Fifth graders at Nokomis Elementary School are bringing the classroom outdoors through a gardening project. Students in Mr. Papagni’s class started a garden outside of the building from the ground up. It has a variety of crops and flowers including kale, leaf lettuce, marigolds, radishes, snap peas, spinach, sunflowers, swiss chard and tomatoes.

Students began the research portion of their project in early May, learning about germination time and plant care. From there, they designed what the garden boxes would look like and mapped out where they would place seeds for each plant, depending on the plant’s size and how much space it would need.

Once research was complete, students were ready to get their hands dirty and filled the boxes with five yards of dirt. They planted their seeds and created popsicle sticks to label everything. Finally, students brought in mulch to help improve soil moisture and maintain temperatures.

Not only did the fifth graders engage in an authentic, hands-on learning experience, they are excited to watch their plants grow over time and have finished products.

Date Added: 6/10/2022