Community Garden: A Hands-on Learning Experience!

Funded Jan 31, 2015

My students and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the wonderful gardening supplies! When we received the materials, I opened the packages in front of the students. They were so excited to look at everything and wanted to use it all right away.

Even though our school community garden is still in the works of being built, we have begun gardening! I have a small garden in the backyard of my classroom that we will be planting our flowers in. The students have used the trowels to soften the dirt in the backyard so we can begin to plant outside. They loved getting to dig and use the gloves to protect their hands from getting too dirty. It has been a class effort to get everything ready! We have begun to use the resources, like the soil, the coconut peat pots, and the trowels for our gardening. We are using the supplies to measure the plants growing and see if a special mixture of water is beneficial to the plants. It has been used to help with our science experiment for the school's science fair. It has been fantastic, and they walk in the door each day asking when we will measure and water the plants.

Since my students are naturally curious about plants, it has been an easy transition to take their learning outdoors. As the weather gets warmer, we will be outside more often. We have also begun to use the bug jars, and it gives the students a chance to look at the bugs closer without being scared to be so close. They love looking at details, and counting the legs! All these resources are giving my students a hands-on learning experience, and lets them know that there are reasons why they are learning about everything.

Thank you so much for everything! We are definitely using everything we can before the end of the school year! My students are enjoying all the supplies and are getting wonderful experiences before the school garden is built. They will be able to go into the garden and truly appreciate it for its entirety.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Sedillo