I’ve just been asked by my son’s elementary school to help them create a new section for their school garden. We already have a fantastic courtyard garden with lots of ornamentals and pollinator plants (and even an apple tree!), but this section would be a hands-on teaching garden that gives the students an opportunity to grow their own food. So this will be just part one of several posts documenting that project.
Today I’m going over to measure the area and draw up a plan. They want to have a planting bed for each grade, plus one for the special needs program, and hopefully one more just in case we think of something else we want to do.
I’m excited about this, because:
- We have great support from the administration (we are even talking her in to letting us have a chicken coop!). This is so important when trying to start up a school-based gardening program.
- The kids will be doing the work. I have warned all involved, I am happy to facilitate, but don’t need another garden to weed! I am anti-“mommy projects” when it comes to volunteer work.
- The teachers will be working the garden into their curriculum. There are so many great lessons that can be taught in a garden, from math, to science, and even literature. I will be helping them by finding lesson plans that support Georgia standards and creating “lessons in a bookbag” that make it easy for teachers to grab and go. With all that teachers have to do, I know it’s important to make this easy for them to add in.
I’ll be adding to this list, but here are just a few of the resources I’ll be using to find lesson plans, and, more importantly at this stage, find grants: