The Bishop Learning Garden has been connecting the external environment to the classroom through hands-on experiences, physical work, and lesson plans that link outdoor activities to the curriculum since its creation in 2015. Today the program is headed by Garden Teacher and Coordinator Amanda Munsie, whose role includes maintaining the beds, overseeing “open time”, and working with the students both inside and outside, helping them understand where their food comes from and what it takes for plants to survive.
Kindergarten through fifth grade classes each have a one-to-two hour fall lesson and a three hour spring garden lesson and these are often split into different topics and activities. Lessons cover a variety of themes and may include planting, harvesting, or learning about life cycles, food webs, or the role of worms. For example, Kindergarten students spent 30 minutes in the garden this fall doing a scavenger hunt in search of the Fab 5–sun, water, air, space, and soil. First grade students harvested sunflower seeds, tasted them after roasting, and made seed packets to take home. Second grade students harvested and learned about the kale they planted last spring and made a kale salad that they enjoyed.
During spring and fall, students are able to spend “open” time in the garden during recess. They can just hang out, explore, or help with weeding, planting, and getting lessons ready for the classes. Ms. Munsie reports that during this year there has been a steady stream of 30 or more students taking advantage of this opportunity.
The program is busiest during the spring. Peas and potatoes are planted in late March. When April arrives it is time for lettuce, kale, swiss chard, parsley, spinach, carrots, and radishes. May is the time to transplant sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, and corn. Dahlias, sunflowers, bachelor buttons, marigolds, green beans, squash, pickles, basil, and cilantro are directly seeded in May. By June, many crops can be harvested. Summer volunteers water and keep the corn, green beans, sunflowers, kale, and potatoes going for fall harvesting. Tulips, daffodils, and garlic are planted in September and then the garden is put to rest with cover crops such as rye grass. Ms. Munsie has a bed crop rotation schedule so that a bed is not planted with the same crop each year. The exceptions to this are the pollinator/flower bed and the herb/sensory bed which remain the same.
One of Ms. Munsie’s goals over the winter is to rewrite lesson plans and enhance the lessons with new material. She is supported by a PTO garden committee that assists in funding for supplies, does fall and spring clean-ups, and solicits family volunteers to water and weed a week at a time over the summer. This spring the PTO is installing 10 new cement garden beds. This brings the total of garden beds up to 14.
Ms. Munsie comes from a long line of farmers, and has been a production farmer herself. Prior to coming to Bishop she was the Education Director at Lexington Community Farm. She describes her work this way:
“My experience working with the students is eye opening. They center me in knowing that this world is so big, but that it only takes a small red wiggler worm to grow their curiosity for nature. I love the smile I see when they uproot a radish that they planted as a class and the sense of accomplishment they have when they share those radishes with others. Teaching students and adults where our food comes from gives me great purpose in life.
When students receive garden time they are literally thinking outside the box. They get to use all their senses to help them learn and explore the garden. Garden time should be looked at in the same way as the other specialty classes such as library, art, and gym. Each is different, but all are needed to help strengthen and equip young people for the world.
If my ancestors could see me now I think they would be really proud.”