Teaching From The Garden

My group of fifteen 7-year-olds clustered around the tub containing a gourd and some small ornamental pumpkins. Questions filled the air, “Is anything happening yet?”, “I think I see something!”, “I can’t see!”, as the children got excited about our first garden experience. We measured the little sprouts and recorded our data in our journals, complete with drawings. After that, two students took watering cans and filled them and came back to water our garden.

What were we doing? Well, we had buried some mini pumpkins and some gourds in growing media and we were checking on our experiment. This experiment incorporated mathematics, science, and language arts through measurement, graphing, the scientific method, and journaling. All this, and more, is possible by using our classroom garden as a teaching tool. If you have ever wanted to teach student-centred, inquiry-based lessons and aren’t sure where to begin. You’ve come to the right place…