Vision

Our Green Team at University Highlands Elementary School had two main goals we wanted to achieve after attending the Climate Change Youth Forum at Science World. Our first action project we set out to complete was to plant a pollinator garden at the front of our school. The grade 4 and 5 classes decided that planting a pollinator garden would help to encourage biodiversity and climate resilience. We also wanted to assemble our pollinator garden for our animal friends to have a place to live and grow. When we are helping animals to live and thrive happily, we are the ones who are going to be benefited because it’s all a circle of life.

The second project we focused our time and attention on was setting up a plant sale for our community. By encouraging families to buy plants and grow organic foods, we were hoping to promote a more sustainable use of land and resources.

Action

Our journey to planting the pollinator garden began by heading out to the designated area at the front of our school to collect some data before we planted the pollinator garden. We looked for the total number of insect species and plant species prior to planting the pollinator garden so that later we could compare the impact the pollinator garden has had on our environment. When Khat, an expert on native plant species from Rooted Wild, came to help us plant the pollinator garden, our 3 grade 4/5 classes set out with shovels, dirt, and several different native plants to fill the area. The list of native plant species we decided to include in our pollinator garden are Oregon Grape, Thimbleberry, Wild Rose, Yarrow, Red-Flowering Currant, and Canadian Goldenrod. Nodding Onion, Wild Lupine, Shrubby Penstemon, Red-osier Dogwood, Common Woolly Sunflower, Vine Maple, Saskatoon Berry, Indian Plum, Salal, Salmonberry, Red Huckleberry, Elderberry, Willow, Self-heal, Sheep Sorrel, Fireweed, Pacific Aster, and Oxeye Daisy. We traced, painted and labelled wooden signs for the native plant species to be put around the school to show the community what is growing in our garden. Our friendly parent volunteer, Pablo, who leads a Roots2Grow garden program at our school, also joined the fun and set up a station to teach us about bees. With Pablo, we learned about the bee’s anatomy, and as a group, we created mason bee houses for the community area by rolling up newspapers. We all loved the process of planting a pollinator garden and making a major difference. This proves that no matter how old or young you are, you can always make a difference.

In addition to planting a pollinator garden, our Green Team set up a plant sale for our school and community! One of our grade 4/5 classes prepared the plants by creating soil molds and planting the seeds. In preparation for our plant sale, we had students create posters for our school to spread the word. Students took charge of planning the event by assigning each other roles like advertisements, cashiers, ushers for the lineup, and handing out plants to customers. As a group, we decided on prices to sell the plants. On the day of the event, students set up tables and the plants, which included zucchini, dill, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, fennel, snap peas, corn and pollinator houses. We raised over$350 from the plant sale and served about 100 customers!

Reflection & Celebration

Our Green Team has been very busy with these projects and has taken on great leadership roles in this process. Over the last few weeks, we have watched our pollinator garden blossom, and we are currently collecting data on the impact these projects have had on our environment. Throughout this process, our Green Team has had many rich conversations about how we can make a positive impact on our school community and implement new projects that can promote sustainable practices in the future. In our most recent project, members of our Green Team created a PowerPoint presentation about what our school community is doing to achieve sustainable practices, as well as ideas we have for getting the community involved. We shared this presentation at the BYSN Climate Project Challenge Dinner Celebration and our school assembly. Because the plants we planned to purchase for our pollinator garden were generously and unexpectedly donated by Rooted Wild, we still have some grant money left over to buy plants for our vision of planting a rain garden!