Green Thumb Badge Inspiration

Get inspired with these ideas submitted from schools that earned the Green Thumb badge!

Bean Plants

This year, Ms. Wojewoda’s Grade 1’s planted a bean seed in April. The initiative was part of their science curriculum however, the Grade 1’s are encouraged to plant their bean plants once they grow big enough. This will promote planting and growing vegetables for healthy eating. They are patiently watering and watching their beans sprout and grow and hopefully, by the end of May, the students will be able to bring the plants home to plant in their gardens!

Fall Harvest

Students in the school pre-planted some vegetables for the local community garden and their school garden. Someone from a local greenhouse came in and gave them supplies and instructions. They then planted the vegetables in the local town community garden. They also have a school garden that is planted by Healthy Living club members. In the fall we harvested the 6 gardens and made stew and biscuits with them. In the previous year we put put the local vegetables in the fall fair and won a prize.

Indoor Tower Garden

An incentive for Glen Cedar this year was to provide an opportunity for students to plant vegetable seeds, observe how they grow and enjoy them. Together, the Healthy School Committee and The Parent Council investigated options for indoor gardening. Grants and financial supports were also explored to support this project and this led to the purchase of the tower garden. Seeds that were planted included gourmet lettuce, cucumber, rainbow chard, cherry tomatoes and sweet basil. As the vegetables grow, students will be provided samples of the harvested crop.

A Kindergarten Outdoor Garden

On Monday May 7th, Ms. Capewell and 6 students from our Kindergarten Class got together to plant pea seeds to begin our Outdoor Garden. The six students were able to pot the soil, plant the seeds and water them. The students decided to start with peas as they can be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, and will survive in cooler evenings. Afterwards, they went back to their classes and taught the other students about what they planted, and how as a Kindergarten class, they will take care of their plants. We would like to Thank the Healthy Kids Community Challenge for supplying us with everything we need for our Outdoor Garden.

A Variety of Vegetables

The month of April and May is a time to plant in vegetable gardens and planters. The students in Mrs. Pezzaniti and Ms. Palmeri planted a variety of vegetables in small pots. The plants were placed by the windows with daily observations made by all each day. Students were assigned the role each day of being the farmer to determine which plant needed water and to supply it with a watering can located by the classroom sink. As the plants grew with the vegetable stalk growing upward and the roots beginning to come through the bottom of the pot, they were sent home with the students to plant in their home soil or in larger pot.

Exploring and Growing 

Our kindergarten class is very interested in plants and gardens. It all started when I brought in the bottom part of lettuce and we had a discussion as to whether we thought the lettuce could regrow in water alone. Our teacher-librarian helped us research other fruits and vegetables that could grow in water. So we got started with planting! And researching! As we are limited in space in our school yard, we have begun to plant other types of fruit and vegetables in the classroom. Students also began to speak of our new class inquiry at home and we encouraged to bring in seeds and leftover vegetables to regrow. We have planted: potatoes, celery, carrots, fennel, avocado and various herbs. The students are encouraged to explore, observe and monitor the progress of this discovery station. They are eager to draw and record their findings and many have even expressed interest in researching more about growing vegetables indoors using the class iPad. We have recently added a series of Scholastic books to our class library with titles such as Grapes Grow on Vines, Carrots Grow in the Ground and Apples Grow on Trees to continue to encourage children to discover and learn about how their food is grown. Our favourite part was the fact that our students were so highly engaged in this inquiry. They would come to school each morning and run to the window where we planted and look to see if anything grew. They wanted to measure all of the vegetables growing daily! We loved to see that the whole class was involved. We were able to share our new learning with the parent community and encourage our students to continue planting vegetables and fruits at home too using leftovers!