Schools Gardening

The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies

This class will provide participants with the skills and knowledge necessary for designing and implementing an elementary-level, integrated curriculum based on the science of horticulture, the interdisciplinary nature of plants, and the art of gardening.

School gardens are in various shapes and sizes. Some schools have enough space to give each child their own plot or row and others have little or no space and instead use buckets for container gardens. Gardens may have a theme like a butterfly garden or be used to teach a specific subject like environmental studies. They may be created and maintained by one grade level or used by multiple grade levels. Hopefully from this diversity you can see that gardens are extremely flexible teaching tools. Be creative with your resources and build on the imagination of your students when beginning a gardening project. The following information will give you a more in-depth view of where school gardens originated and how to get started.

Gardening with children is not a new concept. Children have probably been gardening for food/survival for thousands of years. However, school gardens are about more than gardening for food, they are about using the garden as an instrument to teach. The following timeline provides you with a brief history of school gardens.

1525 – Botanical garden planted at an Italian University for educational purposes.

16th Century – Quote by Comenius: “A school garden should be connected with every school where children can have opportunities for leisurely gazing upon trees, flowers and herbs and are taught to enjoy them.”

17th Century- School gardens spread throughout Europe.

Early 20th Century – Large US cities incorporated school gardens including Philadelphia, Cleveland and Washington D.C.

20th Century – School gardens continue to grow!

Research has shown that gardening positively impacts:
• Environmental attitude
• Nutritional attitude
• Self-esteem
• Achieve test scores
• Attitudes toward school
• Interpersonal skills
• Social concerns
• Student behavior

Gardeners, like plants, invariably grow from small beginnings
You do not have to cultivate an acre garden to incorporate horticulture activities in your classroom. Gardens can consist of one small plot, a collection of containers, a shelf with fluorescent lights or even a window with sunlight. Start out small and design the garden to fit with your classroom’s needs and resources.