The ancient Roman statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero, once said, “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need”. We have a library, and there’s a Community Garden on the next block – where the older students have plots.
But our Early Childhood class welcomed spring with the creation of a beautiful new garden at the back of our school yard. This invited lots of exciting nature discoveries and the development of new skills. The children took part in every step of the way. Together, we built raised beds, shoveled soil, had worm races, and planted seeds and plants.
The delight was visible on the children’s faces as they observed the seeds sprout and peek through the earth, after careful daily watering. Inside the classroom we explored the parts of a seed and dissected sprouted lima beans.
We watched our class caterpillar friends eat and eat until they tripled in size and snuggled their way into chrysalises. We had a lesson on leaf shapes and how you can determine which type of tree it is just from observing the leaf! Almost everyday, children would bring in leaves to look up the type of tree they came from.
Unfortunately, our gardening adventure was interrupted by quarantine! The children have nevertheless continued their exploration of nature with enthusiasm, many of them joining in the gardening efforts in their own homes.
*Reported by Kalindi Patel. Pre-COVID-19.
