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Garden

Our school garden is a vibrant place of learning. All students PreK-4 participate in the care, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and cooking with our foods. We use this time to embed important lessons about community, science, mindfulness, and place. Below are photos of the work and learning.
 
Growing Gardeners, Our first 5 years!

Take a look at what we have accomplished (and where we plan to go) in only 5 years!
In the Spring of 2023, we will embark on our 9th Garden season! 
 
Stay tuned for an updated video of our progress since year five...

School Garden Curriculum 

Every Friday afternoon all students meet for community time where the entire school engages with the Growing Gardeners Curriculum every spring and fall.  In the spring of 2022, Selina Warren and three other educators, with support from the Franklin County Food Council, began working to revise the Growing Gardeners Curriculum that Mrs. Warren has been using for almost a decade. They are not only working on standards realignment, but they are also expanding the curriculum from one to three grade spans that encompass the K-8 learning continuum. Finally, they are creating integrated units to include not only science, but also English Language Arts, mathematics, and social studies content and standards. They plan to complete this inclusive and expansive resource in 2023! 
Selina Warren delivering the Growing Gardeners Curriculum

The Garden Classroom

The Garden Classroom at Kingfield Elementary School was established in 2014. It consists of eight large raised beds, the meeting area consisting of stumps and a chalkboard/teaching space, benches and picnic tables for workspaces, a large outdoor pavilion for cooking or large group work, the Biodiversity Field, a compost program, and a new greenhouse! For the past couple of years Growing Gardeners has created theme beds to organize our growing space and study companion planting.

Physical Activity

Every Growing Gardeners session involves a physical activity rotation. We develop cooperative games that incorporate physical activity and movement while reinforcing garden curriculum concepts, such as Farmer’s Market, Pollination Tag, The Life Cycle of a Plant Energizer, Healthy Foods Relay, and Food Group Sort Relay.

Cooking and Nutrition Lessons

Our most meaningful collaboration is with the Healthy Community Coalition of Greater Franklin County. For nearly a decade now, we have worked closely with SNAP EDucators for support with cooking and nutrition lessons. Every week during the fall garden program, we feature a crop from our garden and experienced nutrition educators teach our students how to use what they grew to prepare healthy meals and snacks.

Here are some other photos of students enjoying Growing Gardeners from previous years!