SPEC School Garden Updates: Fall 2022

[Sharlene Singh]

Hello Everyone, 

I wanted to share some of the upcoming initiatives of both SPEC and the SPEC School Gardens Program. 

Garden Site Assessments

We are once again offering a garden site assessment service for schools seeking to start a school garden and or those that have an existing school garden in need of guidance. Please check our website for pricing. This is the ideal timeframe (fall) to receive feedback before the spring season. 

Garden Bookings Available 

The SPEC School Gardens Program is looking to expand to new schools in Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby. If you are an educator with a new or existing school garden and are interested in booking in person facilitated lessons this school year, please contact me directly. 

Free Lessons

With the onset of the Fall Equinox on Sep 22nd, explore the beauty of the season with our Fall Scavenger Hunt, available via our Neighbourhood Nature School platform. With over 42 sheets of items to discover, this fun activity encourages both home learners and school students to search their neighbourhoods, school grounds and green spaces for patterns, textures, local wildlife, native plants, sensory weather, fall crops and colours in nature. 

All About Pumpkins is a free lesson designed for educators from K to Gr. 4 to use in the outdoor classroom. Students will learn the origins of pumpkins, how they grow, the different varieties that are grown here, its life cycle and the role of pollinators. Included in this lesson are book resources and activities - including some pumpkin math! 

How Leaves Work  is a free lesson designed for educators from K to Gr. 5 to use in the outdoor classroom to reflect and observe seasonal shifts and to understand the change that trees go through exploring topics such as photosynthesis, and the importance of leaf mulch.

Climate Action Workshops (CAWs)

This series of three workshops is a new pilot project of SPEC. It is targeted for school-aged children/youth from Grades 3 - 9! For inquiries and or interest in booking in-person facilitated lessons at your elementary or secondary school for 2022/2023, please fill out the registration form. We would love to work with other school districts in Metro Vancouver! 

Kind regards,

Sharlene Singh (She/Her)

School Gardens Program Coordinator 

E: shar...@spec.bc.ca 

W: spec.bc.ca/school-gardens

 

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I acknowledge and am grateful to be able to live, play, and work on sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territory.