School Garden Activities/Planning Workshops

Today was a wonderful day to be back in the classroom setting as we balance both indoor and outdoor learning! We started the day with a harvesting activity where we identified the names of plants and the part of the plant that we eat (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds) which proved to be more challenging than we thought.

Keeping in mind that "A Teacher's Guide to Teaching in the School Garden" is intended for high-school classes, we went around the table as everyone contributed different ideas for incorporating lessons in their teaching areas. We realized that this resource served for great discussion around how we can take lessons from the booklet, adapt it for different learning levels and different age groups, and how we can use the information across the curriculum. 

Finally we concluded our discussion by dividing into our different presentation groups as we worked on our plans for the Summer Solstice and Orchard Garden workshops! As we brainstormed in teams, the excitement grew as we realized the dates are fast approaching! We winded down the session by deciding on which plants we want to grow in the flower beds at the Orchard Garden. It is an enriching experience to be able to contribute to the garden. We feel this is relatable to our students and their experiences with contributing to their own school gardens. 

Posted by: Sigrid Robiso and Jackie Prior

Soundscapes and Listening

Wow! Day four of our CFE already. We can’t believe this first week is almost over! We’ve learned so much, and had a really incredible time doing it. Today we had a really interesting discussion on what ‘listening’ means to all of us. It’s interesting to step back and really analyze what listening truly is. Immediately you think, well, that’s easy! Listening is opening up your ears and taking in what’s going on around you… but our discussion highlighted some really interesting differences between listening, and hearing. So often in today’s world we are consumed with getting a message across, and getting it across as quickly and efficiently as possible. Often times, we use selective listening because we are so oversaturated with information from every angle, that we’ve gotten really good at seeming like we’re listening, without really hearing. We chatted about what listening looks like in our classrooms, and ways we can create more effective listeners in our students. Yes of course it can be frustrating to have to repeat instructions over and over again, so having effective listening in our classrooms is important in that sense, but we all agreed that effective listening goes so much further beyond that. Helping our students develop the ability to truly be engaged in a conversation and be able to develop relationships as they grow older is incredibly important. A comment was made that statistically deaf people are more sad than blind people, which is interesting because it begins to dissect the levels of exactly how important the power of hearing the voice of a loved one sooth you can be. 

After this very interesting discussion, Diana directed us in a game that involved everyone having their own (very different) walking stick. We stood in a circle, each with our own walking stick in front of us, and picked a leader who would tap their stick on the ground once or twice. One tap signalled everyone to move one stick over to the right, while two taps was the signal for everyone to move to the left. We played this game silently, repeating the number of taps all together and then moving in the appropriate direction. This sounds easy enough, but as everyone let go of their stick to move in the appropriate direction, it became difficult to catch the next one and move at the same time, especially because all the sticks were different shapes and sizes. Diana wisely reflected that this is very similar to the field of education. We must work with whatever we are given. Whether it’s a challenging group of kids, a lack of classroom resources, or red tape trying to start our own school garden, we will be faced with different challenges and the important thing is to remain focused, work together, and to not give up.

                                                

Dianna inspired us to increase our awareness of our sense of touch through an exercise focused on developing a connection to place.  In groups of two, one partner closed their eyes while the other led them to a spot in the garden.  The goal was to learn about the spot through touch so that you could later identify it visually.  My partner led me to a small plant.  This experience was surprisingly rich because I tend to rely on my other senses in daily life.  I became keenly aware of the thin, lacy leaves and their short ribbed stems as I tried to mentally visualize them.  I explored the land nearby to discover a landmark to remember the spot by, and quickly discovered a sharply pronged weed.  This exercise helped me to connect to the garden in a new way and I felt quite attached to the area of land I had explored.  This is the beginning of place-based education, a philosophy I am deeply interested in.  Through this philosophy, communities of learners interact with their local community, grounding themselves in its history, art, culture and ecology.  Engaging in local community projects through hands-on learning can result in valuable learning.

In the last activity we explored sound even further! We first did an individual activity where we listened to the sounds around us and drew a representation of them. We were encouraged to close our eyes at times. Many people had similar shapes for the same sounds and after we drew our sounds we split into two groups. In these groups we discussed our drawings and rationale. Then in our groups we worked collaboratively to create one large drawing of these sounds. They included nature sounds, human sounds and technology sounds. Specifically in our group, we started with a drawing of a treble clef and began with the technology and processed to the human and nature sounds. After, we made these sounds as a group with our hands and jackets and tools we had nearby. The two groups performed these to each other. This was our soundscape. The group listening closed their eyes and listened to the different sounds. We explored which sounds we liked and which we didn't like. Diana mentioned how optimistic our soundscape sounded because it ended with calming sounds. As a large group we discussed how we could incorporate this activity into our class and how we have incorporated sound into our previous lessons. This activity I would definitely use in my classroom. I think my students would feel more in tune with their environment.

After a lovely morning with Diana and John, we spent the afternoon working in the garden with Joyce. It was a really wonderful to get to slow things down a bit and continue to digest the wonderful experiences and discussions we had had a few hours previous. As we worked in the sunshine weeding, watering, and planting, it was nice to get to talk with teacher candidates from other cohorts and hear about their practicum experiences. After the last ten week whirlwind we all went through, it was nice to have time to just enjoy truly LISTENING to each other, and getting a chance to reflect and grow from not only our own experiences, but those of the other teacher candidates as well.

Wednesday, June 8th 2016

This blog post is brought to you by Deb, Gerry and Hannah. 

This morning’s presentation by Toni took us through the step by step process of how to plan for, implement and care for a school garden. As a North Vancouver high school educator, she recently started a school based garden to supplement her work as a foods teacher and her advice was incredibly practical. 

Some of our takeaways are:

 + School policies / regulation on materials and space usage : separating planting soil from regular soil, don’t use treated wood for food planting 

 + How to apply for grants / funding : Spuds & Tubs, Whole Kids (Whole Foods), Toyota Evergreen Fund, and of course, the PAC 

 + Adapting student involvement based on student body : more hands­ on energetic group, a more academic group, personal interests 

 Later in the morning, we had a chance to plan out our own ideal garden with attention to how we would use the space and the types of lessons we would pair well with this resource. 
This was a great opportunity for us all to share our own lesson ideas that we could use with a teachable garden. 

We brainstormed what our gardens might look like if we had unlimited funds and ­ it was really fun to consider all of our exciting ideas.

We discussed shapes of our garden beds, shade and sunlight directions, climbing vegetables, flowers to keep the bees pollinating and incorporating traditional Coast Salish weaving by planting grasses or having cedar trees - one of the teacher candidates in our group did some weaving with her students.

 In the afternoon we visited Roots on the Roof with Brendan; this community garden is already quite bountiful with many vegetables! Being in the garden allowed for us to realize the many teachable moments that come with being there. 

When we all arrived at the space, we were in awe of the beautiful colours and just how much growth had occurred... Brendan had told us that it had only been a few weeks for some of the crops and it was amazing to see what can happen in a garden in such a short amount of time! 

We were able to connect our morning discussion and brainstorm within the physical garden space and really see just how easy it would be to show students how satisfying growing vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers can be! The learning opportunities really do seem to be endless...
 

Dana Mohiddin, Cristina Moretti and Claire Stormont

On our second day at the Orchard Garden, Kwesi shared his knowledge of and experiences with school gardens in Ghana. In the 1970s, as a result of food shortages and political changes, the government introduced the "Operation Feed Yourself" which encouraged and mandated gardening for subsistence. As a consequence, most schools in Ghana today have gardens which supply the students with both food and a learning environment. 

After an introduction to musical storytelling and the benefits of learning through various kinds of art forms, we took the theories we learned and put them into practice. We drew individual pictures of different aspects of the garden. We then combined them and sequenced them into a story, which could lead to a collaborative performance or soundscape. Sketching in the garden in this way can give children and educators a chance to observe more closely and notice first-hand the interactions and relationships between living things and some of the stories that can emerge in the garden. 

 One example of these relationships is how peas and beans help enrich the soil for other plants, a phenomenon that is central to crop rotation. When planning a garden, then, it is important to consider the spacing and growing requirements of what lives in the garden as well as the interactions between different plants. At the Orchard Garden, many different flowers are planted to encourage pollinators. One of these flowers, the Lupine, has even a unique adaption to help bees collect pollen. When a bee flies into the flower, a tiny tendril will emerge and will smear pollen onto the bee's body."

Day 1: CFE (June 6, 2016)

We had a wonderful first day in our Community Field Experience (CFE) with Orchard Garden. The morning started with introductions and a review of our three week schedule.  We shared our interests and projects that we would like to explore during our time together. Many teacher candidates are interested in learning more about embedding the garden-based learning into  art, math and science subjects.  

Toni summarized food safety within the classroom.  We learned about foodbourne illness and the difference between bacteria and toxins.  As well, we discussed the three main components of food safety in the classroom: handling, preparing and storing. Together, we shared our thoughts on how to create a safe and inclusive learning environment when interacting with food.  One interesting fact we learned was that botulism is an intoxication that results in paralysis, and it is also used in botox.

In the afternoon, we ventured to the Orchard Garden for our tour. We met with garden workers and helped them in weeding the vegetables beds. During this time, we realized how many people it takes to upkeep a garden.  We learned that it takes two full time workers to maintain the Orchard Garden. Also, we learned how to stay healthy and happy while working outside in the garden: wear sunscreen, hats, proper shoe wear and keep hydrated!

It was great to meet with other CFE primary teacher candidates and share stories about our practicum experiences. We look forward to building strong relationships with the Orchard Garden team and our fellow colleagues.  

Amy and Christina C   

Final Saturday Workshop: Cultivating Mindfulness

I just wanted to add a few details to what Sofia posted about last Saturday's workshop, the last day of our CFE.  Here is some info about some of the plants we used for our activities (tea-hunt + lunch).

Mint (la menthe) is a plant used in middle-eastern cuisine.  You can also make tea with the leaves.  Just rince the leaves and chop them with a knife.  Either place them in a boiling water and or bring to the boil over medium heat. Add honey or brown sugar to the cup.  Pour through a sieve.  If you wish, you can also add a teabag of green or black tea for the extra taste.

Sage (la sauge) - with its flowers - is a plant used in cooking.  Sage goes well with pork, beef, duck and chicken recipes, and fatty meats in particular. In Italy it is commonly chopped, mixed with melted butter and served stirred into pasta or gnocchi.

Rosemary (le romarin) with its flowers - Spike meat, poultry and game with rosemary - alternatively, chop it and use in stuffings and sauces for fish, lamb or chicken.  Also try on roast potatoes.

We had a feast with our guests after the garden activities.  It was fun to demonstrate our receipes for dips and incorporate freshly picked ingredients such as chives, parsley and rosemary directly from our scavenger hunt in the orchard garden.  We also made a pot of mint tea and a pot of lemon balm tea.

Being part of the Orchard Garden CFE was a priviledge and a fun experience.  I learned valuable skills that I will use at home and in the community when I become a teacher.  I truly see the benefit of bringing students into the garden and I feel prepared to start my own school garden, or at least contribute to one in near the future.

Sofia - Final Day of the Orchard Garden CFE!

Our three weeks of Community Field Experience drew to a close today with a workshop that we have been preparing. We collectively chose the theme of "Cultivating Mindfulness."
To start off, we all took part in a Tea Hunt, in which we were given coordinates on an X and Y axis. We then had to use the coordinates to locate different herbs in the garden (such as mint and lemon balm). To make the activity even more challenging, we were given the name of the herb in French rather than English! This was a fun and engaging way to begin, and got us all into the relaxed spirit of the day.

After this we did a Soundscaping activity. This involved a few minutes of meditation and listening mindfully to the sounds we heard in the garden (such as wind in the trees, birdsong, passing cars, buzzing bees, etc). Each person then drew a visual representation of the sounds they heard. We then created a narrative with the sounds by putting all of our pictures together. This is a great and relaxing activity, which could be adapted for so many different subjects (such as art, science, English, etc.). I personally really enjoyed this, and found it very intriguing.

After soundscaping and some more herb-harvesting, we made a delicious lunch together. Using some ingredients from the garden, we split into groups to make different dips, such as Green Herb Hummus, Cheesy Spinach Dip, Tzatziki, and Avocado Dip, which we ate with lots of bread, cheese, and fruits!

I really enjoyed my CFE at the Orchard Garden; it was a great mix of hands-on gardening, garden-based lesson planning, visiting school gardens, going on field trips (such as to the botanical garden), and drawing meaningful conclusions about how nature can be incorporated into schools.
I feel very grateful for the knowledge I have gained here, and have a much better idea of how to actually go about implementing and/or taking part in a school garden.