Kinder-GARDEN ing and more

 Our 4th  grade book buddies assist our Kindergartners with choosing the plants to grow each season. But, the original garden was designed by me. It has since been expanded and we have improved it each year. I used a book entitled Schoolyard Garden Mosaics as inspiration, but I work with a limited budget each year, so I just dream of having gardens like those displayed in the book.
Each Kindergarten class and one pre-K Developmentally Delayed class has “Book Buddies/ Garden Buddies”, these are older students from 3 - 5th grade who mentor theses younger learner in reading skills and assist in the planing, planting, tending and harvesting in the “Kinder - garden” . The students read both fiction and non-fiction books about gardening to and with our youngest learners. Students are expected to demonstrate all Pillars of Character ( part of our Character Counts School-wide program) when working in the garden : Respect, Trustworthiness, Caring, Citizenship. Responsibility, Fairness as well as our recent “ Leader in Me” habits. There have been so many ways students have demonstrated these pillars through our Outdoor Classroom Project, not just the students who are actively involved in growing a garden. As observers, the school population takes great pride in our garden. Students have various “jobs” in maintaining the garden, weeding, watering, cleaning, composting, recycling, feeding our worms in the vermi- composting bin. At times, several students may be spread out in many different areas working together to tend our garden and they most always are responsible with the privilege of working independently toward a shared goal.
Our school has been blessed with so many volunteers who have a passion for Classroom Gardens, from our Senior Citizens, these are Master Gardeners who assist in classrooms and outdoor classrooms on a bi-weekly basis to parent volunteers, who help weed and water if the job gets too overwhelming after a long school break.. Dirt Cheap is a local landscaping business that gives us a discount on mulch, rocks, soils, etc.A local nursery has donated citrus plants and flowering trees to help us attract pollinators. One nursery has also donated seedlings and plants and allowed our Kindergartners to visit the nursery and actually shop for the plants to grow in the garden. They provided advice on how and when to plant the plants and even gave us some organic fertilizer. The Ribault Garden Club provides us with a thorough gardening curriculum that is taught by our Master Gardener Volunteers on a bi-weekly basis. This curriculum gives students active hands-on learning in the areas of Science, Math, Language Arts and Art. Recently, we received a grant from a local organization, SFFC - Slow Foods First Coast for a two tiered raised bed, soil and seeds. The Ponte Vedra Education Foundation has supported our classroom gardening program for the past 17 years at Ocean Palms. We are so thankful for all of the community support we receive each year!
Our entire garden is grown organically. We use no pesticides and bad bugs are hand picked or we use a “soap/ garlic spray to eliminate bugs. Companion planting also helps to limit pests and plant diseases in our garden. The kindergarten classes help feed our worms in our worm bin which are used for vermi-composting. Worms make compost from castings ( worm poop) and students harvest this as well as worm tea for fertilizer. Students have learned that we can only add things that were once alive to our worm bin, but no dairy or meat. A parent donated a strap from an all natural leather purse and the worms eventually ate it. We also teach our students about composting and decomposition through using our compost tumbler. Students are amazed to see that greens and browns we put in the bin will turn into nutrient rich soil that we use to side dress our plants.

Recently, a parent group, The Healthy Kids Initiative spearheaded a committee to increase the # of garden beds by 4 more and to add over a dozen citrus tress, a fig tree and over a dozen blueberry,blackberry, goji berry and raspberry plants. We can't wait untl Harvest Time next year!  A local gardener who runs a company called Eat Your Yard, donated many plants and helped with labor.