Marcus Tullius Cicero stated “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” In my opinion, the many opportunities present in a library are analogous to the abundance of knowledge based adventures that take place in a classroom. Paired with the immeasurable opportunity that a garden provides, Cicero’s quote could then be reworded to state “If you have a garden and a classroom, you have everything you need.”
With that, I couldn’t agree more.
I plan to give my students ‘everything they need’ using the garden as an expansion of my classroom. Our garden space is nestled between two sections of our school that our community takes pride in. These two sections of our building were built in 1928 and 1936. The overall plan with our garden is simple: to create a space for a fall, spring and summer gardens as well as a native pollinator plant garden, all while providing students true examples of the importance of biodiversity and sustainability as well as community involvement. We will work in the garden year round preparing the soil, planting and maintaining fall, spring and summer gardens, harvesting and collecting seeds and adding to our seed library. These two garden spaces will come together to create an endless amount of learning experiences. Our garden area is called the Learning Lab and it is a continuation of our indoor classroom. My students will work on an assortment of activities such as, but not limited to, designing, planning, organizing, measuring, documenting, virtual diary entries, our garden blog, recycling, reusing, rain collection, collaborating, seed sustainability, environmental biodiversity, researching, exploring, presenting, teaching, and educational growth.
The Learning Lab will fall under the responsibility of third grade, but students from each grade level and class are able to reap its benefits. Our entire student body will be involved in our garden, year round. We have big plans of involving the community in our project. Through our seed library we can provide community members with seeds for their own gardens. Students are able to bring home fresh produce and community members will be given fresh vegetables when harvests allow. This creates the opportunity for a wonderful community/school relationship to grow.
With the many challenges this school year has brought on, we are prepared for virtual gardening activities, if necessary, and continue to protect ourselves and our volunteers in the garden with social distancing, frequent hand washing, and mask wearing. Our blog and online learning system make it an easy transition to go remote, but to continue to be somewhat hands on when needed.
As you continue to read through my grant application, my gleam of ambition and initiative for this garden project will burst from the pages. My students and I are focused and driven, and we look forward to working toward our Learning Lab goals.
With that, I couldn’t agree more.
I plan to give my students ‘everything they need’ using the garden as an expansion of my classroom. Our garden space is nestled between two sections of our school that our community takes pride in. These two sections of our building were built in 1928 and 1936. The overall plan with our garden is simple: to create a space for a fall, spring and summer gardens as well as a native pollinator plant garden, all while providing students true examples of the importance of biodiversity and sustainability as well as community involvement. We will work in the garden year round preparing the soil, planting and maintaining fall, spring and summer gardens, harvesting and collecting seeds and adding to our seed library. These two garden spaces will come together to create an endless amount of learning experiences. Our garden area is called the Learning Lab and it is a continuation of our indoor classroom. My students will work on an assortment of activities such as, but not limited to, designing, planning, organizing, measuring, documenting, virtual diary entries, our garden blog, recycling, reusing, rain collection, collaborating, seed sustainability, environmental biodiversity, researching, exploring, presenting, teaching, and educational growth.
The Learning Lab will fall under the responsibility of third grade, but students from each grade level and class are able to reap its benefits. Our entire student body will be involved in our garden, year round. We have big plans of involving the community in our project. Through our seed library we can provide community members with seeds for their own gardens. Students are able to bring home fresh produce and community members will be given fresh vegetables when harvests allow. This creates the opportunity for a wonderful community/school relationship to grow.
With the many challenges this school year has brought on, we are prepared for virtual gardening activities, if necessary, and continue to protect ourselves and our volunteers in the garden with social distancing, frequent hand washing, and mask wearing. Our blog and online learning system make it an easy transition to go remote, but to continue to be somewhat hands on when needed.
As you continue to read through my grant application, my gleam of ambition and initiative for this garden project will burst from the pages. My students and I are focused and driven, and we look forward to working toward our Learning Lab goals.