THE BACKGROUND

The community garden project started with a simple question: What impact can growing our own gardens have on our community?

Lua Yagangagi, a mixed- age primary teacher in Rizhao, was hoping some of the problems of social distancing, anxiety, and language barriers caused by CoVid 19 would begin to break down as kids tended and cared for a class garden. It didn’t take much time…

THE PROJECT 

In self-organized groups, students got to work right away. Some groups begin exploring weather conditions while others looked at potential vegetables to grow. Older students drew up blueprints for growing beds and compiled lists with younger classmates for necessary supplies. Lua even found past students coming back into her classroom to support students in their inquiry.

Mini-projects also helped drive the process.

Students built rain gauges to capture rain water, and charts to track cloud patterns and how they relate to plant growth. Year 5 students created ‘talking healthy food books’ in technology class and presented to the kindergartners in a nearby classroom.

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THE TRANSFORMATION

The transformation in learning was also instantaneous.

A few foreign students, who came into Lua’s class with zero English, communicated confidently to the HR department in English how to plant beans and tomatoes.

But the gardens transformed more than the community. When the mayor of Rizhao heard about the gardens, he decided to pay the school a visit. He’s now using knowledge presented by students to start his own garden.

Reach out to Lua Yaganagi at lua.yaganagi@ywisschool.com to learn more about the experience and how to bring community gardens to your students.