









Mina: Sleep tight, little seeds!

Kate: We take care of you, little seeds.





