With schoolyard gardens in full swing, many spring vegetables have grown and are ready to harvest. Parker Elementary students, along with the school’s Nurse Anderson, harvested a spring salad mix. They overwintered spinach using a row cover frame, and were able to harvest spinach throughout the winter and spring that they planted last fall! The […]
Learning About Insects in the Garden: Harmful vs. Helpful
Students at Educare Early Learning Center in Kansas City, KS were excited to finally get outside in their gardens after almost six straight days of rain! I met the students for a quick lesson on helpful insects and pests. We started by looking at pictures of praying mantis, bees, wasps and ground beetles, reviewing each […]
Comanche Elementary 2nd Graders: Taking Charge of the Schoolyard Garden
Comanche Elementary in the Shawnee Mission School District has been a Schoolyard Gardens member for over 7 years. This year, the second grade team has taken over the gardening duties. The students were first introduced to the garden last fall when they cleaned out the garden which had grown full of pesky summer weeds. The […]
Planting Summer Crops in Your Schoolyard Garden
Summer is the lushest time of the year for the garden, but it also happens to be when most schools are on break. Even if your school is not in session during the summer months, that doesn’t mean your students have to miss out on garden favorites like tomatoes and peppers! Sweet potatoes are low-maintenance […]
KC Healthy Kids to Offer Free Training for Teachers
\Each year, schools and students around Kansas City participate in KC Healthy Kids’ annual ‘I Am Here’ Youth Advocacy photo contest. The contest encourages students to examine the health, or lack of health, in their own communities and to document their findings in photos. This contest is a great lesson where students learn the importance […]
Growing the Garden Space at Holliday Montessori
The students at Holliday Montessori have been gardening for many years in four raised beds in their playground. Over the years, student and teacher interest grew, but there were not enough raised beds for every class to use. After a long period of planning, the teachers and students decided to expand their vegetable garden to […]
Preschool Students Plant Their Spring Vegetable Gardens
Students at Richardson Early Learning Center were so excited to get out planting in their garden! They planted mustard greens, Sugar Ann snap peas and carrot seeds. While planting our garden, we talked about keeping track of our seeds by planting them in a straight line. We also talked with them about how it’s important to […]
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Reseeding and Thinning Your Spring Schoolyard Garden
If you are one of our 100 plus schools who have already planted their spring garden this year, you might be seeing some sprouts coming up in your schoolyard garden already! Most seeds take a week or two to germinate, or sprout, while others take a little longer. In order to germinate on time, seeds […]
Spring Is Here! Schoolyard Gardeners Busy Planting Spring Vegetables
It is officially spring, and the Schoolyard Gardens staff have been hard at work planting with their member schools. As schools return from their spring break, we encourage them to plant their spring garden to ensure a harvest before the end of the school year. Between March 20 and March 24 alone, over 60 schools throughout […]