Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
What grade levels worked in the garden and did you or another teacher link some of your curriculum outcomes to the garden?
every child in our school had the opportunity to be part of our garden in some way through both planting and harvesting. our grade 4-6 students took more of a leadership role.
Curricular connections to math and science units by measuring and tracking growth and graphing the data. Citizenship and Character connections through social studies as we partnered with the Saskatoon Food Bank for additional learning and to donate some of our produce. Our grade 4/5 class extended their learning through First Nations ways of knowing by learning about the significance of growing tobacco and the cultural protocols involved. The grade 4/5 provided tobacco offerings
What vegetables/fruit do you grow in your garden? What do you have a difficult time growing in your school garden?
space is an issue for us so we keep to vegetables that can give us a high yield in small spaces such as carrots, onions, potatoes, tomatoes. We also like to cook community meals with our vegetables so we plant vegetables that lend themselves well to larger meals and sauces that can be frozen for future use. We discussed and learned how we will space our seeds differently next year due to crowding.
Who manages the garden day to day? Who manages the garden over the Summer break?
our grade 4-6 students and their classrooms have taken more of a leadership role. our grade 4/5 teacher, Nancy Barr and our Vice Principal and grade 5/6 teacher, Gerry Krogstad help to manage the day to day duties. in the summer our caretaker, Mr. Tud and our Principal Mrs. Balicki ensure the garden stays weeded and the irrigation system is set up to water.
What do you do with the harvest from your garden? Do you have a harvest celebration? Do you use it in the cafeteria, or culinary classes? Do you donate some of the produce?
-September welcome back BBQ for parents (veggie tray and fried onions on the hamburgers)
-Food Bank partnership (donations)
-carrots for the "big crunch" celebration to promote healthy eating
-make pasta sauce for our spaghetti meal during teacher-parent interviews
Do you have community involvement? Do you have parents and volunteers? Have been able to source other funding to help your garden grow?
We use school-based funds and donations to help purchase seeds and soil in an ongoing way. The grant from Nutrients for Life helped us to create a better long term set up for our garden. We have also expanded our learning with the support of a Little Green Thumb indoor garden (littlegreenthumb.org) that is in the mail being delivered to our school in the coming days.
What are your future plans for the school garden?
-continue with our community garden and having students lead in creating curricular and community connections
-expanding our learning to an indoor garden in addition to our outdoor community garden with the little green thumbs program.
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