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SCHOOL GARDEN EDUCATION
IN 4 TORONTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
By Elin MarleySchool Food Garden and Outdoor Educator
WHAT’S A SCHOOL GARDEN EDUCATOR? (AKA HOW DID I GET HERE?)
I run food garden programmes year-round at 4 Toronto elementary schools Also work at High Park Children’s Garden and occasionally at some other schoolsBackground in Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, with a Master’s Thesis on “Introducing Organic Food in Norwegian Schools”Volunteered at FoodShare, Seedy Saturdays…6 month farm internship in 2009
A DAY IN THE LIFE… 4 classes per school day Teachers sign up their classes
Garden Club at lunch during growing season Mix of indoor and outdoor lessons, depending on season and teacher’s lesson choice Garden planting and maintenance with classes and/or garden clubs
THE 3 SCHOOL GARDENS
Blake St PS
Withrow Ave PS
Dundas/First Nations Schools
WITHROW AVE PS My first School Garden Educator
job I started there in 2010
Garden was already established – they’d had garden educators before Teachers choose lessons – importance of specific curriculum links I mostly decide what gets plantedchoose based on what we’ll use in lessons and what cooking activities we’ll do, and experiment with different plants
Funding from parent council A bit of parent/community involvement in garden maintenance
BLAKE STREET PS I started there in 2011
Garden planning had started, but garden not yet built when I started Garden started in cooperation with South Riverdale Community Health Centre (SRCHC) Lots of parent/community involvement Has a Garden Committee Parents, teachers, community members…
Crop input from various groups Started composting in 2012 I mostly choose lesson plans, consult/collaborate with teachers Funding from parent council and school (Model Schools funding)
DUNDAS ST PS AND FIRST NATIONS
SCHOOL OF TORONTO
Two schools on same site share garden Dundas is K-6, FNST is K-8
I started there in 2014 Garden planning was at very early stages Project initiated by SRCHC
Built garden in spring 2015 FoodShare support for building
Garden Committee parents, teachers, principals… from both schools
Crop input mostly from Garden Committee First Nations School also has medicine gardens
Funding from SRCHC until December 2015, then schools
DESIGNING THE GARDENS Choosing the site
Location – distance to water tap, distance from trees and buildings…
Ensuring it’s safe to dig there Getting school board approval Testing the soil Design ideas from students,
teachers, parents… Design drawings by landscape
architect based on design ideas from school
Voting/debates by students
GARDEN CHANGES: BUILDING GARDEN EDGES
Withrow PS
Blake PS
GARDEN CHANGES: COMPOSTING
WHAT WE GROW
For education – not hoping for major food production
Some “standard” crops like tomatoes, salad greens, beans, potatoes…
Often choose heirloom varieties – kids like the colours, shapes…
Ideas from parents and students Foods we use for cooking lessons Always try to grow a couple of
things students aren’t familiar with, like kohlrabi, fava beans, spicy greens…
“Kids will eat strawberries and watermelon anyway. The garden is a good way to introduce students to new foods.” gr 1-2 teacher
CHOOSING CROPS
Happens differently at different schools
Parents sometimes contribute seeds or ask for certain crops
Winter 2015 I involved students more in crop selection Brainstorming favourite
foods, then learning why certain crops can’t grow here
Sun/shade plants Mapping Learning that garden/farm
work doesn’t stop in winter
CHALLENGESFunding!
Many grants are aimed at starting new projects, but less for maintaining existing programmes and for paying wages
Evaluating the programmes Important for grants/funding How to incorporate evaluation into programming time Evaluation tools to help keep track
Summer maintenance Mix of community groups, parent groups, day cares… Teaching summer maintenance groups before summer
SUMMER MAINTENANCE Different models at different
schools: Blake St PS
Various parent and community groups, on-site summer day-care
Weekly schedule between groups Dundas St PS/First Nations School
Parents and students – each family signed up for one or two weeks and then invited others to join on dates they chose
Withrow Casual, not usually scheduled
maintenance
GARDEN LESSONS: CURRICULUM-LINKED, HANDS-ON,
INTERDISCIPLINARY
BIODIVERSITY
Seeds seed saving heirloom seeds why we plant variety in the
garden Pollinators
plant-pollinator adaptations importance of pollinators
Compost Not just worms!
CYCLES IN NATURE
Seasonal cyclesWhat’s happening in the
garden in different seasons
Tasks we do in the garden at different times of year
Plant life cyclesSeed to harvest to
compost
"Wait, so I get where fruit seeds are. But where are carrot seeds?“ – gr 2 boy
COMPOST AND SOIL
On-site compost binsVermicompostingSoil experiments
Soil ingredients, soil composition
Growing experiments in different soil types
"This soil is awesome!" - JK boy while planting seeds "I love this work! This is disgustingly awesome!" - gr 2 girl carrying compost
"Soil is really interesting! It may not seem like it, but it's got all these different things in it...”
- Gr 3 soil lesson “I think worms are my second favourite things after crystals.” – grade 2 girl
“Mon ver de terre m’aime – it made itself into a heart shape!” – grade 1
"I remember the time you said plants need poop!"
– Kindergarten boy
“This worm tickles! But it's so cute! I don't ever want to let it go!" - gr 2/3 worm lesson
WHERE FOOD COMES FROM Older grades:
food miles food system, people/jobs
involved in the food system
local vs imported food Connecting food to soil
Younger grades: what familiar foods are
made of (e.g. ketchup from tomatoes, cheese from milk from cows…)
plant parts we eat"Someone should make a board game of the food system!" - gr 4 student
CULTURE/SOCIAL STUDIES Traditional and
historical planting methods e.g. Three Sisters Garden
Family food stories Sharing stories of favourite
meals and family gardens
When we speak to plants nicely "it gives them confidence to grow.”
- grade 4 during Three Sisters planting
MATH (WITHOUT REALIZING…)
Measuring perimeter and area
Measuring the distance between seeds
Measuring “using non-standard units”
Structures (e.g. how seeds travel)
Estimating seeds Patterns
“Oh, now I understand all the perimeter stuff we’ve been learning in class!” - Grade 5 measuring garden edges
HARVESTING AND EATING!5 senses lessons in the
garden Cooking in class with
minimal kitchen equipment
Adapting recipes and using safe tools/methods
Kale chips, pesto, salsa, salad wraps, Stone Soup
Send home recipes Home-school connections
"This kale pesto is soooo good!" "It's better than candy!" "It's 100x better than candy!“
– cooking with Garden Club
“I don’t like these kale chips. I LOVE these kale chips!” - SK girl“Ça c’est TROP bon!”
– grade 1 girl about kale and herb pesto
“Mom, I got to taste some dinosaur kale today!” – Kindergarten overheard in the halls"We had a DELICIOUS time in the
garden!"
“I’m going to make Stone Soup for my birthday!”
– grade 1/2 boy
“I wish I could take home some of this leftover Stone Soup for supper!” – grade 1 student
Kindie comments about parsley: “It tastes like cookies! It’s delicious! It’s like candy!”
THANKS! NOW LET’S SHARE SOME LESSON IDEAS…
[email protected] seedlingstories.wordpress.com @seedlingstories