Little Flower Elementary ~ Grades Preschool - 5 » Outdoor Classroom
Outdoor Classroom! Our students are provided hands-on learning in our beautiful outdoor classroom. We have six separate gardens, each a different geometrical shape. We have a triangle (corn, sunflowers), hexagon (radishes, carrots), octagon (tomatoes, beans, cucumbers), square (barley, wheat), pentagon (soy beans, peas), and a half circle (variety of flowers). Our third graders are responsible for planting the Marian Garden (flowers). The flowers produced in these gardens are used by all students in the fall for religion, science, and math classes. Students are able to pull flowers and study, observe, and draw the plant from root to flower. Our fourth graders plant the crop gardens as part of their North Dakota Studies. The crops harvested from these gardens are used for social studies, religion, math, science, and health. These gardens are used to teach students how the farms of our state help feed the people of North Dakota as well as the United States and the world. We discuss the importing and exporting of foods. Our fifth grade students plant the fresh vegetable gardens. These gardens are used in many curriculum areas to teach the nutritional value of fresh produce as opposed to processed. The harvested vegetables are used as snacks in our after school program. We have one instructor that organizes the planting and gathering process. Each instructor in the building then uses the gardens as their curriculum needs come about through the year. Living in North Dakota means our gardens are covered with snow from the end of November until April. This doesn’t stop us. We plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. The gardens are maintained through the summer by school staff and students. We hope to bring in retired people from our parish to work along with the students with the planting and maintaining of the garden. This garden space is a very tranquil environment. It is located next to our church. A state university is located across the street. The gate to the garden area is never locked. Any member of our parish community, college community or town community has access to this space. This space provides a spiritual environment as well as a quiet, natural environment.
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