Students at Banded Peak School will soon have a chance to learn and grow with a school garden.
“Our school currently doesn’t have any outdoor gardening for our kids and with respect to teaching we want to teach our kids about growing and sustainability,” said Shara Masiuk, Banded Peak teacher and avid gardener.
After receiving a grant from the Toyota Evergreen Learning Grounds program on Wednesday, the Bragg Creek kindergarten to Grade 8 school now has $2,050 to purchase all the necessities to start a community garden. The plan is to buy such things as raised garden beds, seeds, seed starter kits, and whatever other additional costs the program might incur.
Titled Growing Learners, the garden will be spearheaded by the Grade 1 and Grade 2 classes and shared with the rest of the school and community.
“Gardening with kids is a very common, popular thing to do … we are excited this is coming to fruition for us,” Masiuk said.
“The kids are ecstatic. The more they are involved with their own learning, the more it is authentic and meaningful for them.”
The hamlet teacher explained she was inspired to apply for the grant after researching a German gardening technique, titled hugelkultur, where garden beds are raised and use decomposing matter such as logs, twigs and leaves for compost and as a way to retain water.
“I did a ton of research and thought I am learning so much, I need to teach my kids,” Masiuk said.
Growing Learners will not only teach students about the science aspect of gardening and the grow cycle but Masiuk said the project will be tied to other parts of the curriculum such as math for measuring time and season, English where students journal about their learning experience, and possibly sketching to incorporate art class.
“We are just so lucky we have the land to hold any kind of project like this,” Masiuk said.
The community garden will likely be installed close to the school where students can check on the progress daily and hamlet residents can visit and share their green thumb wisdom.
For more information go to bpeak.rockyview.ab.ca.
