Click here to donate or share.
After a year of being kept at home away from their teachers and friends, my students have the need to be social and work with others in groups. They missed a whole year of being around their peers - learning together. Their social-emotional needs are greater at this time than any other; relearning to work in a group, to take the needs of others into account, and be responsible citizens in the school community. Relearning to be responsible for themselves and their behavior and to gain some maturity that was not gained by staying at home are important skills that have suffered over the last year of being isolated. Our students need to become part of a community again and to feel safe within that community.
By starting a school garden, the students will be working together with their peers to regain the group skills they have lost, while learning about climate change, it's solutions and the environment around them.
They will learn how to test soil as well as which soils are best for plants as they learn how to plant and care for their garden. They will learn about healthy foods and the value of growing their own as well as the benefits of buying local and organic. They will learn the devastating effects of pesticides and herbicides as they learn the value of insects in our world. All of this is a hands-on experience for the students as they work in groups to learn about climate change and the environment and their influence in their world. Working together as a team to ensure the care and success of the garden will bring my students closer as a community and give them purpose and responsibility and a place to safely calm their minds and regroup their emotions.