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The Classroom Gardener

Playing. Growing. Learning!

Kits for school gardeners

Our curated kits are designed with practicing K-8 elementary school teachers in mind. Kits come with a selection of anchor texts, teaching resources, and lesson sparks to engage learners in the garden classroom. In partnership with Canada’s non profit Outdoor Learning Store, kits are available for purchase here.

Teachers can also join us for the live launch of each kit, or watch the recording for an introduction to the kit before purchasing.

Upcoming webinars

Stay tuned for the release of our next kit in May 2023!

Kits Available for purchase

Purchase our looking closely kit here!

Recorded Webinars

Watch the launch of the Looking Closely Kit here:

Watch the launch of the Soil Exploration and Resources Kit here:

Watch how to start up an garden classroom teaching position in your school here:

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It’s incredible what a pack of googly eyes and f It’s incredible what a pack of googly eyes and fallen leaves can make with a little imagination! We are creating leaf monsters and funny faces in the garden today. What kind of art is happening in your garden classroom?
Today in the garden we worked on making signs to c Today in the garden we worked on making signs to communicate boundaries of our growing spaces! We introduced students to our newly designated play garden space, where digging and imagination are encouraged, and created a set of respectful rules around interacting with the rest of our garden, its creatures, and each other.
We are so excited to announce the release of our l We are so excited to announce the release of our latest Soil Study and Inquiry Kit in partnership with the @outdoorlearningstore !✨
🪱Developed by teachers for teachers, this kit includes 8 curated books, each with their own lesson sparks, guiding questions and curricular connections for playful inquiry in your school garden or yard. 
🪱Also included are materials for exploring, collecting and making observations of soil, which will deepen students’ understanding of this core component of our gardens. 
🪱Check out our free virtual workshop exploring this kit and other activities for soil studies on Tuesday, September 20th through the Outdoor Learning Store!
🪱100% of proceeds from the sale of this kit go back to supporting outdoor learning initiatives, including the creation of more inquiry kits!
Potatoes were late this year (along with a lot of Potatoes were late this year (along with a lot of crops!) but we can’t wait to harvest with our students when we return in September!
There’s nothing quite so exciting as reaching into the dirt to find these tasty gems 🤗
What do you make with your school garden potatoes?
It is truly so rewarding to finish off the last da It is truly so rewarding to finish off the last days of school by enjoying a healthy harvest from the school garden. The joy of students pulling their first carrot, or tasting fresh lettuce and kale, and getting to see the “click” in their brain of understanding the life cycle from seed to harvest…nothing better for a school garden teacher! 
We practice open-minded tasting to try new foods, compare and contrast textures and flavours, share stories of our home gardens, and celebrate our hard work! 
(And of course, we’re thankful for all the rain this spring for contributing to HUGE garlic bulbs!) 
We hope you’re enjoying the last few days of school and taking your students outside!
June is for salads in the garden!! June is for salads in the garden!!
This cold wet season means our first garlic harves This cold wet season means our first garlic harvest looks more like spring garlic but how special it is for students to nurture a crop through nearly an entire school year! 🧄
We are so excited to announce the release of our f We are so excited to announce the release of our first outdoor learning kit! The theme is Looking Closely 🧐, and our kit is full of materials for student use, picture books for reading in the garden, as well as lesson sparks, guiding questions and curricular connections for looking closely outdoors! Zero planning involved, just grab your kit and head outdoors! Link in bio to purchase, see below for more info.👇
Each kit includes:
📚 10 x curated picture books that support looking closely outdoors 
📝 11 page PDF that includes a conceptual overview of looking closely with lesson sparks and guiding questions for each book
🔍 10 x magnifying lenses on lanyards 
🐛 3 x nature magnifier jars (great for looking at bugs, leaves, soil — both from above and below)
🐿 3 x National Geographic student binoculars
🐌 2 x Bugs & Slugs Nature Guides 
🦋 2 x Butterflies & Pollinators Nature Guides 
🐝 2 x Bees & Pollinators Nature Guides 
We are proud to partner with The Outdoor Learning store (@outdoorlearningstore) for the sales and distribution of our kits. The kit was created and curated by teachers Megan Zeni (@roomtoplay), Sarah Regan and Lauren MacLean (@mentoringnatureconnections ). 
Support for creation of our kits comes from our relationship with the Intergenerational Landed Learning program at UBC and the National Science and Engineering Research Council (@nserc_crsng )
Successful successions! 🌱 Succession planting Successful successions! 🌱
Succession planting is an ideal planting method for school gardens. By spacing your timing of seeding rows a few weeks apart, you can ensure a constant supply of fresh veg! Overlapping generations of plants means a crop may be more resilient to pest cycles, there is less food waste in the garden due to smaller, more frequent harvests,  and it keeps young learners busy with lots of seeding, thinning, and harvesting! 
Plus those thinned out sprouts make for the tastiest garden snacks 😋
Another day of dirty hands and smiling students!!✋🤚
During the month of March we amend the soil in our gardens and discuss with students the differences between:
-compost (decayed organic matter 🍌🍂 broken down by our 🪱worm friends & many other creatures/microbiota)
-manure (horse or cow poop 💩 aged with mushrooms🍄 to help break down the nutrients into a form available to our plants 🌿)
-organic fertilizer (dry powder- ours is made from soya bean meal, kelp meal, alfafa meal and sunflower hull ash 🌻 - it acts like a multivitamin💊 to give our plants all the balanced nutrients to grow big and strong!)
Living on the rainy west coast, we lose a lot of soil nutrients through the winter. Amending garden soil helps to rebuild the quantities of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as improve soil structure for increased water and nutrient retention!
Have you got your hands dirty in the garden yet? 🤲🏼
Can you feel it? Spring is coming! ✨ We are look Can you feel it? Spring is coming! ✨
We are looking forward to getting our hands in the dirt and exploring all the creatures that have been breaking down our leaf mulch over the winter! 🪱🪲🕷
Decomposition is a fascinating topic to start the growing season and fosters so much emergent learning on soil composition, food webs, and even storytelling about our garden dwellers. On a sunny day like today, take a few trowels into the garden and see who is living in your garden soil! 
⏩ swipe for a baby worm, ready to take on Spring!
While we collect leaves for mulching the garden th While we collect leaves for mulching the garden this fall, we are discussing how worms decompose leaves to become part of the soil structure. A fun way to break up our leaves like worms is to cut out the letters of our names! This activity is great for fine motor skills, literacy, creativity and problem solving (how to make a hole for an A or O without cutting through the leaf?)
Seed saving time! ⏰ The opportunities for garden Seed saving time! ⏰
The opportunities for garden learning in the fall are endless, and one of our favorites is saving seeds. Excellent for fine motor skills and dexterity, seed saving allows students to observe the similarities and differences between crops, understand the full life cycle of the plant, how seeds travel, and learn the economics of seed purchasing and saving. Older students can discuss GMO’s and global seed banks! 
What seeds are you saving from your garden right now?
Magnifying glasses spark such a sense of wonder in Magnifying glasses spark such a sense of wonder in a garden! We are looking closely at the sleepy bumblebees in the marigolds as they wake up and drink their first sips of nectar 🐝
First day back in the garden! We are spending this First day back in the garden! We are spending this rainy day identifying the plants that have flourished in our garden over the summer. Identifying plants helps students create a relationship with the garden and their natural surroundings, and when they can name the plants, they are more likely to protect and love them!
Posted @withregram • @bcaitc Sign up by Septembe Posted @withregram • @bcaitc Sign up by September 9!  BC schools can register now to participate in @bcaitc's 2021-2022 Planting a Promise program (space is available on a first-come-first-served basis). This program provides K-12 students with the opportunity to grow daffodils AND tulips in the schoolyard with curriculum connections to Science, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and many more subjects. 
Contact Glenda Johnston at glenda@aitc.ca to confirm your interest. Space is limited. Details: www.bcaitc.ca. 
@bcteachersfederation @thesaorg @weareteachers @bcpita @eepsabc
#plantingapromise #register #participate #daffodils #tulips #flowers #grow #growingprogram #garden #schools #teachers #students #britishcolumbia #bc #bcaitc
Teach your children to be curious, and the world w Teach your children to be curious, and the world will always be full of new wonders ✨🔍
June is such a truly wonderful time of the year fo June is such a truly wonderful time of the year for an abundant harvest! Pest problems are minimal, crops have (mostly) overpowered the weeds and gardens are bursting with colour and flavor. We are harvesting as much as we can before summer break to make the most of our veggies! 
Don’t forget to set up a watering schedule over the summer for families to help care for the garden. The more the garden is frequented, the less likely theft and vandalism will be a problem! 
#vegucation #learntogrow #schoolgarden #futurefarmers #gardenkids #farmtoschoolbc #emergentcurriculum
#playoutdoors #outdoorlearning #nochildleftinside #learningthroughplay #earlylearning101 #whatevertheweatherkids #runwildmychild #classgarden #classroomgardener #STEMinthegarden
A beautiful sunny day to harvest garlic! Students A beautiful sunny day to harvest garlic! 
Students at Blessed Sacrament (@esselites) pulled some massive bulbs and curly scapes. A great lesson on root crops and how the stage of flowering can relate to bulb size! Garlic will be sold to raise money for charity and to reinvest in their garden. 🧄🌱
It’s harvest salad day at Kingswood Elementary! It’s harvest salad day at Kingswood Elementary! Students are harvesting, washing, prepping and mixing salad ingredients to enjoy together. We practice mindful eating and respectful tasting, even if it’s food we’ve never tried before! There are a lot of adventurous eaters among little gardeners!
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