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Having the opportunity to watch our new school garden grow has been an amazing experience. I am excited to hear that there are many teachers across the country who are interested or excited about using some space at their school site to build a garden.
Having ideas and watching it come to life is such a powerful learning experience for kids.
Building our gardens improves the understanding of a natural process and makes it a hands on experience that can last a lifetime for our kids!

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I am happy to hear of so many schools joining the garden classroom movement. We are lucky enough at our school to have ample space for our garden to grow and transform as we learn more ways to enhance our outdoor classroom. It is amazing how much can be accomplished in a short amount of time with a little or a lot of space when a school has enough of their staff and community members excited and eager to help!

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Garden Success Stories Discussion
I love that so many schools are adding gardening classrooms to their school.  It was wonderful to here that schools were able to continue to sustain a garden through covid. I know alot of our schools do not start gardening classes until high-school which is so sad. These teachers have inspired me and I went out and got some plants this week. So excited to get started!

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I was worried about making my FlipGrid video about my successes and difficulties in my school garden because I've never had a school garden. After watching several videos, it became apparent to me that people taking this class are coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and have very different levels of experience with a classroom garden. I'm so glad to learn about garden-based education, and I hope that I will be able to use what I'm learning in the future.

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I was worried about making my FlipGrid video about my successes and difficulties in my school garden because I've never had a school garden. After watching several videos, it became apparent to me that people taking this class are coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and have very different levels of experience with a classroom garden. I'm so glad to learn about garden-based education, and I hope that I will be able to use what I'm learning in the future.

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Many of these videos discussed that their biggest struggle for their gardens was keeping them alive. Schools were shut down and water turned off due to covid in different areas, so many of these stories were about how to keep the garden going. It seems that many teachers got together and still made it a priority to come in once a week or whenever possible to water the garden on their own! Great Work!

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I would like to ask all these centers and schools that have these beautiful elaborate gardens how they convinced their directors and superiors to invest in a garden? Or did most teachers have to buy their own materials?

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I thought it was so interesting to see so many teachers who made videos live so close to me! 

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I thought it was so interesting to see so many teachers who made videos live so close to me! 

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I've been super intrigued to learn about desert gardening, and I'm excited to see that there are so many other educators near me that I can tap as resources.

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I loved to hear about the garden at Kesterson ES in Henderson, NV. 

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I loved to hear about the garden at Kesterson ES in Henderson, NV. 

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I loved hearing about the outdoor classroom, but was sorry to hear that the garden had some difficulties as well. I'm interested to learn about their composting system.

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A common theme this year was how the pandemic affected the children's abilities to observe the growing cycles in the garden.

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I feel like at our school, Green Our Planet does much more with actually working hands-on in the garden than students/ teachers do. How do you schedule the time in your day for gardening?

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I enjoyed Jillian Linnehan from NV sharing about how her garden club is in the after school and their school project is growing Giant Sunflowers.  I would like to try that for our school.  

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I enjoyed Jillian Linnehan from NV sharing about how her garden club is in the after school and their school project is growing Giant Sunflowers.  I would like to try that for our school.  

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I would say all my 10 video viewings stated the importance of community working together. It would be very difficult to have a successful program without support of staff and parents. I would like to see the whole school involvement in the garden class.   

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I would say all my 10 video viewings stated the importance of community working together. It would be very difficult to have a successful program without support of staff and parents. I would like to see the whole school involvement in the garden class.   

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seems like many people are just starting up gardens and garden-based learning...makes sense that many who are taking this class would be in the start-up phase.

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Some of the common themes I have observed from watching my 10 videos was about how the pandemic made it difficult to keep a school garden going, but the schools found ways to keep the gardens growing!

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I love the idea of having farmers visit an early childhood site to share what they wear when farming, their routines and to tell stories.  Family farms are making a bit of a comeback and it's so important to show children where local food comes from. Jane B.

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Buy-in from the staff at a site, even with varying levels of participation, and a share mission statement can
contribute to successful educational gardening efforts. Jane B.

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I'm interested in learning more about the scale/size of school gardens.  If they require fencing or other barriers, how is that accomplished? Jane B.

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The benefits of gardening education, even on a small scale due to COVID restrictions, were evident. Jane B.

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I heard so many statements about  shared efforts and creative ways to open up these gardens to the larger community. Jane B.

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What a wonderful success to get kids out on the farm and that the kids said it was their favorite thing and bonus to the cooking class!

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Sunflowers! Cool! Wish we could also do an afterschool program.

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Many opportunities to use the outdoor and garden spaces for teaching, connecting the motivation of free exploration to academics but the garden is the focus.

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I would love to have a checklist, or some frame work for what to do first and what to avoid. Many talked about the next steps, I want to make sure we get off on the right foot.

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Many thoughtful educators that see the multitude of benefits from socio emotional to academic.

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I love the diversity of our backgrounds and learning environments.  I have gotten many new ideas that I hope to be able to use in the future

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I love the diversity of our backgrounds and learning environments.  I have gotten many new ideas that I hope to be able to use in the future

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Yes, Covid proved to be an issue at our site as well.  Many of us teachers were able to keep the garden growing so when the kids came back it was there for them.  It takes a village

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At our school we are fortunate to have a part-time Outdoor Learning teacher that we work together with on a "Green Team" with each grade level

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What I found inspiring is that all had different outlooks on what a success story was from a butterfly garden to working in a park with a ranger. I ready liked hearing all the stories that were told.

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Kids are willing to try veggies if they grow them on their own.

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All classes work with would they have access to in their state or county.

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Do all the children enjoy working in the garden and do they all learn what is being taught?

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The student will learn and try new things if they do it themselves or grow it themselves.

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How do you schedule time so that all classes can enjoy the garden consistently? We have almost 1000 kids at our school.

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The successful models really did use the "it takes a village mentality", teachers and students took ownership of the school garden, I would like to foster that sense of community at my school.

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I loved how many teachers used the garden as a place for children who needed a more hands on appproach to learning.

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I love how one of the teachers made something out of nothing when she was excited enough to start up a garden in an area of 12 x12 railroad ties. her enthusiasm was evident to want to build on that one area. All it takes is that one thing to spur on.

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Going out and researching what was availble in the community was a great idea to start a garden. It can only grow and take off from there with the time and dedication of these teachers.

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I would love to see what comes of Mandi's research and garden initiatives.

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I would also agree that you have to work together and reach out to the community to get things accomplished. You might even want to reach out to local nursery's at the end of growing season to see what they do with the last few remaining plants

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I would also agree that you have to work together and reach out to the community to get things accomplished. You might even want to reach out to local nursery's at the end of growing season to see what they do with the last few remaining plants

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I loved the idea of reading the book Scribble Stones and then having the students create them. I'm going to do that with my students.

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It sounds like the gardens that are the most successful have a lot of staff working together as a team.

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Where are the best places to apply for grants for the garden.  I also would love to talk with Patrick about his landscaping / horticulture class.  Also, how do people find the time to dedicate to the garden on top of all the other teaching responsibilities?  I am struggling with that. Also, what are the best plants / veggies to plant in the Northern Virginia area knowing that the students will be gone July / August?

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Getting more people involved to help out .

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One of the ideas that really stuck out for me was the sense of wonder that kids experience when able to be outside and experience growing first hand.  The things that kids remember are not the ideas that we tried to drill into their memory but rather the shared wonder and experience of doing something new and amazing side by side.

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How do you successfully engage the full class when taking them out in the garden?

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Starting up something new sometimes starts with one person but you need to find ways to draw others in to support a full school program. I did afterschool mini workshops for any interested teachers. I provided some beginning support on my breaks and worked with beginner teachers to get them confident enough to try it on their own. I organized schedules so that no one task fell solely on one person. We are lucky to have summer camp programs over the holidays that help keep our garden happy over the summer. You need to find or make a tribe. I would like to include more community people now that we are allowed to open up a little. This ensures the longevity of the vision past even the time that I will be here.

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Finding the regular support of others that are a little further down the track helps when you hit challenges. You have someone to bounce ideas off of and someone to share their experience with similar circumstances. Even if they are not in your school or area have a blog or online community has been really helpful to growing our program.

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I found most inspiring that some of us who are just starting a garden are getting positive messages from others who have been doing a garden and are working on the lessons. We are all in this together.

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What I learned from some of the posts is that we have to work in a team to accomplish our dream. Asking for help is not showing weakness.

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I heard a lot of classrooms barely started when covid shut everything down but those teachers found a way to keep their gardens going until they could get the kids back into the garden

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How has it been with the kids getting back into the gardens.
Did they show the same enthusiasm, were they surprised that they were still growing?

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Making the garden a place to really talk with the kids. Help sort out problems they may be having. Bringing more open communication in a comfortable environment

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I started looking at the garden as a place to help students with their emotions and a place to help them coop and grow emotionally.

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a common theme observed was that most places did not have a garden but wanted to learn how to start one. Also if they did have a garden they were stopped dew to Covid.

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Actions taken for success were the teachers and community working together for the success of the garden.
Also having the space for a garden .

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for those who did have gardens before Covid , what was the conditions of the garden when you came back and did you need to replant or completely restart their gardens.

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A relevant story I related to was someone said they sprout seed in paper towel and place them in the window for children to see. I did this same activity this Spring with my kids.

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Creativity related to gardens is off the charts in this group! From "Scribble Stones" for Social-emotional use in an outdoor courtyard, to indoor "gardens" in Michigan, to a full farming experience planting pumpkins--and learning about both success and failure of crops in the process--I'm inspired!
-Traci Bianchini, Snohomish WA

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I really liked hearing from Pam Soucy with her pumpkin property in Maine. They initially moved pumpkins to the student planting areas where pumkins failed to grow, but then decided providing students with a real experience of how farmers deal with non-pollination, etc. would be better. I agree! I like the use of 6 plots planted by a groups of 5 students and involving them in all the steps/process, with the understanding that sometimes things happen that lead to no pumpkins. I wonder if adding a story such as the locust story from Laura Ingalls Wilder would be a way to help kids understand some of what can happen to a crop.
Traci Bianchini, Snohomish WA

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Almost every story reflected having to deal with students out of the building for some portion of the growing/harvest cycle, whether for covid or the time of the school year. Here in WA, we are also on a Sep to June schedule. Local products aren't ready for harvest until June (strawberries are usually first), so It would be tough to run a "farm to table" program, unless there were a summer school option for kids to continue into harvest in July/August. Farmers markets go through september, so once school began again in the fall, there could be a sale option. The other thing I appreciated was the number of people like me, with no garden classroom experience, but curious and thinking of ways to incorporate gardens into curriculum ( Mandi Thornton, Fairfax VA, US History teacher, for example).
Traci Bianchini, Snohomish, WA

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Several people mentioned funding through partnerships...I'd be curious about the application process and what would really be feasible here in WA state. I'm curious about the cost to build and maintain a garden space year round as well as the personnel needed to run it. I'd love to see an example of a start up plan, and how it looks on a typical day--how many students are in the garden, how many adults, do the adults do things the kids can't or aren't around for that are essential?

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I am a substitute teacher, so hearing about the variety of ideas and people needed to execute helped me understand what I might be able to propose/participate in as "ancillary" staff.
Traci Bianchini Snohomish WA

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Working together and finding volunteers was a key to many successes. That is where I find it hard for my work getting people who want to help. But hopefully having plans to show the benefits of this type of learning will get more people on board.

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Working together and finding volunteers was a key to many successes. That is where I find it hard for my work getting people who want to help. But hopefully having plans to show the benefits of this type of learning will get more people on board.

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I find it inspiring to know that folks are in many different stages of their gardens. Some are fully established well oiled machines. Others are still glimmers of imagination. That's okay. These projects are always a work in progress. I also appreciate that many people started something by themselves and now have a team of supporters whether they be students, colleagues or partners in the broader community.

Pat Z

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A couple of people's school gardens stemmed from walking the grounds and seeing a garden that 'once was a garden'. All of these projects begin with taking that first step. They will inevitably grow and evolve over time but taking that first step and asking if we can start a garden or rehab an old garden is enough to get a ball rolling.

Pat Z

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It seems our disconnect with where our food comes from is growing rapidly. In fact, farming for food is an intimate process that when performed makes us connect with food in an inescapable way. I love the seed to table approach that popped up a few times.

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I suppose I have questions regarding how official the communication is with invested stakeholders. Are there meetings? An email distribution list? Multiple ones for scheduling times and/ or activities in the garden? Another for community partners?

Pat Z

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Gardens can serve as a hub for all core academic and elective offerings. It seems as if successful programs have integrated the garden into the fabric of the entire school community. Certainly some groups may put in the brunt of the physical gardening work but it seems like when the garden is an integral component of the school community and not an outlier or afterthought, they tend to thrive.

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The gardens that were founded from scratch were the most amazing stories.

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The gardens that were founded from scratch were the most amazing stories.

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Truly such amazing stories of garden-based education. Very encouraging words of wisdom from facilitating garden-based education to successes as well as failures.

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"Aha" moments for me have been letting go and giving 100% of the exploration process to the children. Where I work children have always been given a message of "please don't pick anything green, it's still living, we need to be respectful of all living things" I'm really observing more and trusting the process. This course has show me that providing the opportunity and freedom to let the children pick from bushes, plants, flowers etc. allows for much more meaningful hands on learning. My favorite self taught teachable moment recently happened when a toddler kept picking green blueberries, the day she picked a ripe juicy blue one and made the discovery and observation how much better the blue ones tasted just reinforced allowing children to have the freedom to really explore their environment.

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I'm very interested in learning about the landscaping and horticulture class.

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Teamwork seems to be the common thread that is a major contributor to a successful garden as well as garden-based education.

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Children take great pride and are invested in the process if they've been involved in the process since its inception. We had so many children planting, watering, weeding that when it was time to harvest our radishes we planted from seed, most of the toddlers were willingly to try them.

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I'm inspired by seeing the joy in the teachers and how the outdoor garden has changed their lives.

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I'm inspired by seeing the joy in the teachers and how the outdoor garden has changed their lives.

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I have the same question as well. How have you been able to fund your gardens?

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I was very excited to hear how many outdoor classrooms there

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Like everything with the course, I find some many things interesting and inspiring. One stand out was using the outdoor space/garden as a place were students were able to obtain their workplace experience during COVID. This was such a creative and meaningful way to fulfill this requirement. I love how the program reached out to the facilities department and other professionals to make this happen.

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An example that seems important to the success of a program is making sure that there is a group of people involved and knowledgeable so the program doesn't depend on one person and stop once that one person leaves.

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A common theme I observed was how much learning in done through these different programs and how engaged the students are in the activities in their outdoor classrooms/gardens.

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In the public school setting, do schools have a paid staff member for the outdoor classroom/garden. My specific concern is maintaining the garden over the summer break. It seems like it could be hit or miss with volunteers.

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The elementary school classrooms are the most relevant to my work. I love the idea of having an exploration area, "mud pit" for younger students to mess around in. I loved the idea of selling some of the items from the garden but know that our garden isn't that productive yet. I love the idea of selling herbs. I think that is something that we can start with as a community building/PR activity.

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I found out that teachers are finding ways to incorporate hands on activities to their teaching strategies or learning process. This gives me more ideas to promote gardening skills to my life skills classes.

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Danielle T
The engagement of students during hands on activity and their desire to create, discover and build their self confidence

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I liked being able to listen to everyone's success stories, and learning that this class is great mix of educators at different stages in their garden.  I'm taking this class to learn more and be able to start a garden next Spring, so it was good to know that I'm not alone and that others don't have a garden yet either.  It was also inspiring to listen to others' talk about some things that were successful.  It looks like it will be a success for us next year if we can keep our plants alive and growing! 

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I liked being able to listen to everyone's success stories, and learning that this class is great mix of educators at different stages in their garden.  I'm taking this class to learn more and be able to start a garden next Spring, so it was good to know that I'm not alone and that others don't have a garden yet either.  It was also inspiring to listen to others' talk about some things that were successful.  It looks like it will be a success for us next year if we can keep our plants alive and growing! 

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Several educators mentioned success came from having the correct tools and set-up, also having a shed to store items needed.  I also noticed several talked about a garden being the most successful when it's maintained by a group of teachers, maybe parents as well.  

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Several educators mentioned success came from having the correct tools and set-up, also having a shed to store items needed.  I also noticed several talked about a garden being the most successful when it's maintained by a group of teachers, maybe parents as well.  

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Let the kids explore.  Some talked about just simple previous activities that the kids loved such as planting in pots in the classroom or growing seeds in sandwich bags.  This shows that kids will love to just be hands on and the more hands on we allow them to be in garden, the better the take-away of the experience will be for them.  

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Let the kids explore.  Some talked about just simple previous activities that the kids loved such as planting in pots in the classroom or growing seeds in sandwich bags.  This shows that kids will love to just be hands on and the more hands on we allow them to be in garden, the better the take-away of the experience will be for them.  

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A common theme through all the videos I watched is the evident excitement that is generated with building and maintaining a school garden. I find it so interesting and inspiring that a garden can build confidence in individuals that otherwise find their school day to be challenging.

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For private schools or child care centers:  How were your gardens funded?  Did families help, were fundraisers done, was a grant given, or did you just pay out-of-pocket?  

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For private schools or child care centers:  How were your gardens funded?  Did families help, were fundraisers done, was a grant given, or did you just pay out-of-pocket?  

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Listening to other educators that are either in a child care program or preschool, 3k/4K program were the most beneficial to me as we are a licensed child care center and private 3K.  I like the idea setting up a farmers market.  I feel we could easily do this by hosting an event a few times a year to sell what we grow to our families, grandparents, locals.  Income from the sales could be a fundraiser that be put back into the garden program.

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Listening to other educators that are either in a child care program or preschool, 3k/4K program were the most beneficial to me as we are a licensed child care center and private 3K.  I like the idea setting up a farmers market.  I feel we could easily do this by hosting an event a few times a year to sell what we grow to our families, grandparents, locals.  Income from the sales could be a fundraiser that be put back into the garden program.

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Success is watching children engaged and curious about their environment. I saw this example in Heather G's video in BC, Canada, in the part where her students led her around the school grounds and found a "wild space" where the students could naturally explore wildlife and play in the mud! That's success!

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Common themes that I observed was how school gardens bring feelings of excitement, curious thoughts and questions, and building of community and a sense of purpose for all.

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To Shelby P- Shelby was successful in providing her 2 year old students a project where they made seed balls and planted them and when sprouts started to come through, her students wanted to show EVERYONE! So adorable! Shelby- were you able to generate same excitement at the learning center you were transferred to to help out the maternity leave?

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I have been looking for a book to share with all grade levels at my school and to have a common story for all that relates to the garden. I found this solution by listening to Bryce B and learning about the book, Seedfolks. I will try this out and thank you for sharing this children's novella!

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In almost all of the videos that I watched, participants mentioned that they are so THANKFUL to have colleagues with whom they can collaborate as well as to lessen the load!

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It is great to get so many perspectives!

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It is great to get so many perspectives!

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Not only are people from all over the country and beyond, but their roles, level of experience, and stages in garden classroom development are widely varied as well. It makes me feel a little better about where I am in my own space!

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Of all of the videos that I watched, almost all were at a bit of a standstill due to the pandemic and/or other obstacles OR they had yet to start a program. While this can be viewed as frustrating, I actually took it as refreshing to hear as it is reassurance that many of us are in similar situations!

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I love how Mrs. Timmons said that she use to work with special needs children and helped teach them different life skills.  I think that is something that they should do throughout all ages not just special needs.  I know that in my daughters school they use to do a kids zone where they would earn money throughout the week and every two weeks they where allowed to go around to the different stations and pay to do the different stations or they could save it to the end when they have a garage sale. 

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I love how Mrs. Timmons said that she use to work with special needs children and helped teach them different life skills.  I think that is something that they should do throughout all ages not just special needs.  I know that in my daughters school they use to do a kids zone where they would earn money throughout the week and every two weeks they where allowed to go around to the different stations and pay to do the different stations or they could save it to the end when they have a garage sale. 

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I noticed that many of the videos that I listened to have a common theme of using the garden area to help teach life skills to special needs children.

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I noticed that many of the videos that I listened to have a common theme of using the garden area to help teach life skills to special needs children.

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I thought Krista's (Henderson NV), school was interesting because there is an outside program that provides support and suggestions. There are monthly meetings and Krista can share curriculum with other teachers.

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I thought Krista's (Henderson NV), school was interesting because there is an outside program that provides support and suggestions. There are monthly meetings and Krista can share curriculum with other teachers.