G is for Garden

Kids aren't the only thing growing in my classroom these days. We're getting our hands dirty playing with soil, worms, and all things green and flowery.
I usually plant a seed or two over the course of a kindergarten year, but this year the project has gotten bigger than ever.
It all started with a letter I received in the mail from my neighborhood park association. The school where I work, and the neighborhood I live in are one in the same. The park association is fixing up our park, adding new play ground equipment, and generally making it a safer and prettier place to play.
Within this park lies a tennis court...well at least what used to be a tennis court, but now is home to a beautiful community garden!

The wheels in my head started spinning. The park is in walking distance to our school. So why not turn this into a kindergarten project?
I approached one of our fifth grade teachers thinking that this would make an excellent collaborative project, mostly because the thought of marching 18, 5 and 6 year-old children down to the park alone was a little overwhelming. So now not only do we have Reading Buddies, we have Garden Buddies too!
So I secured my 4 raised beds, bought some seeds, pots and dirt and let them go at it!

Our garden center, with directions it's become pretty independent.

garden word wall, portable of course!

Our Little Nursery

Waiting to Sprout

Cherry Tomatoes!

I'm hoping to get something planted into our garden beds sometime this week or next, I'm just waiting for some warm weather so our little sprouts will be warm and sunny!
I can't wait to see what pops up!