….. on the outside!
I mentioned in my last post that I’d been working on a garden outside our classroom. Well, it’s finally finished. This is what our portable classroom looked like at the start of the year. My room is the first one. This picture was taken before I’d gotten into the room during our Summer off. The grass was much greener then! We’ve had a very dry Winter….bring on Summer thunderstorms!
And this is after! We did all of this in the last 4 weeks!
This guy showed up as well, thanks to a wonderful mum! There’s a little joey in the pouch too! The same mum made the bees, butterfly and ants!
I LOVE the pallets that are up against the building. We are growing some succulents, climbers, herbs, lettuces, flowers and a whole pallet of strawberries! Love the bee at the end too!
The butterflies and ants are super cute!
This area between the stairs to the classrooms used to be overgrown with weeds and rubbish would end up down there. Not anymore! This is our gnome garden.
My teaching partner has had the 3 little pigs put up camp in the space down the end of the building! The green fenced area is for potatoes. He is a very creative teacher!
I think the No Wolves sign is absolutely adorable!
As you can imagine, the kids LOVE it! We’ve had to make a new class job – Gardener! We haven’t really had to do anything with the upkeep of it yet, the plants just need watering each day. We can’t wait until we can harvest what we’ve grown.
We started the garden because our science head has initiated a Green Gnome award. Each class was to take responsibility for an area around the school or their class – keep it rubbish free, the garden clean, make our school greener etc. We’ve also gotten in more rainwater tanks, recycling bins for the playground – they even trucked in heaps of soil for our gardens etc. The teachers have really taken it onboard – we’ve got some lovely gardens popping up, areas are looking tidier, some have started compost bins etc. The Green Gnome will be awarded to a different class each month. We don’t want to be overconfident or anything, but my wonderful mum also made a lovely throne for the Green Gnome to sit on if we win him this month!
What does your school do to encourage a cleaner, greener school?
Oh, and here’s a little, itty, bitty photo of me as Camilla Cream….
21 Responses
I’m so jealous! I’ve always wanted to do a class garden, but the genius who designed some of our gardens put them in the shade!!! They don’t get sunlight 🙁 You’ve all done a fabulous job. I can just imagine the looks on the kids’ faces 🙂
Shanyn
Coffee, Kids and Compulsive Lists
LOL at your ‘itty bitty’ photo!
I look terrible in the photo, it was towards the end of the day and my hair had lost some of its ‘poof’! The kids really do love the garden and we’ve had parents and kids from other year levels dropping by, kids getting photos with the kangeroo etc. Our classes are so proud. Too bad about yours being in the shade. Ours is in the shade for the morning but gets the afternoon sun.
This is just brilliant!!! Congrat’s to you and the kids on a super effort – they must just love entering class each day now. Isn’t there competitions around for the Greenest School, or Environmentally Friendly schools – you soooo should enter this garden in one!!! Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden would be a good one, and the Nutritional Health award from the Brisbane Produce Markets for school grown fresh foods was always another good one. Hunt some out and enter as a reward for the kids…
Looks fantastic! You need to tell the secret of how you made the pallets into gardens!
Thanks for the tips, Judith! I’ll look into it!
No secret! Just stand them up and put stakes on the inside into the ground to stop them from falling. Pile in the soil – it will keep coming out, but just keep putting it in until it compresses itself down. When adding plants, start from the bottom (because the soil will fall out, so you can keep scooping it up and adding it again!). For the ones that have a larger gap, we added a garden material thing (???) and attached it to the inside first. Some of the staff at my school are wanting to make them for their homes!
WOW! Kylie, that is an amazing effort, your kids must be super chuffed to come to school now. I love the idea of a class garden, I tried to start one at my last school but didn’t get very far. Now that I have seen your efforts I am re-inspired! BTW I love your itty bitty photo from book week (;
Tania
Love LOVE LOVE the pallet garden, Pinterest right!? 🙂
Jenna
Just Diving In
So neat! Your garden looks great. I bet the kids just love it!
~Andi
I’m featuring this post on Bagels and Blogs tomorrow!!
Donna
Math Coach’s Corner
I loooove your garden!! I am a bit jealous because I know the kids would love to try this here, but I’m sure we wouldn’t be allowed. Best wishes for a bountiful harvest!!!And I hope you get that gnome!! 🙂
Nancy
firstgradewow.blogspot.com
Thanks Tania! Your kids will love it if you are able to get one up and running!
LOL, you’d think so, but I’ve got no idea! One of my mum’s came up with the idea! It has worked a treat, so easy to maintain!
They sure do, now I just have to deal with their disappointment when they are not chosen for our Gardener job each week!
Wow, thanks Donna! Can’t wait to read it!
It’s too bad that ventures such as this are not encouraged, let alone not allowed 🙁 The kids are so engaged, involved and learning so much. Oh, and we got the gnome!!
Wow, your garden looks fantastic. It’s a credit to your and your class. We have a garden but nothing as fancy as yours. Well done. I’m jealous.
Rhonda
Classroom Fun
Looks fantastic! Very Jealous!
Alison
Thanks Rhonda!
Thanks Alison!