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The combination of academic subjects with garden subjects

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The combination of academic subjects with garden subjects

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I really enjoyed how in Patty's video she spoke about an english class that would focus on the community garden. It reminded me of the article we read about traditional environmentalists and their unregulated exploration, like John Muir or Walden. Because of these folks, we have a baseline of how to act with nature and it seems like their class would be a modern and positive addition to this canon.

-   Molly

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How to get buy-in from administration for middle school and high school garden work

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How to get buy-in from administration for middle school and high school garden work

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I would be interested in hearing more from Patty and Maggie in NY, and Mariann in TX, about how they worked with their administrations to develop curricula that satisfied the district education requirements in middle school and high school. Our schools here are so standards focused (and my background is not education, so that "language" is challenging) that teachers are afraid to stray from the "regular" curriculum to explore ways in which the gardens can be used for teaching.

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Whether it is that gardening is taking place in community gardens (in many stories), or that community is invited in (as in Marisol's story), or that a community works together to solve a problem (in Susan's, and Nisha's and Molly's and others stories), working collaboratively to share ideas and teach each other can create great success stories!

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Fundraising is always an issue, and I liked Anne's idea about designing reusable grocery bags that could then be sold.

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I loved Anne's project with the grocery bag, and also made me think og a "vest" project for our garden helpers! They can be sold at our school farmers market.

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I loved Anne's project with the grocery bag, and also made me think og a "vest" project for our garden helpers! They can be sold at our school farmers market.

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Marisol

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I found interesting the fact that Anne S opens the garden classroom during recess, that is super because not all our kids want to run and jump ...some want just to sit down and talk or relax. 

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I found interesting the fact that Anne S opens the garden classroom during recess, that is super because not all our kids want to run and jump ...some want just to sit down and talk or relax. 

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Marisol

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In all the success stories I listened to I feel that student engagement fostered the desire to take ownership and desire to learn. No matter the age of a person, we all can be intrigued with how things grow or the cycle of life and the outcomes can be transforming.

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In all the success stories I listened to I feel that student engagement fostered the desire to take ownership and desire to learn. No matter the age of a person, we all can be intrigued with how things grow or the cycle of life and the outcomes can be transforming.

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The model I have found most successful when working with students is to let them be the ones to ask the questions or discover the changes. This fosters a dialogue of learning for students and educators together.

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The model I have found most successful when working with students is to let them be the ones to ask the questions or discover the changes. This fosters a dialogue of learning for students and educators together.

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Students that learn how to grow their own food are more likely to want to try the foods they grow and want to eat healthier. It seems they have a stronger interest because they first learned to grow the food.

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I liked how Mariann still was able to work in gardening, even during the times that we are in. It was neat that she was able to have an experience with the older kids, and probably give them positive memories of gardening that will hopefully influence their lives forever!

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I loved Jeanne's story of the kindergartener's with the Pizza Garden! What a great memory for these kids!

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Many of these stories talked about wanting to get kids outside. :)

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The success program I found most relevant to my work is what Abby L from New York shared, a garden class that counts as an English credit. It is the first time I hear about a class like that. I work with English Language Learners so my main focus is helping the students learn the English language. We work on listening, speaking, writing, and reading English correctly. It got me thinking and wondering how I could use the garden to teach English.

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I love the idea of having students plant sunflower seeds to grow a clubhouse! This activity encourages planning, concerted effort, creativity, and patience. What a wonderful idea!

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Important conditions to success were the inclusion of time to explore, assignment of tasks, regular attendance in the garden, and the involvement of age appropriate activities.

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Common themes were connection, soliciting observations, cooperation, work ethics, creativity.

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I love hearing all of the different success stories! It's so inspiring to know what's going on with garden education in other parts of the world. It gives me ideas to try in our garden.

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Odile mentioned that her garden committee was made up of members from the entire school community, including students. I think having representation from all the different school constituencies is really important, and hope that as we develop our program, we can do the same.

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It is important to get help from people who have experience creating a community garden.  Master Gardener's are an invaluable resource.  Also, getting students involved in the development, planning and implementing the garden to build ownership.

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It is important to get help from people who have experience creating a community garden.  Master Gardener's are an invaluable resource.  Also, getting students involved in the development, planning and implementing the garden to build ownership.

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Building a successful school/community garden involves eliciting the expertise of people who have experience, such as Master Gardeners. It is important to get students involved in all aspects from planning to implementing in order to build ownership. Additionally, the garden itself is a living and growing entity--so it's important to be open to change! Being creating also brings success to the garden.

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What process did you take to get started?

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What process did you take to get started?

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I am wondering what steps you took to start a garden project. I see many people are working in already established gardens. I work at a high school and would like to build a garden with an afterschool club that meets once or twice a month.

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A common theme was children who may not be successful academically find success and engagement in the outdoor learning space.

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A common theme was children who may not be successful academically find success and engagement in the outdoor learning space.

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I find it interesting that there are so many gardens already in place around the country and even though the task of developing an outdoor learning space from scratch seems so daunting, it can happen with persistence and motivation.

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I find it interesting that there are so many gardens already in place around the country and even though the task of developing an outdoor learning space from scratch seems so daunting, it can happen with persistence and motivation.

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I enjoyed learning about the success stories and how some people focused on doing planning a garden of ingredients like the pizza garden that focused on basil, garlic, tomatoes, etc and then the salsa garden that focused on tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. I think it would be a simple garden to do and to have students experience from start to finish.

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Specific examples of actions or conditions that led to success.

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Specific examples of actions or conditions that led to success.

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I heard many stories about how teacher's are making the garden work with a team, it is not done alone and it takes planning and community to put everything together.

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It takes community to make a garden work, also noticed after school clubs, during recess and Shauna F talked about 5 minutes to look around and 5 minutes to talk about what students notice.

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Follow up is how to get the time to get this done and how to work the funding, find al the resources because it seems like such a big undertaking.

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I especially like the after school club, the sunflower clubhouse where students can read books and hang out in nature. I like the salsa garden and pizza garden and the fact that you can grow the ingredients and cook with the kids.

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I love how people have such enthusiasm for incorporating nature into the classroom. I enjoyed watching the video on the urban gardener and how she enriched the lives of the inner city children through the garden. I am also inspired by the community gardens that are being used to help communities that are in food desserts.

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I was inspired by Anne's story about her student that brought the gardening lessons home to her family and influenced the whole family to eat healthier and start their own garden. I also thought it was telling that Anne didn't even know this had happened until the student was interviewed on NPR. As teachers we have to remember that we have an impact even when we are not specifically told about it.

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I enjoyed hearing about innovative partnerships with community members - with a grocery store, master gardeners, college mentors...it's great to connect the community to garden education efforts.  

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I enjoyed hearing about innovative partnerships with community members - with a grocery store, master gardeners, college mentors...it's great to connect the community to garden education efforts.  

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Engagement with the community was a secret to success - a way to engage students beyond simply the teacher/student relationship

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Engagement with the community was a secret to success - a way to engage students beyond simply the teacher/student relationship

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Community!  Looking for partners to reinforce goals of the garden education program.  

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Community!  Looking for partners to reinforce goals of the garden education program.  

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How do you sustain community partnership goals after the initial engagements - any suggestions on how to maintain enthusiasm?

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How do you sustain community partnership goals after the initial engagements - any suggestions on how to maintain enthusiasm?

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Partnering with community members - I am eager to do this more with our program

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Partnering with community members - I am eager to do this more with our program

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It was great to hear so many stories that talked about developing deeper relationships and a sense of community among those working in the garden. So many unintented or unplanned positive experiences that have resulted from time spent in the gardens.

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While all of the videos had similar concepts behind them, there was such a large variety of success stories. Everyone was so willing and excited to continue to grow too!

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The biggest successes seemed to involve community support from the school administrators and also from others in the surrounding community. Financial support is definitely needed but there is also a dedication and interest needed for those running the program and who it can impact.

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Everyone was interested in growing and making their current programs more successful or establishing new programs based on the needs of their community.

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How do you get teachers and staff at a school to buy into and support a garden project long term?

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How do you get teachers and staff at a school to buy into and support a garden project long term?

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I love the programs that help families in the community and not just the students. We strongly encourage our students to share what they learn with their families and friends. When you get family involvement it can make a huge difference in the success of the program. It can increase the impact and success of what you are trying to do.

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Planning and flexibility are key elements to develop a learning activity in the garden.

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Planning and flexibility are key elements to develop a learning activity in the garden.

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I appreciated Maggie's story about the student that served his detention in the garden. While I work preschool-5th grade, I do have a vision of the garden space being used by our specialist teachers and paras that work with students with emotional/behavioral challenges and other special needs. The garden can be so soothing. The school environment can be overstimulating, and the constant demands of sitting still, too much. I envision the space being used throughout the school day anytime a student needs a break or redirection. I will also make a point of mentioning the option of community service in the garden in lieu of detention for our middle and high school students.

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I loved hearing about all of the different types of gardens --especially the sunflower clubhouse! And I was intrigued by the art teacher having an art contest for reusable grocery bags they will use for a fundraiser. I also loved the teacher who allows the students 5 minutes to wander around the garden and observe what has changed thus making it all about their experiences before she starts the lesson for the day.

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In all the stories, the garden was successful due to the collaboration of many at the school--it was not one person's responsibility and support came in many forms from community members, to college mentors, master gardeners, etc.

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All of the stories talked about how the kids had fun in the garden and got involved and assumed responsibility for taking care of them. They were student centered activities.

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For me the most interesting thing is To see the passion and dedication of each member to make education a friendly, interesting and meaningful place for everyone. I loved the idea of ​​creating bags out of the harvest to sell to supermarkets.

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For me the most interesting thing is To see the passion and dedication of each member to make education a friendly, interesting and meaningful place for everyone. I loved the idea of ​​creating bags out of the harvest to sell to supermarkets.

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For the gardening at school to be successful, we must work as a team, join forces so that the entire community feels ownership and concern. Creating a committee is an important piece to the puzzle.

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For the gardening at school to be successful, we must work as a team, join forces so that the entire community feels ownership and concern. Creating a committee is an important piece to the puzzle.

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How to manage classroom instructional time and gardening time?

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How to manage classroom instructional time and gardening time?

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I found it so wonderful how full of passion and inspiration all these people are. We did a sunflower clubhouse too, so I am curious as to how their's went. Ours was MASSIVE.

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I think the underlining success in all the shared stories was teamwork. Whether using parents, community leaders, Master Gardeners, etc, teamwork really helped sustain the garden, and with it, the learning and education.

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Two themes I noted were exploration, and getting children to try new foods/ see how food grows.

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What is the biggest nugget of knowledge/tip you would pass on to someone wanting to start a classroom garden?  

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What is the biggest nugget of knowledge/tip you would pass on to someone wanting to start a classroom garden?  

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I really liked Maggie's mention of "unplanned moments" especially for children who might need a little more.  Her student was in detention, but I have found that children that need a cool down, time away from others, flourish in the garden.  It gives them a much deeper appreciation of being outside gardening when they get those "unplanned moments". We often have kids "take a break" in the garden, and it has never, ever been seen as punishment, but the kids are better able to calm their bodies while helping with a garden chore.

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I loved the story by Laura about the Sunflower Clubhouse, what a sweet idea. The other inspiring video was the person at Dranesville ES, who is approaching Nature's Classroom through Green Initiatives, e.g. environmental impact projects, such as modifying grocery bags.

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Common Themes - Play and Outdoor Freedoms

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Common Themes - Play and Outdoor Freedoms

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It struck me that at every grade level, teachers and gardeners were all focused on play and open access to the gardens, even when connecting to curriculum. I was struck also by the number of places this program reaches, someone from nearly every state. It seems the common theme for all schools/programs is to get kids outside and participate more healthfully in life.

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Arcadia Community Gardens have sent a representative to help support our classroom gardens at Bryant Alternative High School. As a local gardener, he made a big impact on the kids when he visited and spoke about winterizing our beds. We have also had a beekeeper come and speak and he brought bees and honey for the kids to see and taste. Our kids were so pleasantly surprised that community members would take their time to talk to them about their passions. These 2 programs are serving as models for us and connections to proper gardening techniques and suppl-es, including seeds and bulbs.

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How do the larger classroom garden programs protect from vandalism (if necessary)?

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How do the larger classroom garden programs protect from vandalism (if necessary)?

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Our school is along a busy road and in a lower income area. We've had to consider where to place our beds around the school, since there are public use areas right on school grounds. Just curious if anyone in high schools have any issues?

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Misty with the Huntsville Botanical Garden in Alabama shared about Master Gardeners serving as docents in their educational veggie garden, which makes me want to reach out and invite Master Gardeners to get more involved with our school garden program.

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Nearly everyone here is a woman. I imagine many people got involved as mothers, too (like Margaret P, and myself included).

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I loved the idea of having the kids design a grocery bag.  I personally love a good reusable bag and would totally buy that to help support an organization or program.

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I loved the idea of having the kids design a grocery bag.  I personally love a good reusable bag and would totally buy that to help support an organization or program.

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Several people shared that they also had native perennial gardens, something we have done a lot with at our school.

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Partnerships between different teacher and other staff, and between schools and community organizations allow like-minded adults who are passionate about engaging children with gardening to leverage their resources to involve even more young people.