Students visit the local botanicals to take photos, make observations, and generate questions. Photos are put together as a class video and students view the video to generate new questions. Students then explore other local green spaces and observe the types of plants, bugs and more that inhabit them to generate ideas for what to put in the PreK garden. They collect living and non living things to observe and learn from. Students look for plants they can eat and conduct further experiments to decide which plants to put in their garden. Finally students grow their garden and decide on different media to share what they have learn and know now.
“I like the snails . They are alive because they move.” - Vivian
“The plants are alive. They grow taller.” - Braylon
“I like to watch the plants grow” - Angelina
“It is critical the project is concrete and hands-on for PreK students. That is what made this project successful. They picked plants themselves, games, went on visits to different places on campus. While we focused on plants, students made connections to other living and non-living things, and were allowed to explore life in general. These students have a natural desire to learn.” - Lola Alvarez