Learning from a plant and garden expert!

Today the students had a big surprise! They got the chance to meet and learn from a plant and garden expert! Scientist Dave came equipped with a shovel and a Hosta, and demonstrated to the students how to plant and care for their brand new garden!

The students learned they need to water, weed, and turn over the soil in their garden, to keep their flowers alive and healthy!

The students also had some questions for our expert!

Thank you Scientist Dave for teaching us more about plants, gardening, and answering all of our questions!

Creating our beautiful flower garden!

“For students to understand their fundamental connections with all living things, they need opportunities to connect directly with the environment, and to reflect on that experience.”

Natural Curiosity: A resource for Teachers. Pg. 37

"Children learn best through their everyday experiences with the people they love and trust, and when the learning is fun. And the best place for these experiences is outdoors, in the natural world." Centre for Families, Communities, Schools and Children's Learning

After the students chose the perfect spot for our garden, a place allowing sun, rain, and shelter, it was time to get weeding and clear the space in preparation for planting the many flowers that were so graciously donated to us by our families! 

After weeding and raking the garden, it was time to plant some of the flowers. We investigated the different variety of flowers and noted that some flowers needed a lot of sun, while others preferred a bit of sun. We planted them accordingly. It was lovely to see that many of the flowers we had, stemmed from the survey choices that the students themselves created and voted on.  

After the flowers were planted, as done in our class on many creations, the students decided they wanted to place labels beside each flower so that others would know the names of the flowers we planted!

The best learning happens when it extends to the home environment, where students share their thoughts, excitements, and wonders with family! Below is E.S.' family watering our class' brand new flower garden!  Many thanks for your help on this warm sunny weekend!

Regular positive interactions within nature help children develop respect and a caring attitude for the environment. 

Young Children's Relationship with Nature: Its Importance to Children's Development & the Earth's Future

Planning our garden!

The students have been talking and learning a lot about gardens! We read a few great books which have helped us to think about what type of garden we would like to create outside the school. 

During our thinking and learning time, the students made plans about their pretend gardens, and practiced creating graphs about the type of flowers to include in the garden. Below is some of their great work!

Today we ventured outside and toured the school yard looking for the perfect spot to create our garden!

  
Today we also made a list of things needed to start our garden! Stay tuned as we begin creating our outside garden!