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Gardening Project Ideas

• Service-Learning from the Schoolyard
• Community Garden
  

Service-Learning Ideas from the Schoolyard - Fall/Winter

- As it gets colder and the trees begin to turn color and drop their leaves, it is easy to forget that there are still many lessons to learn from the environment around us. From science, to nutrition, to ecology, service-learning projects can incorporate the outdoors even as the temperatures force us inside.

Daffodils and the American Cancer Society
This is the time of year to plant perennial flowering bulbs. If a large plot of undisturbed ground is available around the school, plant daffodil bulbs that will grow and bloom in the spring. Consider selling the flowers after they bloom as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society which, along with cancer research organizations around the world, has adopted the daffodil as a symbol of hope for people affected by cancer. Each year, schools and organizations across the country raise money for the American Cancer Society in this way. While the daffodils are hibernating during the winter, students can research cancer and its causes, interview cancer survivors, create posters, flyers or brochures for their daffodil sale and collect pots and soil for the transportation of sold daffodils. Contact the ACS at (800) ACS-2345 for more information about this and other ways your classroom can get involved. If you would like to continue this project next school year, consider applying for the Kids Growing with Dutch Bulbs grant. The Mailorder Gardening Association and National Gardening Association award 500 schools 200 premium Dutch flowering bulbs to be planted in the schoolyard. Applications for the 2003-2004 school year will be posted in February 2003. See www.kidsgardening.com/grants.asp for details.

Houseplants for those in need
Indoor plants can be a source of color, life and green-thumb pride. Invite students, faculty, staff and families of the school to share their indoor plants with the rest of the community during the winter season. Students can set up a drive for donations of houseplants. They can then divide and transplant donated houseplants and deliver them to the elderly or other people who are shut in. While working on this project, students can research how plants survive when divided, identify and make name tags for each plant and discuss the benefits of having plants indoors, such as increased oxygen and the personal satisfaction of taking care of and watching something grow.

Window Gardens and Herbs
Small window gardens can be started in your classroom if the windows face the south and let in plenty of natural light. Consider growing herbs with students in your window garden . Herbs have been grown and harvested for centuries around the world for their natural health benefits, rich flavors and scents. Have students research the history and use of herbs in the past and present and identify the edible parts of the herbs (root or leaf). With this information, students can create a dictionary of herbs complete with Latin name, a drawing and a short definition. Students can present their knowledge and dictionary to a local gardening club or give a short presentation at a local health-foods store for the public or for the school cafeteria workers. Students can even suggest herbs to be added to dishes and research foods from other cultures that use specific herbs. If the students’ audience is receptive, a schoolyard community herb garden may be the next step to take.Other topics you may consider over the winter growing hiatus may be found at www.kidsgardening.com in the Teacher’s Room!

Community Gardening: A School and Neighborhood Project

Community gardening offers a wide range of service-learning possibilities and opportunities and can be used in every grade level and classroom. These efforts can range from creating a small classroom or school garden consisting of a few plants, to adopting an abandoned plot of land and gardening the entire area as a school-wide project. There are many success stories involving such gardens and your school can be another. See www.edibleschoolyard.org for an example of a project that started small and has blossomed into a school-wide effort.

Academics, Character and Service-Learning Based Skills
Classes that incorporate gardening do more than simply teach children about horticulture. They can fulfill multiple academic standards, teach positive character traits and help students explore future professions, in an exciting and interactive manner.

Students can fulfill reading, writing, speaking and listening standards by writing letters to fundraise and to generate publicity for the community garden, creating portfolios that include writing from a range of content areas documenting the details of their project, and giving oral presentations based on their research and experiences. If you are using a city-owned lot, civics and government standards can be met by integrating lessons about the community’s history and the role of the city with the planning stages of the garden. Students will learn what communities require to function resourcefully, how the local government interacts with the community in terms of regulations and permits, and what citizenship and civic responsibility entail. Lessons that fulfill environment and ecology standards are integral to this project, as well. Students can learn about native plants, the dangers of pesticides and other chemical products, the necessity for the protection of land and the benefits of organic gardening and composting. They can also study the interactions of ecosystems and how humans fit in to these systems through their use of natural resources.

Other proficiencies, such as organizational, communication and research skills, are fundamental to the project because students take a lead in planning and making community contacts. Students will emerge with a better developed sense of leadership and collaboration and will have greater confidence in their abilities.

Community gardening also opens a space in which to incorporate character education lessons. Tilling land and holding some type of ownership over its fruits can foster within students an understanding about the importance of gardens, community space, respect for land and others’ work, responsibility for a community’s well-being, teamwork and many other values. The class can learn and improve upon character traits such as respect, responsibility, patience, reliability and generosity through structured activities and reflection exercises, while learning to value their team members and the community with which they serve. In this way, academic learning, community service and character education lessons are vitally linked with one another in community gardening, creating a solid, tangible and valuable experience for the students and the community.

How to Start
If you would like to start out small, especially in the winter months, you can start a garden in the classroom that can be moved to an outdoor plot in the spring. Have your students make contacts with local gardeners or gardening centers to find someone, preferably a Master Gardener, who is willing to give advice, make suggestions and help out in your first stages of learning about gardening. Students can research different types of plants, such as perennials, annuals, flowering plants and vegetables, and learn what kinds of care various plants need. These lessons will allow your students to determine what plants would be appropriate for their project and help them design a garden that is aesthetically pleasing and practical for the selected area.

Composting is another possibility for the classroom during the winter. Students can learn how a compost heap works by recycling food items that would otherwise be thrown out and learning what nutrients are necessary for rich soil. See Jennifer Flanagan's "Vermicomposting" article in this issue of the newsletter for a detailed how-to about composting and how you can make it work in the classroom.

Your class should choose a plot of land to garden and contacting the members of the surrounding community to find out what their needs are and how they would like to participate. If you live in the city, there may be empty lots near your school that would be ideal for beautification. The City of Pittsburgh allows empty city-owned lots to be gardened without any fee when you fill out a garden waiver form. Your city may have a similar program. You can incorporate lessons about city land policies, government regulations and community efforts into this section of the project.

Students can also write letters to community organizations and businesses to find funding for their project. Local gardening and hardware stores may be able to make donations in supplies or time, while other groups may simply donate money. With this preparation, you and your students will be completely ready to begin planting and watching your garden grow once spring rolls around!

Your class should invite the rest of the community to participate in the garden by offering small plots of land to local members or organizations who would like to take part. Students should be working with the community throughout the project to ensure that the community's needs are being met. If it is not possible to work with the surrounding community, however, the school community can serve as your target group. Your class can find out if any part of school property is available for gardening.

Ensuring Student Voice and Participation
Depending on the grade and needs of your class, students can be involved in the project at different levels of activity. In the project's ideal state, students will be responsible for conducting the community needs assessment, designing, building and planting the garden, working with the community to find additional sources for fundraising, and encouraging the community to take part ownership of the gardens to sustain them during the summer. These tasks can be adjusted as the class level necessitates without lessening the success of the service-learning project.

Reflection activities for this project are essential for all academic levels and can take a variety of forms throughout the project's existence. These activities can incorporate journal writing, portfolio creation, group discussion, oral presentations and other appropriate exercises. The exercises should focus on the students' changing perceptions about the community, the importance of gardening with that community and what it means to be a citizen and to serve one's community. They can also focus on what they've learned about land, plants and ecosystems, and what other projects they'd like to pursue with that knowledge.

A project such as this one can offer students a broad and meaningful experience in academics and community service. Most importantly, these gardens can be sustained year after year with class/community partnerships, ensuring that your program can grow and build upon itself with each new school year.

Grant Opportunities provide additional project ideas >>