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In my school, my fellow 7th grade science teacher and I are starting an Environmental Science Club this Monday. One of our goals is to create a native IL prairie within the school grounds. We have a retention pond on the property already, and two interior courtyard areas in the school building. My thoughts are to seed some of the more difficult to grow prairie plants in the interior courtyards and transplant to the prairie as it is developed or at least cultivate the plants to have the seeds to drop. I am open to all and any ideas on how to kick this off.... :-) Thanks for the information on the webseminar and the collection.

Susanne This is an awesome project… Our Ecology club did an activity 2 years ago, more like a xeroscape garden. I would contact a local nursery/garden place or university. Many times botany is a class that students take, and they could maybe provide free plants/seeds. You could also ask a Lowes/Home Depot if they would be willing to donate. Also, the web seminars are always great! This collect is well put together - Thanks :) Thanks, hope this helps Liz

I love school gardens. They are incredible tools to integrate so many disciplines, and so many approaches. When my daughter was younger, we (her Girl Scout troop) did an organic garden to support the local food pantry. We began early in the year with native American lore, and discovered the 'three sisters.' This was the theme for our garden, and when we would go to the garden we would care for the garden, and read stories. It brought history, culture, and science to life for these girls, and helped them forge long relationships with the local food pantry.

New Mexico State University has a website that provides background through a series of webquests at http://ddl.nmsu.edu/kids/webquests/wqthreesisters_k.html. A good book to get started is Native American Gardening by Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto. The Green Education Foundation also has some excellent materials to get you started at http://www.greeneducationfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=213:green-thumb-challenge-growing-a-native-american-three-sisters-garden&catid=85:grades-3-5&Itemid=61.

That sounds fantastic, Sue, and a lot of work! You have probably already lined up your prairie seeds; but if not, I was able to go collect my own. We have some virgin prairie near where I live and there is an organization that goes out each year to collect seeds from there. They let you come along and help. You get to keep a certain portion of the seeds you collect for them. Our Chicago Botanic Garden may be of some help as well. it sounds like your school is in a great location for doing science!

Arlene - thank you for posting the link to TEDXManhattan - it sounds amazing. The webinar Tuesday night was so full of information and there were some really great comments by the facilitators about really thinking about what your goals are BEFORE you put the shovels in the dirt. I've done 3 sisters with the kids but the corn rarely gets tall - I was told that is because I do not heave enough planted for proper pollination. We are doing "Plant a row for the HUngry" this year and the goal for kids is to plant food that they can bring to a local food pantry on a regular basis, so we are working on planting with a sustained harvest in mind and succession planting as the big instructional ideas.

I was thinking about starting a small compost that could be used in the school garden. Composting is an effective way to reduce our carbon footprint and in the process farm organically. Unfortunately, I have never actually created or maintained a compost so I'm a little intimidated. Does anyone have any resources or suggestions that could help? Thank You, Angie

I found a collection of resources that will assist anyone who is interested in creating a schoolyard garden- it can be accessed by going to: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/share.aspx?id=svTNh3njKu Happy planting!!

And here is one more really useful collection that has been shared by one of our fellow educators! http://learningcenter.nsta.org/share.aspx?id=usLJadNor9 Thanks for sharing your resources and ideas folks! It definitely takes a community to educate a child!

Susanne wrote, 'My thoughts are to seed some of the more difficult to grow prairie plants in the interior courtyards and transplant to the prairie as it is developed or at least cultivate the plants to have the seeds to drop. I am open to all and any ideas on how to kick this off.... :-)'

Hi Susanne,
Most native prairie plants do not transplant well. It is best to collect the seeds and plant the seeds in the area where you want them to grow. Tell me more about your site and I can offer some suggestions. We have two native prairie areas at my high school.
Ruth

We started a native area in our courtyard about 5 years ago. We spread the seeds around -- however the wind and birds attacked the next day. We did not see any of the grasses or flowers grow in the middle of the courtyard for two years. However, our test plots on the sides are thriving. They have continued to grow. We had some help from some nearby nature centers. Our difficulty lies in the upkeep over the summer. One of the teachers and her husband weed and cut the area of non-wanted grasses. We tried to get rid of the initial grass and weeds with many a spray of weed killer, but the weeds are relentless and continue to come back. It does give the kids something to do when we do visit. I will try to upload pictures of the lovely area. Some of our trees did not bloom for several years, but they are fruitful now!

Hi to all - To anyone in the New York area - Cornell Cooperative Extensions have two great opportunities to help - the first is the Spring Gardening School - held regionally - these are low cost workshop days run by Master Gardeners. The 2nd is the Mater Gardener Program itself. I've been able to get mentors - local people with a passion for gardening and sharing the love of gardening - to come in to my school and work with the students. Here is the man website page: http://cce.cornell.edu/Pages/Default.aspx

Fellow gardeners, Spring is definitely in the air. Arlene, thank you for the fantastic and comprehensive resource on school composting. I will be getting started this weekend. I will keep you posted on my journey into composting... and may be soliciting advice along the way. Thank You, Angie

Today was the first day out in our school vegetable garden with parents and students. We are planting in cooperative groups this year - and each group has their own garden plot. In order to help the kids really 'see' what their small plot would look like planted we are using a really simple but cool resource: http://vegetableplanner.vegetable-gardening-online.com/

Caryn, Where are you located? We still have about 6" of snow! Have you used cold frames or a greenhouse to start the plants?

I can't imagine having anymore snow! Although there were flurries around this morning when the first group of kids came outside we knew that the soil was ready to go and that is what matters with the early season crops! I'm on Long Island (southern New York) I use cold frames and even a warm frame in my home garden but we are just beginning to build the outdoor classroom space and school garden at the elementary school I work at. We have three 4 ft x 8 ft beds for planting smaller things in...bush peas, radishes, spinach, leaf lettuce, carrots, herbs... and a "repurposed" flower bed that runs along a southern exposure brick wall (about 60 sq ft) that we will be using for cucumber vines, squash and pumpkins. We also have a compost tumbler that students take turns collecting vegan scraps for and monitoring. Cold frames are an excellent way to extend the season and are fun to build with the kids - our town recycling center always has great window panes to use for them.

TITLES PLEASE! Hi to all on this thread. I am trying to put together a library of garden resources books fro my elementary school garden. Our school community is using the money from recycling water bottles to fund our garden and these books would be housed in the STEM lab throughout the year for anyone (teacher, parent, student) to use. Thanks Caryn

Arlene - thank you for responding and the links. Yes, I had surveyed through the NSTA recommends list as well. I am looking for 'referency' material for lack of a better word...Like easy to use encyclopedia of plants or dichotomous keys that the kids can take and discover information for themselves but might not hit the radar as trade books. Also lesson plan, activity based books for the teachers who will be using this garden as an outdoor teaching space. so..still looking for ideas....anyone with another title to recommend?

Some titles that my children liked were:
Green Thumbs: A Kid's Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening (A Kid's Guide series) by Laurie Carlson
Kids' Container Gardening: Year-Round Projects for Inside and Out by Cindy Krezel and Bruce Curtis
Ready, Set, Grow!: A Kid's Guide to Gardening: Grades 1-5
The Kids Can Press jumbo book of gardening by Morris, Karyn.

Also, you can check out EEK!--Tree Dichotomous Key

Ruth, I love the dichotomous key website. I will use it next fall with my pre-service elementary teachers in my methods class when they’re learning about process skills—classifying. Thanks! Kathy

Ruth, I love the dichotomous key website. I will use it next fall with my pre-service elementary teachers in my methods class when they’re learning about process skills—classifying. Thanks! Kathy

Hi Everyone,
I am so glad that there are two different discussion threads going on this topic. For interested garden enthusiasts, in the Life Science Discussion Forum there is a similar thread entitled 'How does you garden grow?' There is so much to share about botany and growing plants. I am finding great ideas from both discussion threads. I, too, am going to use the dicotymous key site, Ruth. Thank you.

Ruth - thank you for the book recommendations and for the link to the dichotomous key site.
Sometimes you want to take your keys to the trees - Here is my bible for identification:
The Tree Finder by May Theilgaard Watts

I have 5 copies so I can take the kids out with it in their pockets but I also put the book right on the document scanner and project it in class. This is helpful when the kids are first learning how to use a dichotomous key.

A while ago Arlene posted about local sustainability. Now that we are harvesting everyday, sitting out by the garden eating something grown, rinsed off and eaten all within a few feet, there are such teachable moments to talk about ow far our food normally travels and why we choose as a country to eat so many processed foods. Here are some books that can start/support a discussion whether it pops up next to lush green garden bed or on a cold winter day:
What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets and Hungry Planet: What the World Eats both by Peter Menzel. These books can be purchased with curriculum guides and poster sets as well.

There are great Social Studies and Language Arts tie ins here as well!