A group of third-grade students from Bluff Creek Elementary visited the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Friday morning.

 Ethel Nelson: "Please listen," says Bluff Creek Elementary Teacher Ethel Nelson. 

They had originally planned to see a landscape gardener, Richard Gjertson, plant a sugar maple tree, but that was cancelled, due to the rainy weather. Click on the attached sound slide to hear the students finishing a rendition of "Rain, rain go away." 

The Arboretum initiated the field trip, said a teacher Ethel Nelson, on which she and five other teachers were only too happy to bring their students.

"We love science at Bluff Creek," she said. "It works out perfectly because we're just beginning our unit on plants."  Click on the attached sound file to hear Ethel Nelson.

Students planting seeds: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Snyder Auditorium, April 25, 2008

Instead, they met in the Snyder Auditorium to hear Gjertson explain how to plant their own Kentucky Coffee tree seed.

 Richard Gjertson: "The seed came from here."