Vision

To create a pollinator garden inspired by our student’s love for nature, insects, and growing plants.

Action

We created 2 pollinator gardens for our school. Our class loves observing and learning about different kinds of bugs and showed an interest in growing plants earlier in the school year so we focused on creating pollinator gardens.

We started off by learning about the important role that pollinators play in our ecosystem and the impact that they have on the environment. They enjoyed learning about bees, butterflies and other pollinators such as ladybugs, ants, humming birds and bats. The class listened to stories and spent most of the time focusing on learning about bees. Our class was particularly interested in learning about bees and their importance in our world. We went on walks and began seeing some bees and bumblebees. The class created posters about bees, creating gardens, and saving the bees. We have them hanging up around the school for others to see. Some members of our class have created announcements to tell the school about our new pollinator gardens and about the importance of bees and other pollinators.

We have also created bug hotels to place in our gardens. The class made them out of natural items that were collected from around our school yard such as pinecones, moss, and sticks. We added some bamboo as well. They can’t wait until the bugs move in!

Before planting our garden, we researched which types of plants attract pollinators and focused mostly on native Ontario perennials. In April, our class started by growing wildflower seeds and bulbs in our classroom. They watered them and monitored their growth. We learned about how to “harden” the plants as they got closer to the time when we could plant them in our garden.

To prepare for planting the garden, the class helped to clear our garden beds and learned about some of the invasive weeds (garlic mustard) that had been growing in our gardens prior to planting.

The class checked to see how tall each plant would grow and we sorted the plants to determine which plants should go in the back, middle, and front of the garden. We planted a variety of Native Ontario plants such as coneflower, big bluestem grass, prairie fire, milk weed, columbine, phlox, black-eyed Susans, and blazing star.

The class added new topsoil to our garden beds and helped by digging, planting and watering our new plants. They added mulch on top when we were finished planting. We have added our bug hotels to the garden and are creating butterfly mudding puddles for both gardens to further help the pollinators that use our garden. We can’t wait to observe some pollinators and track the growth of our flowers.

We are in the process of creating a map of our garden with pictures of the leaves for each plant to help with weeding our garden in future seasons.

Our project will help local pollinators by providing them with nourishment. It will help to keep pollinators in our area which in turn will benefit our local farmers and neighbours with backyard food gardens. Our class has learned about how much we rely on pollinators to maintain our food ecosystem. Our pesticide-free, native plant garden will help reverse the decline of pollinators. Bringing more pollinators into urban areas will benefit all of us.

Reflection & Celebration

Our Kindergarten class learned a lot about pollinators and cannot wait to observe the pollinators that will enjoy the garden. The class worked very hard throughout the project to learn and share with others about pollinators. They were hands-on learners every step of the way. Many students commented that gardening is hard work! A conservation employee (that was at our school visiting another class) told us that we did a great job removing invasive plants and choosing native plants to fill our gardens. The class is anxiously awaiting more flowers to bloom. Our school and community will benefit from and enjoy our gardens for years to come!

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