The garden is blooming and in full use! Students and teachers are currently observing seasonal change, planting, weeding and of course playing in the Gator Gardens. April 15th was our first Garden Clean Up Day and Westgators and the beautiful sunshine came out in full force to help clean up the deadfall and prepare the soil for our planing season. This was a great success, it is amazing what 400 children can do when they work together! Students learned about the importance of leaving dandelions in the garden for now to feed the hungry bees as they wake from their hibernation. Students composted deadfall and cleaned the garbage that had blown in over the winter. This week many students noticed with wonder that our beautiful crab apple tree was in bloom and a beautiful bunch of daffodils awoke! Kindergarten students have been spending time in the garden during their mardis dehors/outdoor Tuesdays! The students natural wonder is so great that the teachers can use their interest in the outdoors to build French language, encourage positive social interaction, and infuse Numeracy skills. The "Club de Jardinage" meets in the garden each Monday at lunch and is working on raising awareness in the school, weeding, planting and caring for our beautiful space. Last week we learned how to identify une mauvaise herbe/weed and the week before planted seeds into compostable vessels that will be added to our raised bin after the May long weekend. A recent conversation with the students ended with the Club de Jardinage students wondering "How will we keep our plants alive in the summer?" If you are interested in helping us weed and water the garden in the summer please sign up using the link below. With the summers being so hot and dry, we are hoping to water our gardens twice a week through the summer. If your family helps even once it will make a huge difference! signup.com/go/rpGerJv This fall, thanks to parent volunteers maintaining our gardens through the summer, a group of Grade 2 classes was able to harvest what they had planted in Grade 1 and make a vegetable soup! What a great learning experience for the students.
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