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Nine teachers from a range of backgrounds with vastly different experiences met to discuss how organic gardening could be part of the National Curriculum. From the very start there were ideas bouncing around. By the end of the weekend many of the suggestions had been rationalised.
A brief summary of what was discussed follows.
Foundation Stage – Alphabet Garden
The virtues of using a garden with small children and its versatility for each curriculum area were noted.
Ideas included:
Art and design technology that could be linked to the garden:
- Designing a range of characters that live in the garden, different one for each letter of the alphabet,
- Making paper Mache flower pots,
- Recycling pots by decorating and planting seeds in.
Strong literacy theme:
- Practical activities of growing seeds in the shape of a letter on a recycled tray to writing poems.
- Role-play areas in the garden or in a classroom depicting a garden.
Numeracy objectives:
- Sorting seeds, counting,
- Making and looking at patterns,
- How many leaves on a plant,
- Using comparative language,
- Measuring
One of the practical suggestions was to supply a list of fiction and non-fiction books relating to gardening, healthy eating, fruit and vegetables. These would cover all the key stages.
Short-term horticultural projects for learners with SEN
The benefits of horticultural activities for learners with SEN were deemed to be many. However because these children often have difficulty with concentration it was decided to work on short-term projects that could produce results quickly. The tasks were being created for use with 14 years+ students but the ideas could easily be adapted for other age groups.
The teachers involved had an awareness of the need to record each individual’s achievements; also the need for language and literacy skills to be constantly developed and rehearsed. With all of this in mind a list of ideas for the project was decided upon and a sample pack designed.
Included in the topic ideas were:
- Growing herbs, mustard and cress
- Planting up a container
- Making bird food
- Weeding and soil testing
The general contents of each pack would include:
- Title page
- Teacher sheets (including costing)
- Ideas for presenting data
- Experiments linked to the topic
- Ideas for using the end result
- A student sheet with an interesting layout and opportunities for recording thoughts (without feeling they had to complete a whole page)
QCA documents
‘If growing organically was to become part of the National Curriculum where would it fit?’
This was a fundamental question asked by the teachers on HDRA’s weekend.
Many appreciate that gardening in general, especially organic methods, can be used as a vehicle to teach skills and develop children’s knowledge and understanding. However it is not specifically mentioned in NC or QCA. Gardening links into elements of the science curriculum and provides a range of opportunities across the whole NC curriculum but organic gardening, as a holistic approach, would work well as a Design Technology module. There was some discussion as to whether an existing module could be adapted or a new one written. Time was spent exploring these options. Specific curriculum requirements were linked to organic gardening activities. These were then highlighted in QCA documents.
Transfer Day Year 6&7 – Pumpkin Project
A great idea for a fun introduction for a child beginning life at a new school was suggested. This pumpkin project would involve collaboration between different departments and could involve as many areas of the curriculum as was suitable. In essence children would plant seeds on transfer day (end of Summer Term) and these would then grow by the end of the summer holidays.
During autumn half term:
- Experiments could be done,
- Mathematical data could be collected and analysed,
- Soups could be designed and prepared,
- Posters advertising product could be designed and produced,
- Artwork linked to shape size, colour, texture etc. of pumpkin produced
- kin songs devised.
The list went on and on! All of this could contribute to a fabulous cross-curricular display ready in time for the autumn parents’ evening.
ICT
One participant had used a piece of mapping software; this can be used to overlay maps on top of each other. It was felt that this software could be manipulated to show how various vegetable types had made their way from the places of their origin to the UK. Historical dates could be added. (There could be a licensing issue and we aware that we would need to consider this further.) This could be an activity in it’s own right but also a useful tool for discussions in R.E, P.H.S.E and Geography.
A school garden for KS3 & KS4 Science
Having a garden for KS3 and KS4 pupils can easily be justified when linked to the National Curriculum. However, in order to make it an effective teaching resource, a plan for sowing and planting would be necessary. This would ensure the garden provided the appropriate material for a particular experiment at the right time of year. KS3 & KS4 programmes of study for science were looked at in detail and from this a list of useful plants and the quantities required was devised.
Conclusion
This is by no means a complete list of all the ideas that came from this inspirational weekend. It is also not a complete list of the ways organic methods or growing could be used in the curriculum or the age groups they could be used with. Nevertheless it gave a positive starting point for collecting and developing more ideas.
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