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Welcome
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0-1: A Welcome Note from Victoria 30 minLecture1.1
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0-2: Good Things to Know 30 minLecture1.2
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0-3: Why Literacy Outdoors? 30 minLecture1.3
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0-4: Ideas to Kick Start Your Literacy Garden 30 minLecture1.4
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0-5: Supply List for Reading, Writing, Listening, and Talking Outdoors 30 minLecture1.5
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Module 1: Gardens that Feed
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1-1: Welcome to The Gardens that Feed 30 minLecture2.1
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1-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture2.2
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1-3: Plant Literacy Ideas 30 minLecture2.3
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1-4: Grow Literacy Activities 30 minLecture2.4
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1-5: Harvest Curriculum-on-the-Go Kits 30 minLecture2.5
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Module 2: Gardens as Outdoor Learning Stations that Inspire Themes
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2-1: Welcome to Gardens as Outdoor Learning Stations that Inspire Themes 30 minLecture3.1
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2-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture3.2
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2-3: Plant Literacy Ideas 30 minLecture3.3
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2-4: Grow Literacy Activities 30 minLecture3.4
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2-5: Harvest Literacy Curriculum Kits 30 minLecture3.5
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LIVE Workshop #1Lecture3.6
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Module 3: Gardens that Attract Wildlife
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3-1: Welcome The Gardens that Attract Wildlife 30 minLecture4.1
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3-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture4.2
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3-3: Plant Literacy Ideas 30 minLecture4.3
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3-4: Grow Literacy Activities 30 minLecture4.4
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3-5: Harvest Literacy Curriculum Kits 30 minLecture4.5
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Module 4: Gardens for Beauty and Art
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4-1: Welcome to The Gardens for Beauty and Art 30 minLecture5.1
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4-2: Gather Seeds of Inspiration 30 minLecture5.2
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4-3: Plant Ideas 30 minLecture5.3
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4-4: Grow Activities 30 minLecture5.4
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4-5: Harvest Curriculum Kits 30 minLecture5.5
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LIVE Workshop #2Lecture5.6
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53 Comments
I want to put together a stone pathway and love the idea of putting words, colors or even shapes and pictures on them for younger kids. This is something they can help with and direct where their path will lead.
I like the use of rocks for forming words and sentences for literacy enhancement. Also providing a name card for each kind of plant is important as well as writing a short sentence for description.
I was excited when I heard the word synesthesia because I had done a project with my students based on it. I was teaching about the senses and I had them listen to music and paint. I told them illustrate a picture while you listen. How do you perceive the colors? I think that adding concepts or themes to a garden is good. By adding in the senses, colors or books we are able to explore children’s Idas better. It also becomes more exciting for them. I also liked how each semester or year they would include a group and they would talk about it. I think this teaches children a lot of social skills and it helps them make friends and confidence in what they do. I hope I can do something like this with my students some day.
I’m smiling now…awesome!
Listening to this interview made me really think about things and definitely look at books in a completely different way! I really love the ideas of planting things based on books. I think this in itself you can create so many ideas from this. The stone pathway idea is awesome using different words and the children can even write different words on stones as they learn each word I also think that this can be expanded on as the year goes on. I think its even brilliant to apply both concepts and relating words on stones and applying to gardens that are based on that book or creations of things based on whatever books you chose. The whole idea of themes based on whatever curriculum, books or concepts is mind blowing and made me really inspired.
I love this!!
Creating an inspirational rock path with the children would be the right way for them to express themselves and write what they are feeling at the moment. I would love to do one at my center.
So simple!
This was so fascinating to me as Valerie and Mark were so excited about their work together that it spilled over everywhere. I realized that the rock garden can bring people of different nationalities, cultures, and backgrounds closer together. I realized that I only scratched the surface when I thought about the concept of an outdoor classroom.
The idea of the rock garden can be utilized by small children and adults. The toddlers can paint rocks, write words or their names, whereas the adults or college students can write a narrative or work to formulate a project about the same garden. This shows the different levels and stages in which an idea can be encompassed from a simple rock.
Fantastic reflections!! Love that you are digging deeper.
Share 3 takeaways from this interview and the Saint Michaels Teaching Gardens.
I was fascinated with how Valerie Children literature major and Mark, biologist put their skill and knowledge together to design gardens. Gardens that benefits the entire college.
I really like the International Garden and how it is utilized to connect, especially those students. Its such a great idea and learning experience for both local and international students. Even though I work with preschool children I believe this is something we could try at our school and it’s something I am going to investigate.
I also like their “The Books in Bloom Garden”. There are so many ideas that can be represented in this garden. I am thinking garden with flower, or fruit, veggies that comes from a blossom for example Plums, strawberry, apple, blueberry, squash, tomato
Great take-aways! I think they are brilliant and fun!
After listening to the speakers I was inspired by their model. I thought the International garden and its link to geography, cultural and language was amazing and real world learning. I think that the word garden with rocks can be pretty much created in any play area. During the pandemic people have been painting words on rocks and leaving them on hiking trails around the area. They have even geo-marked the locations and people can follow the rocks from place to place as they are being moved. Much like geocaching. There is an opportunity to have collaboration with community gardens and farms. I arches gave me the idea that the children could practice “block” building with rocks in the garden by creating towers.
Wonderful!!!
Wow! This is amazing! I never heard about this. Such a great way of incorporating literacy in nature.
YEA!
Valerie and Mark can come to Michigan and lead workshops for all the schools! Wow, what they have done for the teaching garden is very inspirational. I do appreciate them getting their college students involved with the designs and hands-on building of the gardens. Especially for those that
may never have played in the dirt. Hopefully, those students will somehow get their future families involved in gardening in some way.
I would like to have an international garden. Each year it seems like I get the opportunity to have at least 1 or 2 children of different nationalities mingled with all the other children. I read a fabulous book titled Ugly Vegetables from the library. This little girl wanted to grow colorful flowers like all her neighbors but her mom only grew vegetables which were not very pretty to the little girl. At the end of the season, mom and little one cut up those vegetables and made soup which they shared with their neighbors. The following year, the neighbors all grew their flowers again but added some of those ugly vegetables too.
I also want to add the word rocks plus rocks with the children’s names on them. The kids could find their own names as well as see the names of the other children who start with the same letter as their’s.
I now want to add signs all over and have scavenger hunts!
Yes…Valerie and Mark are a wonderful team and have created an amazing teaching garden. I’m glad you enjoyed the interview. Your ideas are flourishing!I love the idea of having an International Garden. Brilliant! Keep up the great work. I love reading your reflections and ideas.
It is very important to see how the kids enjoy the outside activities.Writing on rock, painting woods and leaves. When they plant vegetables or a special and favorite garden product.They are so happy to do that. I can remember the last Summer all our kids enjoyed to plant vegetables.
It is very important and interesting to see how the kids enjoy the outside activities.Writing on rock, painting woods and leaves. When they plant vegetables or a special and favorite garden product.They are so happy to do that. I can remember the last Summer all our kids enjoyed to plant vegetables.
I can take this concept and add it to your garden by collecting materials, letters, and more to make what one word do you have in your head to say it out load. The 3 takeaways from this interview I can use are helpers/friends to work together, used books to read and learn, and cartoon shows that have some ideas that you want to put some in it. The Saint Michaels Teaching Gardens that I use is colors to think of what blends in a word or a catchphrase that what do you want to represents this activity.
I do you not have miniature characters in my fairy garden. I don’t have any people that I can think of, but every characters has everybody made that can always come and welcome to my fairy garden and they do not have names.
Great job!
I want to add a word rock walking path where we spray paint the rocks and write different words on them then they can add to it while they are outside and I would love to have the words to certain books where they can see it in the book
I can see it!
I think utilizing the idea of literacy books about nature and connecting it with outside is really cool. For example one book that is in my curriculum kit that I can create a mini lesson on for my preschoolers would be to have my students look for the different type of leaves and the colors of leaves outside after reading the book called, ” Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf”.
Love this book!
We love the word rocks. We could have the children paint different words, maybe some quotes or something like a puzzle to put together. They could make stone art. We also love the idea of nature scavenger hunts. Definitely something are children will love to do.
Super exciting ideas. Keep them coming.
I believe adding interactive objects to an environment adds to the inspiration of the gardens. The children would play with the objects and would also be able to build things from it.
Yes!!!
Creating the space with book inspirations is a great idea. Lov it
Back when I was in middle school, we had a wood shop class where we would make scaled down houses and make “peeps” or essentially scaled down people for the houses we would make.
Something that we try and work on with our students in my class is name recognition and for those that are ahead in that capacity we work on writing their name. I would be inclined to use our chalk for working on finding their name on a piece of nature that I have written on with the chalk and then they could either practice their own name on that piece of nature.
I like the idea of having words on rocks and posing questions with them. I think this is something I can incorporate my older kids into. They can create words or sayings or questions on rocks and pose them in the outdoor classroom for all the other children to read. They will also feel more connected and engaged in the outdoor classroom because they contributed to the space in a meaningful way.
I would like to maybe do a rock garden we have many rocks in our yard and there are so many things we could do with our rocks .. we could paint them wash them find bigger rocks for our garden to grow etc..
wow. I love it
I will implement the word stones in the garden here at the program.
I would love to start a word garden outside. The children could create their own stories with just a few key words that they could search for in the word garden.
Also, I really loved the idea of putting pictures of children in the garden. That makes the garden much more personalized, and fun!
Making the fairy garden was so much fun. It brought me back to my childhood. It was fun and magical. This activity would be great with the toddlers in my class. Using each and every one of their ideas for inspiration. The idea of creating a sign would draw the aspect of art into the activity as well.
I agree! The shrinking pictures idea is great
Building different styles of house would be fun
I love the idea of shirking pictures of the kids and incorporating them into the fairy garden. That is a very creative idea.
Going to try the shrinking idea for pictures and i will try it.
I love the idea of a word garden but we could modify it for toddlers! A picture garden!!!
My toddlers really love rocks of all shapes and sizes and although they can’t read I really like the idea of putting words on rocks in our garden to peak their interest.
love the idea
I have a cactus fairy garden with no figures because I like the imagination sparked by the setting. It would be fun to take photos of the kids and shrink them, and laminate them so the are able to see themselves in the garden.
I love that you leave things to the children’s imagination. I also LOVE the idea of shrinking pictures of the children. Fantastic creativity happening here!
I LOVE the shrinking idea!
Might have to try this myself!
Oh my, I can picture my preschoolers finding themselves out in the garden! What a fun idea. We could move the pictures of the children around the garden too and then they’d have to find themselves again!
Let me know how it goes.
I can imagine children would be much more engaged in the activity, being able to essentially put themselves into the little world(s) that they have created and seeing themselves participating within it.