Well, it's not really my new garden...but I did convince the Master Gardeners to build our school another garden bed by our Fourth and Fifth Grade classroom.
Why? Well I got to thinking...we have a beautiful garden out by our K-1-2 wing. My class uses it all the time as I have shown in past blogs. My students love it - we have four beds maintained by a wonderful Master Gardener (Susan Gingrich) and her two clubs - Garden Club and Jr. Master Gardeners.
Our art teacher has made a beautiful mural made with recycled bottle tops and a former student and Eagle Scout made us picnic tables and an outdoor whiteboard for instruction. Yes, I know...we are spoiled. However, I kept thinking .... we need something more.
About that time, I was told we had $300 to spend as part of a grant that was awarded to us for instructional purposes for animal/plant studies.
Why? Well I got to thinking...we have a beautiful garden out by our K-1-2 wing. My class uses it all the time as I have shown in past blogs. My students love it - we have four beds maintained by a wonderful Master Gardener (Susan Gingrich) and her two clubs - Garden Club and Jr. Master Gardeners.
Our art teacher has made a beautiful mural made with recycled bottle tops and a former student and Eagle Scout made us picnic tables and an outdoor whiteboard for instruction. Yes, I know...we are spoiled. However, I kept thinking .... we need something more.
About that time, I was told we had $300 to spend as part of a grant that was awarded to us for instructional purposes for animal/plant studies.
I thought...why not put one out by the other side of the school for our kids to work on during recess time? You know there are plenty of students who don't really run and play during recess. Last year we had a big group of kids who liked to wander in the bushes, pick the flowers (aka weeds) and generally collect bits of nature. Why not give them a space to weed, water and enjoy nature during recess?
Thus..our bed was born. It is a work in progress...right now we have planted three plants and plenty of seeds. Our master gardener is going to bring a few more plants next week.
How wonderful! I am a big believer in getting kids involved in tending a garden because there is SO MUCH you can do with it instructionally! Can't wait to hear more about how your kids utilize it!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I haven't forgotten about sending you the re-vamped version of the "A River Runs Through It" activity. Tomorrow is my last day of student teaching (oh my goodness!) so I was actually planning on sending you all of the science resources I've created so that you could use/post whatever you wanted.
I'm going to have a ton of free time on my hands from now until August, so I'll probably re-vamp all of the other VDOE lessons too!
I have been lobbying for a garden outside our school - and adding a white board to the request just might get in approved (I have to prove how a garden would be "educational" - really??) So my question to you is how to you make an outdoor white board? Is it just regular whiteboard? Wouldn't the weather ruin it? THANKS
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! I would love to do something like this at the next school I end up at! :)
ReplyDeleteThe Science Penguin