Garden Classrooms

Farmers in the Playground

Farmers in the Playgound, located in the schoolyards of several elementary schools in the Muskoka Region of Ontario, Canada is a program that unites kids to their food! Along with food garden facilitators, school staff and volunteers, children build, plant and grow food gardens on their school grounds. Gardening is not complete without the link it has to our tummies, so for half of the 1 full-day per week program(runs approx.10 weeks) the students are in the dirt and the other half brings them to the kitchen preparing lunch for themselves and sometimes their entire school.

The Best of Thymes Garden: Panther Farm

Panther Farm is an idea I had in the fall of 2013. I have taught The Ominvore's Dilemma for the past three years and realized that I could do something to help reinforce the ideas Michael Pollan so elequently conveys in that book. I began to poll studens to gauge their interest, and now it looks like we begin to create to what I hope becomes a school-wide food forrest. I plan to help students design and implement the process, but this will be their farm.

Roxbury Central School Garden

The RCS garden club, harvested its first crops in 2003 and garden activities have been integrated into core curriculum, into the after school program, the summer youth program, and the community at large, who often donate tools, perennials and seeds. Students are involved in every aspect of the garden; designing a planting schedule, selection and maintenance of the crops, monitoring soil and compost health, and harvesting the boutny for the cafeteria. The goals of the garden are to enhance student ecological and agricultural literacy and environmental awareness.

Coeur d'Alene Elementary

Our garden classroom consists of 15 "mini" raised beds chalked full of veggies and native varietals. Participating students receive hands-on gardening instruction on a bimonthly basis from Master Gardener trainee, Becky Wolfe.

Horace Mann Outdoor Arts and Ecology Classroom

Public K-5 elementary school. Urban school on campus of Salem State University. 300 students.

Vegetables: 3 raised beds.

Habitat garden: 50 x 120 ft on hillside.

Students visit gardens as part of instruction. After-school Cultivator Club (4th and 5th graders) does most work.

School cafeteria participates in farm-to-school program as part of district-wide program.
 

Zoonie Organics

Zoonie Organics is a garden learning environment where children experience hands-on learning linked to classroom curriculum and nutrition education.  Our year-round edible garden is managed by volunteers and child gardeners, supported by our PTA and grant funds.  The garden was established in the 90s, but fell into disrepair until restored by a volunteer coordinator, student gardeners and our PTA in 2013.  

Ewa Elementary Edible Learning Garden

Our Edible Learning Garden consists of various garden beds that incorporate different learning objectives.  Each garden bed holds a different theme and includes all the edible yummies chosen by both the students and teachers.  We have a pizza garden, fibonnacci garden (Math garden), Jack's Beanstalk (a garden bed filled with various beans), an Ewa Taro Patch (Lo'i with dryland taro), edible flower garden, Colonial garden (with wheat, potatoes, corn) and a 3 sister's garden. 

Maple Glen Elementary Garden

The Maple Glen garden provides real-world health and science application for the students at our elementary. Through tending to the outdoor garden, they are practicing first-hand our "guiding principals" of hard work, honesty, respect, responsibilty, and compassion which are our core values. The ultimate goal of this project is that students will transfer their learning into establishing healthy eating habits and be empowered to teach others to do the same. Aquiring sustainable living from the roots up is what we are striving for. 

W.J. Bryan Elementary Museums Magnet School

W.J. Bryan Elementary Museums Magnet School was founded in 1928 and has been designated as a Miami-Dade County historic landmark. As a museums magnet school, we utilize object-based and project-based methodologies in our daily instructional practices. Students use real-life artifacts, artwork, and models in order to bring abstract ideas to concrete understanding. What better way to incorporate real-world problem solving than through the use of our garden??

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