This is How Our Garden Grows

So Friday was planting day. Not going to lie I have been looking forward to this day for awhile. After many trips to Home Depot and ACE Hardware we got everything we needed.

The planting process went way better than expected. We had students partner up and each set of partners got to plant a type of plant. We had at least 3 of each type of plant. All of our plants are native to Northern Michigan.

The full view. On the right where there is red mulch is where our bird area is.

The tiny pathway made out of rocks with all the students' initials.

After all the planting we had students put together their signs (because this is one thing they said we needed to have in our garden). Students put the signs where they belonged.

Close up of the students' signs

Then we took a break until the afternoon.

In the afternoon we tackled the rest of the projects. We watered the plants, set up the bird area, and evened out the plants around our school sign.

Students were so excited to show off their garden at the end of the day. I saw many students take their parents outside at the end of the day.

We have already had many birds visiting our bird feeder. Since the bird feeder is right out one of our windows I am already brainstorming ways to implement birds into our curriculum next year.

This has been an amazing project to be a part of and to watch students take ownership of the garden. So much of what we planned and did was because of things they learned about. They like Monkey Flower and Hairy Beard Tongue so we have both planted in our garden. They thought we need signs, so we have them. They wanted to have birds and insects come to our garden, so we have plants like Butterfly Milkweed, different varieties of sunflowers, a bird feeder and bird bath. I can't wait to expand on what we have created next year. Through our students' eyes, the possibilities are endless.