Jun 1, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read

If you remember watching Art Linkletter’s “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” well, they still do.

During a visit to Bethel Park’s Abraham Lincoln Elementary school to film an episode of her award-winning TV show, producer Gina Catanzarite asked questions and children spoke into her microphone.

“One of the little girls said, ‘I like this so much better than learning from a book, because you get down and dirty,'” she related, impressed with the youngster’s precocity. “I mean, what kind of second- or third-grader comprehends that?”

On May 31, the next-to-last day of their academic year, the Lincoln students took turns planting vegetable seedlings in the school’s community garden, some of them pausing on the way back to class to chat with Catanzarite as videographer Dave Forstate captured the scene.

The filming was for “iQ: smartparent,” a series produced by WQED-TV that is distributed to about 80 markets nationally. Now in its sixth season, the show aims to provide knowledge, tools and abilities for parents to guide their children in the use of digital media and technology.

“We’re always looking for ways to highlight innovative classroom initiatives,” Catanzarite said, and the combination of learning inside and outside the classroom at Lincoln piqued her interest.

“That’s exciting enough,” she continued. “But the fact that it’s all part of a community effort, and the food then goes to a community bank that’s helping, shows not only is this kind of hands-on learning going to benefit them academically, it’s going to build their social and emotional development.”

Last year, Lincoln became the site of one of many community gardens where produce is grown for donation to the South Hills Interfaith Movement’s food pantries.

“We wanted to give the kids the opportunity to have a garden and to be able to feel some ownership toward this, and just teach them a little bit about sustainability,” first-grade teacher Dawn Douds said as she helped students plant their seedlings.

“We have a lot of kids who came back this year and said, ‘We planted a garden, and we grew tomatoes.’ So it’s giving them a chance to see that they can really grow food that they can use and eat,” she explained. “And it also gives them a sense of community outreach, to be able to give back to the community by donating all of our produce to SHIM.”

Third-grader Ethan Dagnal, for example, has gained quite a bit of understanding as he learns about planting vegetables.

“When they grow to be real food and vegetables, you can give it to people who can’t afford food,” he said, complimenting the efforts of his educators: “That tells the people that your teachers are very well-trained and very, very helpful to the community.”

Catanzarite, who hails from McKees Rocks, said that the local region offers many opportunities for solid “iQ: smartparent” features.

“People are coming from around the country to see what Pittsburghers are doing with education. So I was very lucky to be producing this show in a town that’s already a great model nationally,” she said. “It’s very exciting to know that I’m able to feature my hometown and all the great initiatives here.”