Gettin' Down and Dirty!

One cold morning in January, the Lower School faculty got an email that started with, “Do you like the idea of working outdoors? Are you curious about ways to connect outdoor garden projects to your classroom curriculum?” With the winter winds blowing away outside, it seemed like the perfect thing to think about – spending time outside in the warm sun, digging in the dirt. Several Lower School teachers responded to the call put out by my colleagues Monica and Kathryn and over 5 days this June, we worked to expand the gardening spaces at Lower School and find meaningful ways to connect gardening to our curriculum.

During our grant we:

-      Researched shade plants native to our area, designed and planted a shade garden (with the help of B&G Staff and some of our Security Guards)

-      Created an additional Fairy Garden for imaginative play and a seating area for discussions

-      Researched and planted a pollinator garden with the intention of attracting Monarch butterflies, which will be a new component in the PK-2 Spanish curriculum

-      Planned additional curricular connections for PK-4^thgrades to embed gardening practices and outdoor explorations in already established curriculum

-      Built an Herb Spiral on the lower field in consultation with the expertise of an alumnus and the LS Kitchen for fresh herbs to be available for cooking

-      Experimented with ways to gather and send out information about the gardens to our school community through the use of Beacon technology

Monica and Kathryn hoped that we would form a team that could teach and support each other through this work. We surpassed these expectations! In the fall, we hope to introduce the rest of the faculty to the garden spaces and inspire their thinking about other ways to connect to the outside.