Vision

The students in the Panthers do the Right Thing club, have a vision to plant a mindful garden that is peaceful and has calming sensory effect. We want students to think as nature as a part of their mindful experience. If they are stressed or experiencing anxiety, the kids at Pineland would like their friends to be able to “unplug” and come out into the courtyard to breathe. We would like to see Muskoka chairs with some outdoor cushions, some lavender plants, and other plants that have a nice scent. Our Panthers do the Right Thing club has had a focus on mental health and mindfulness, and our goal is to tie this with the help of our LFS grant to plant the garden to make this space useful and to create a beautiful space for children to learn and grow in nature.

Action

Students had a planning meeting and decided that they wanted to put their vision into action. They selected plants to plant and ordered soil. We ran into many delays. Our only entry into the courtyard was blocked due to library renovations, then our order came several days late, then we had several days of smoke from the forest fire, where we were not permitted to go outside, then it rained for several days. By June 12th, we were able to plant! The garden looks beautiful!

Reflection & Celebration

In reflecting, we would have liked to have a bit more thought into getting more native plants. We would like to build on this project to plant more in the courtyard. Our goal is to add more to the garden. There are still gaps where we can add more plants.

This project has allowed us to clean up an area of our school that would otherwise not have been in use. We are very excited to invite kids into the space. We celebrated with a pizza and fruit party!