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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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81 Comments
We have little planting pots on the side on the playground. We planted some flowers, strawberries and peas!
Growing up I spent many hours helping my father in the garden. It’s satisfying to see the progression from seed to picking fresh vegetables and fruits. I’d like to bring that to the kids in program. I think kids naturally have a connection to the outdoors.
Love this!
I do not have a garden story. I recently planted some flowers and carrots using recycled water hubs and an egg carton. I needed to have 10 hrs to continue with my eec certificate and continue teaching. Though I work with infants, this was the only class available.
Welcome!!
I remember gardening with my dad and learning or trying to learn as much as I could from his way of gardening. My other memory of gardening was the harvest and mom canning and freezing the produce from the garden. I remember there being a nut tree on our property and we would go pick the nuts when they were ready. I also remember reading outside as a child in the summer. We were always outside. Reading out side was really nice and I feel like todays’ children aren’t out side enough.
Love this!
I love to garden and camping, I love being outdoors altogether. I have been teaching my nieces and nephew how to garden.
Wonderful!
One thing I noticed about being home you get a lot of things done that you’d never thought you would actually do because of the time. Im finally planting tomatoes! This has been something that I wanted to do for the longest of time ,and look at that…. I get to enjoy my garden as well as watch my tomatoes grow:) As well as learn new ideas and be more creative with my outside time besides pushing my daughter on the swing.
So true!
I went to a an Agricultural High school where I learned many different agricultural courses which ranged from animal science, plant science, and environmental science. I liked a lot of the hands on activities and loved learning through experience. I later chose animal science but wished I took more plant science courses. My grandfather loved growing things and we would see him grow. I think this is where my curiosity started. Within the last two years I decided that I wanted to start a garden with my class. At first it was small but it grew little by little and I began to realize how much fun it is to just have the kids have at it when digging in dirt or growing something. It was also a great opportunity for them to learn things we have read and apply it for themselves. I think a garden is a great way to enjoy what you have out doors and build creative thinking!
Welcome!! What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing.
Hi,
I really think it is very important for children to be stimulated outdoors. Last year when I my classroom with some other classrooms really wanted to teach our children about gardening and so be begged our Janitor supervisor to use a small gardening bed in front of the school building.Our kids not only got into the process of cleaning it and planting, but they made their own signs with pictures and their own ideas of what they should do within the garden. It was really fun and they really loved it! Really curious about the sits spots and what they would look like within an outdoor space and fully into the idea of reading outdoors.
Music to my ears!
I grew in a little city which there were much families farms.My grandfathers and my dad planted different products.l saw how they planted and how the plants grew.l learned that a plantation trees not be ready to cut in all a year.l leaned that you not can to have the rice tree so so wet all the time.All was an amazing experience for me.They are memorable memories for me which l enjoyed super much.
Sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing.
My Garden Story is when I was 12 or 13 years old in middle school my classmates and I went outside and to make the tree grow. We use shovels and seeds and water for to make a simple tree outside at our middle school.
Wonderful!
While I was in my teen years I remember going to my grandfathers house and I would help him pull out weeds, plant seeds for flowers and plants. I would also help him water the plants and he would show me the different things that we were planting and tell me about them. I remember my grandfather telling me that he would go outside everyday and make sure that his garden was taken care of and I am pretty proud that me as his granddaughter had the chance to help him whenever I visited.
What a wonderful memory and so many gifts shared by so many generations. Lessons in the garden. Thanks for sharing.
I love gardening I grow up with a lots of farm and my Mom and dad Is a big farmer .
Fascinating. Do you share these stories with the children?
Growing up, my parents did not own the house that we lived in; it belonged to my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle had a large vegetable garden and a flower garden. He had also built a greenhouse onto the opening to our cellar so that he could begin growing seedlings over the late winter/early spring months before bringing them outdoors. As a small child, i was fascinated by this whole process, but was not allowed to go into the garden. I think this fostered my determination to have my own garden as an adult and to have this great experience with my own daughter. Working in the field of early education center has also sparked the idea of having a comprehensive gardening program for our children. Now that we have our own building and a beautiful outdoor setting, I am working to foster this initiative with all my educators.
Oh…I love this vision! I especially love that it is sparked from your own childhood memories. What a wonderful place to draw from. Thanks for sharing.
Growing up, and throughout my adult life, my Father has always took up Gardening as a hobby. While I personally didn’t develop his talent for caring for a garden, I always appreciated his dedication and care to the work he put in. My fondest memory was when i was living in California during my youth: My Father would grow and hand picked oranges from an orange tree we had in our front yard.
Great memory! Love it!
I remembered vacationing in the mountain regions of my home country of Malaysia as a young child and always marveled by the flowers in the gardens of a nearby town center. But it’s the morning glories that just naturally grow on the mountainsides just off the roads that were my favorite. Years later after my family moved to the US, we planted our own morning glory vines on the fence below our deck. We also have another garden of vegetables, but it’s still the rich purples and violets of the morning glories that I appreciate the most.
Malaysia Morning Glories…sounds beautiful!
As a kid, I was always outside playing in the yard or in the field behind my house with my friends and cousin. At my first house, my nana always planted flowers, veggies and had an apple tree. She was very protective over them and would tell us kids to stay away. When we moved, my mom planted all kinds of flowers, veggies, and we had many types of trees in our yard and behind our house in the field. My mom definitely was not as strict as my nana and encouraged us to help her plant.
Lovely! Glad your mom encouraged you to plant. My parents both loved to garden together. They gave me a plot/garden bed to manage myself. Not sure what I actually planted there, but remember how proud I was of this space.
While I don’t have much gardening experience myself, my grandfather (and later my mom, to a lesser extent) always had fresh home-grown tomatoes and herbs for my brother and I whenever we would visit as kids, and I always loved sitting on the screened-in porch and doing my job of making noise to scare away the woodchucks and squirrels if they got too bold and went after anything intended for eating!
This makes me smile!
My father had and still has a beautiful garden. I remember turning the soil over with pitch forks, pulling out weeds, and planting seeds and small plants. Those are some of my favorite times outdoors.
Beautiful!
My mom tried gardening in the backyard about 10 years ago. Was never really my thing, but I was appreciative when the vegetables and fruits grew and we could eat them.
So fun!
Whenever we would visit my grandparents, I would go check on the tomato garden with my grandfather. there was a salt shaker on the fence post and we would eat the juicy tomatoes.
Love it!
I never worked in a garden. Wish I knew more about it.
Never too late!
So this year, the daycare I work at has recently opened up a brand new nature playground. The kids love it. But, I have noticed that they tend to be just running around. It is a very big playground, and the kids are inside for the rest of the day, so I understand their need for that release of energy. But, I do see some kids playing in the sand or the mulch. I have a feeling they really don’t know what to do with it. They put the sand into buckets or mix it with eater, but what else can they do? Showing them they can make sand castles or draw in the sand shows them specific artwork. Now that it is fall, all of the leaves are starting to be all over the ground. The kids will pick them up and run around. We are able to use the leaves for painting indoors. Or we can show the kids the several trees and have them tell us the colors, red, orange, green, etc. The kids are also noticing the different shapes of the leaves. The kids will find the “pretty” leaves to bring home or to show their parents.
You are right on with the concept that kids don’t know how to use the new space. The ideas are endless. I hope this Master Class is a beginning for that journey.
We are a non profit organization in Boston that also has a natural paly space connected to our gross motor/playground area. It really brings an element of the natural world to children that otherwise don’t get that experience in the city.
Wonderful!! Welcome!
We found the idea of mini gardens very interesting. We could relate the garden to a story we are reading or have them create their own stories and have them play it out in their own garden. We think the kindergartners will find the stories more interesting and be able to have more fun.
Great reflections.
I was not very good at gardening but my sis every year would plant some kind of fruit or vegetable for me it was exciting to wait for the results
Yea!!! Lucky you
I think the whole idea of having a sit spot outside would work really well with my toddlers. Giving the the space to reflect on nature and all it has to offer would benefit them in many ways. We could use the area for circle and or story time. The sit spot could also be a place of reflection. Giving each child the opportunity to have their own space is extremely valuable as well. As an adult I need my own space sometimes, so why not give the children the same thing.
Sit spots are great and offer a time for kids to slow down and just be.
As a child I was not influenced by gardening. My mother did not have a green thumb, nor did I live in a place where we could have our own garden. But I am looking forward to learning about this idea and ways in which to enrich the children in my classroom.
Love that you are open.
When I was younger me and my mother had a garden of tulips!
Sounds like a totally new envirement for some of our children.
Growing up my mother always grew a garden in our yard with a wide variety of vegetables. This was also accompanied with varying degrees of success as well. However, looking back I feel that it was a helpful expirence for me to see that growing something is hard and sometimes it does not always work out, and thats okay. This is something that children, especially with this age group, I find have a lot of trouble with understanding. That things do not always have to be perfect the first try; work on it, even if it doesn’t come out the way you want it to.
My mom helped my sister and I turn an old sand box into a garden when I was little. She replaced the sand with soil and we grew different vegetables that had pictures on sticks so we knew what they would look like. We grew beans once and then got to watch as they turned from purple to green when cooked!
Hi all. Growing up, my backyard was connected to a patch of woods. My siblings and I would pretend to travel to far away places in the woods, create houses in the trees, and come back with stories to tell our parents.
My garden story would be my memories with my grandmother learning how to plant vegetables and fruit.
Taught me the value and care with the process how to plant and take from the garden and replant.
Respect with nature from plants to animals.
I always had a garden as a child for a while my family owned a 2 acre farm. I never lost the interest and when I purchased a home the first thing I did was plant a garden!
I remember growing up, helping my grandfather raise a large garden. He taught me the difference between edible produce and invasive plants. This knowledge came in handy when I stumbled upon a wild strawberry bush next to a not-so-edible berry producing plant. I hope to teach this kind of information to other children through nature-based learning.
love gardening and outdoors
I love preparing the soil and having the children find the worms and bugs that live there. When it is time to pick what we have planted they really enjoy pulling the carrots and picking the green beans and putting them in their baskets.
We have been walking around when we are outside and picking up things to add. We will be making a fairy garden with a broken bird bath I had. We will continue to collect things throughout the winter. I am also in the process of getting rocks to put numbers on.
Hi, everyone,
My dad was in the air force so I didn’t get to garden until much later when he retired. when we lived
on Okinawa, the natives would share their sugar cane with us kids. When dad went to Vietnam, mom and us kids moved to my grandma’s farm. She showed us how to deweed the potatoes and lug buckets full of water to the huge area of tomatoes. Now at 60 years of age, my husband and I have a
garden most every summer but in the past 5 years, I’ve been planting butterfly friendly perennials especially for the monarchs. And when I was teaching 4/5 year olds, the kids and I would plant seeds every year in open milk jugs for them to have their own butterfly gardens at home. I love getting the kids outside as much as possible!
Such wonderful memories and stories. I am always amazed by how our own childhood shapes us and how the garden experiences transcend time. Thank you for sharing. I can almost imagine you on your grandma’s farm. An interesting time. Love that you are now planting butterfly-friendly perennials. Make sure you check out SAVE OUR MONARCHS.https://www.saveourmonarchs.org/ A GREAT RESOURCE!
Hi,
Late to this discussion, but agree so much with all of these points. Children seem to be much more their authentic selves and full of enthusiasm out of doors. I love the idea of carving out special “sit spots” and look forward to ideas for making them special. Children seem very drawn to trees and incorporate them into their play. I hope to see some ideas for the story stones. Love that idea as well. Looking forward to Spring!
Hello! So glad you are here!! Thrilled to know you are right around the corner too! Welcome!
Growing up my mum had a beautiful garden in our backyard. We would help her pull the weeds and water the flowers. My dad had his own garden full of vegetables that my sisters and I would watch over so our dogs wouldn’t go digging. I would love to have my own garden one day. I have been a camper my whole life so being able to grow up in the woods surrounded by nature feels almost like a privilege. My dad also has his own garden where we camp which the other campers love because nothing better than fresh veggies! I would love to be able to start a garden at my school and I know my director has been very interested in starting one as well.
I love this! What wonderful memories. I am sure you will not only have your own garden one day…I believe you will also spearhead a garden at your school. 🙂
Love fresh vegetables and love camping.
I work at a 54 acre farm on the weekends from April to December. We sell annuals/perennials/produce. What I love is watching the plants change as the seasons shift. I get to make displays out of potted, living plants and I have to be on the lookout for what’s going to bloom next, what colors, smells, height, work together etc. It’s fun, but I also do plenty of lugging heavy, dirty, wet things around in sun, rain, heat, etc. Farming for real is a lifestyle, and I am lucky that I get to check in. 15 years now, when I thought it would be one! My personal interest are herbs, and I am a slow performer in an herbal certification course.
Sounds incredible.
Local farms are a great resource for our children and the commuinity at large!
Yes!!!
Growing up my dad always had a vegetable garden and my mom had a flower garden. Now my 8 year old daughter has her own gardens and flower boxes she takes care of. Every year she tries growing something different. Sometimes a success, sometimes it’s not but it’s always a learning experience and it’s something we can do together.
I love this! I especially love that your daughter tries to grow something different every year. So much to learn. Also love that your parents each had their own gardens. These are garden stories that transcend through the generations. 🙂
We have garden at our center for many years. When I saw the ideas of adding literacy to the garden I became so excited I was ready to start now. I am looking forward to all this class has to offer.
You will never look at your garden the same again.
Hi, all… I’m scrambling a little to catch up this week as I’ve been away visiting my sister in Vermont. She is a gardener; we both love to put our hands (and feet!) in the dirt, and she was quite interested to hear that I’d be doing this e-course. My experiences gardening include having a great herb and flower garden at my previous house as well as participating some years ago at a community garden where I produced way more vegetables than my little family could possibly eat and therefore had to learn how to put up and put by. At my place of employment, a large Head Start program, I teach in a building with a lot of pre-school classrooms. A few teachers, including myself, have made several attempts to get some gardens going with the kids. One year it was a major success, but other years the gardens have failed miserably because most of the staff simply saw it as too much work. A real shame. Our program is divided between full day/full year classrooms and part day/seasonal classrooms; all of the teachers who love to garden unfortunately do not teach in the full year program, so we can get things started in the spring, but once we’re gone for the summer, it all falls apart. And did I mention the groundhogs???
At any rate, I’m hoping that I will gain some great new ideas here to help spark interest in creating some great new gardens and gardeners at school this year! We have a lot of new, young staff, so I’m hoping to inspire a few of them!!
Welcome! Wonderful to have you join our community of literacy enthusiasts! The beauty of this e-course is that it is self-paced, so please never feel you are scrambling. Thanks for sharing your personal and professional experiences with gardening. Each garden has a story and I am always fascinated to learn about them. I hope this e-course brings some seeds of inspiration for you and your program. I am over the moon excited to share all the ideas and possibilities. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!