Northview — In the back yard of West Oakview Elementary, the Field School’s learning garden is growing — both in size and in scope.
Field School students spent time in the dirt last week building raised plant beds, laying soil and planting greenery to transform their existing orchard into a robust garden that will produce flowers, attract pollinators and grow fruits and vegetables.
The school received the plants and supplies thanks to a grant from local employer Dematic, where a Field School parent works. The approximately $7,500 grant also paid to equip the outdoor-focused program with a mobile kitchen, including a Vitamix blender and induction cooktop, which will give students the opportunity to learn various ways to prepare the produce they grow.
‘Gardening is delayed gratification. It’s not instantaneous, which is really important for kids.’
— teacher Sarah McCormack
“Teaching kids that they can grow their own food, and knowing where it comes from and being able to eat it fresh, is really important for us in the values of Field School,” said teacher Sarah McCormack. “We’re passionate about practicing healthy eating habits and modeling that for our students, and also reducing our waste when it comes to food.”
The new-and-improved learning garden is an expansion of the original garden full of fruit trees and flowers provided by the Northview Education Foundation a few years ago. Teacher Jenna Compton calls it “a multi-purpose project for hands-on, project-based learning,” where kids learn everything from teamwork to stewardship to the importance of pollinators.
Field School students are assigned classroom jobs related to the garden, including watering the plants and pulling weeds, and the teachers often hold classes in the space to offer a greater connection to the plants they help nurture.
“(In the garden), kids are working together in a different way than they do in the classroom,” Compton said. “They’re learning the life cycle of plants, practicing patience … There’s also the social-emotional component of gardening, that it doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to. Or, how do you deal with pests or other problems that you need to solve?”
Added McCormack: “Gardening is delayed gratification. It’s not instantaneous, which is really important for kids.”
Tie-ins to the Classroom
After last week’s building and planting efforts, the garden is now chock full of veggies including kale, carrots, broccoli, radishes, cauliflower and peppers. Field School third- and fourth-graders, with assistance from Dematic volunteers, put together wooden boxes to create the raised beds, while their first- and second-grade counterparts got to carefully place everything in the fresh soil.
Compton said the plan this fall is to study these plants to see which, if any, produce a harvest during the short growing season before winter. In the spring, they’ll discuss what comes next for the garden; some students have already expressed interest in a strawberry bed, for example.
‘I think a lot of love was put into it. And hard work. A lot of hard work.’
— Third-grader Remy Bordo
“We like following the kids’ interests,” McCormack said. “We can tie that to the research we do, like what the growing periods of various plants are and what they might be able to harvest while we’re still in school — we can tie that all in (to classroom work).
“It’s an honor to be chosen for this grant, and I told the kids it’s a big responsibility for us to care for these things that the community has given us. They love to get their hands dirty; they love feeling like they’re part of a team.”
The Field School teachers noted they want to get West Oakview’s general-population students involved with the garden, too. They’ll be starting with the kindergarten classes, who will have the opportunity to “adopt” a garden bed and help decide what they want to plant there.
After building one of the beds and laying soil, third-graders Remy Bordo and Finnley Blackmer said it was “really cool” to watch their garden expand.
“It’s fun to work in, and I like to eat the plants that we grow,” said Finnley, who’s hoping to try the lettuce once it gets large enough. “And I just like trees.”
Remy said he’s been waiting “for about two years” for their pears to ripen and is looking forward to the day they do so he can have a taste. While they wait, he said, he enjoys watering the plants throughout the school year.
“I think a lot of love was put into it,” he said of the learning garden. “And hard work. A lot of hard work.”
Read more from Northview:
• Creating music, building relationships with ‘magical’ students
• Field School adds sixth-graders, cooks up more great learning
