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…

seedlingstories@gmail.com seedlingstories.wordpress.com @seedlingstories