In 4 Toronto elementary schools, a school garden educator runs garden programs and outdoor lessons linked to the curriculum. At each school, she works with teachers, students, and the local community to design, plant, and maintain the garden. Lessons cover topics like biodiversity, composting, plant cycles, and math/science skills, with a focus on hands-on learning and cooking activities to connect students to where their food comes from. The educator aims to inspire curiosity and learning through engaging lessons in the school gardens.

1. SCHOOL GARDEN
EDUCATION
IN 4 TORONTO ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS
By Elin Marley
School Food Garden and
Outdoor Educator

2. WHAT’S A SCHOOL GARDEN
EDUCATOR? (AKA HOW DID I GET
HERE?)
 I run food garden programmes year-round
at 4 Toronto elementary schools
 Also work at High Park Children’s Garden
and occasionally at some other schools
Background in Anthropology and
Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, with
a Master’s Thesis on “Introducing Organic
Food in Norwegian Schools”
Volunteered at FoodShare, Seedy
Saturdays…
6 month farm internship in 2009

3. A DAY IN THE LIFE…
 4 classes per school day
 Teachers sign up their classes
 Garden Club at lunch during
growing season
 Mix of indoor and outdoor
lessons, depending on season
and teacher’s lesson choice
 Garden planting and
maintenance with classes
and/or garden clubs

4. THE 3 SCHOOL
GARDENS
Blake St PS
Withrow Ave PS
Dundas/First Nations Schools

5. WITHROW AVE
PS
 My first School Garden Educator
job
I started there in 2010
 Garden was already established –
they’d had garden educators before
 Teachers choose lessons –
importance of specific curriculum
links
 I mostly decide what gets planted
choose based on what we’ll use in lessons
and what cooking activities we’ll do, and
experiment with different plants
Funding from parent council
 A bit of parent/community
involvement in garden maintenance

6. BLAKE STREET
PS
 I started there in 2011
 Garden planning had started, but
garden not yet built when I started
 Garden started in cooperation with
South Riverdale Community Health
Centre (SRCHC)
 Lots of parent/community
involvement
 Has a Garden Committee
 Parents, teachers, community members…
 Crop input from various groups
 Started composting in 2012
 I mostly choose lesson plans,
consult/collaborate with teachers
 Funding from parent council and
school (Model Schools funding)

7. DUNDAS ST PS
AND FIRST
NATIONS
SCHOOL OF
TORONTO
 Two schools on same site share
garden
 Dundas is K-6, FNST is K-8
 I started there in 2014
 Garden planning was at very early stages
 Project initiated by SRCHC
 Built garden in spring 2015
 FoodShare support for building
 Garden Committee
 parents, teachers, principals… from both
schools
 Crop input mostly from Garden
Committee
 First Nations School also has medicine
gardens
 Funding from SRCHC until December
2015, then schools

8. DESIGNING
THE
GARDENS Choosing the site
 Location – distance to water tap,
distance from trees and buildings…
 Ensuring it’s safe to dig there
 Getting school board approval
 Testing the soil
 Design ideas from students,
teachers, parents…
 Design drawings by landscape
architect based on design ideas
from school
 Voting/debates by students

9. GARDEN CHANGES: BUILDING
GARDEN EDGES
Withrow PS
Blake PS

10. GARDEN CHANGES: COMPOSTING

11. WHAT WE
GROW
 For education – not hoping for major
food production
 Some “standard” crops like tomatoes,
salad greens, beans, potatoes…
 Often choose heirloom varieties – kids
like the colours, shapes…
 Ideas from parents and students
 Foods we use for cooking lessons
 Always try to grow a couple of things
students aren’t familiar with, like
kohlrabi, fava beans, spicy greens…
“Kids will eat strawberries and watermelon anyway. The garden is a good way
to introduce students to new foods.” gr 1-2 teacher

12. CHOOSING
CROPS
 Happens differently at different
schools
 Parents sometimes contribute seeds
or ask for certain crops
 Winter 2015 I involved students
more in crop selection
 Brainstorming favourite foods,
then learning why certain crops
can’t grow here
 Sun/shade plants
 Mapping
 Learning that garden/farm work
doesn’t stop in winter

13. CHALLENGES
Funding!
 Many grants are aimed at starting new projects, but less for maintaining existing
programmes and for paying wages
Evaluating the programmes
 Important for grants/funding
 How to incorporate evaluation into programming time
 Evaluation tools to help keep track
Summer maintenance
 Mix of community groups, parent groups, day cares…
 Teaching summer maintenance groups before summer

14. SUMMER
MAINTENAN
CE
 Different models at different schools:
 Blake St PS
 Various parent and community
groups, on-site summer day-care
 Weekly schedule between groups
 Dundas St PS/First Nations School
 Parents and students – each family
signed up for one or two weeks and
then invited others to join on dates
they chose
 Withrow
 Casual, not usually scheduled
maintenance

15. GARDEN LESSONS:
CURRICULUM-LINKED, HANDS-ON,
INTERDISCIPLINARY

16. BIODIVERSI
TY
 Seeds
 seed saving
 heirloom seeds
 why we plant variety in the
garden
 Pollinators
 plant-pollinator
adaptations
 importance of pollinators
 Compost
 Not just worms!

17. CYCLES IN
NATURE
Seasonal cycles
What’s happening in the
garden in different
seasons
Tasks we do in the
garden at different times
of year
Plant life cycles
Seed to harvest to
compost
"Wait, so I get where fruit seeds are. But where are carrot seeds?“ – gr 2 boy

18. COMPOST
AND SOIL
On-site compost bins
Vermicomposting
Soil experiments
 Soil ingredients, soil
composition
 Growing experiments in
different soil types

19. "This soil is awesome!" - JK boy while planting seeds
"I love this work! This is disgustingly
awesome!" - gr 2 girl carrying compost
"Soil is really interesting! It may not seem like
it, but it's got all these different things in it...”
- Gr 3 soil lesson “I think worms are my second favourite things
after crystals.” – grade 2 girl
“Mon ver de terre m’aime
– it made itself into a heart
shape!” – grade 1
"I remember the time
you said plants need
poop!"
– Kindergarten boy
“This worm
tickles! But it's so
cute! I don't ever
want to let it go!"
- gr 2/3 worm
lesson

20. WHERE
FOOD
COMES
FROM Older grades:
 food miles
 food system, people/jobs
involved in the food system
 local vs imported food
 Connecting food to soil
 Younger grades:
 what familiar foods are
made of (e.g. ketchup from
tomatoes, cheese from milk
from cows…)
 plant parts we eat
"Someone should make a board game of the food system!" - gr 4 student

21. CULTURE/
SOCIAL
STUDIES
 Traditional and
historical planting
methods
 e.g. Three Sisters Garden
 Family food stories
 Sharing stories of favourite
meals and family gardens
When we speak to plants nicely "it gives them confidence to grow.”
- grade 4 during Three Sisters planting

22. MATH
(WITHOUT
REALIZING…)
 Measuring perimeter and
area
 Measuring the distance
between seeds
 Measuring “using non-
standard units”
 Structures (e.g. how
seeds travel)
 Estimating seeds
 Patterns
“Oh, now I understand all the perimeter stuff we’ve been learning in class!” - Grade 5 measuring garden edges

24. HARVESTIN
G AND
EATING!
5 senses lessons in the
garden
 Cooking in class with
minimal kitchen equipment
 Adapting recipes and using safe
tools/methods
 Kale chips, pesto, salsa, salad
wraps, Stone Soup
 Send home recipes
 Home-school connections

25. "This kale pesto is soooo good!" "It's better than
candy!" "It's 100x better than candy!“
– cooking with Garden Club
“I don’t like these kale
chips. I LOVE these kale
chips!” - SK girl“Ça c’est TROP bon!”
– grade 1 girl about kale and herb pesto
“Mom, I got to taste some dinosaur
kale today!” – Kindergarten overheard
in the halls"We had a DELICIOUS time in the
garden!"
“I’m going to make Stone
Soup for my birthday!”
– grade 1/2 boy
“I wish I could take
home some of this
leftover Stone Soup
for supper!” – grade
1 student
Kindie comments about
parsley: “It tastes like
cookies! It’s delicious!
It’s like candy!”

26. THANKS!
NOW LET’S SHARE SOME LESSON
IDEAS…
seedlingstories@gmail.com seedlingstories.wordpress.com @seedlingstories