Spring is in the air, and things are getting starting for school gardens!
Growing Up Organic has begun to host garden workshops for kids in schools across the city. For the rest of the school year, GUO will be available to do lessons with children, assist teachers with their garden related lessons, and provide materials and resources.
The lesson topics include (but are not limited to!)...
Planning the Garden: Three Sisters Garden – Before April 1st (Grade 3) - Students learn about a traditional 3 sisters garden, and then plant a mini version of one!
Planning the Garden - Before April 1st (gr.9, 10, 11…) - Students learn about needs of plants & factors to consider when planning a garden: space, light, how plants work together, planning for the harvest... .
The Mystery Garden – March, April, Anytime (Kindergarten, grade 1) - Students plant unidentified seeds and make observations in their investigation to discover what each plant is.
Soil Investigation - When ground is thawed, before planting (Grade 1, 3,6,9) - Students explore soil, experiment with different types of soil, and discover soil components through observation and soil testing.
Seed Starting – First Week of April (Grade 1, 3, 6, 11) - Through a series of stations, students explore seeds and seed germination. Seeds are sprouted for snacks later in the week, and seedlings are planted for later use in the garden.
Transplanting and Planting – Earliest Mid-April (Grade 4) - Students take seedlings and plant them in the garden. Experiments are done on weaker seedlings that don’t make it to the garden.
Weeding and Mulching - any time! (Grade 1, 3, 5, 6, 9) - Students discover weeds, weed the garden and conduct a mulch experiment.
Composting: Create a Composter – when ground is dry (Grade 7,8, Design/Shop class) - Students design and build a composter
Composting: Get Composting – any time (Grade 5,7-10) - Students design a composting system at their school, and teach other students about compost.
Harvesting (everyone!) - Lots of activities for harvesting including cooking, nutrition, preserving food (making pickles...) and more.
Detailed lesson plans are available at: https://sites.google.com/site/growinguporganicschoolgardens/ (they are still in the works).
If you are interested in scheduling a workshop with your school, contact Laura at guoschoolgardens@gmail.com
Don't have a garden? No problem! There are many activities that can be done in the classroom. Interested in creating an outdoor garden? Contact Growing Up Organic for support.
To see what's going on so far, take a look at the calendar (Click on a day and then event details).
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