By Fran Agnone, P.S. 110K’s Sustainability Coach
When I picture a community garden, I think of a fenced off area with urban agriculturists tending raised beds. But thanks to some inspirational thinking at P.S. 110K, teachers and students have started to organize their own indoor community gardens and are helping to shape a different way plants can bring people together.
On Friday, January 18th, 12 members of the P.S. 110 student Green Team visited several classrooms to explore how plants can build community.
Below are some snippets of the conversations and discoveries that emerged.
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Ms. Contreras: “So Green Team, we were talking about how we are a community in our classroom and in our school. In the entire school we are a community of learners, in classroom 2-205 we are a smaller community. And as a class, we went to visit who? Who’s next door?
Class in Unison: ”Mr. Grass!”
Ms. Contreras: “Could someone let us know what Mr. Grass did to inspire us?”
Bernardo: “Mr. Grass inspired us to make a little indoor garden. So we did, and now we can inspire other people to make a little garden.”
Ms. Contreras then received a visit from Ms. Fitzgerald’s class. Those students decided to bring plants into their classroom too. The movement is spreading.
After an influx of new plants came into Ms. Contreras’ classroom, an opportunity emerged to learn more about what these plants need to survive and thrive in the classroom.
Ms. Contreras: “When we realized we had plants we didn’t know how to take care of, what did we do?”
Maya: “We used the app PlantSnap. We took a picture of them and it showed us what it was and how to take care of them.”
Harlow: “We also named all the plants so we knew which ones were ours. This is Jeff. This is Rebecca.”
The class soon discovered that some plants needed to be watered more frequently than others and are using their problem solving skills to develop a system to track watering requirements. Green Team member Ximena also noticed something special was happening on one of the plants.
Ximena: “I have a comment. I see these flowers have buds already. And they are almost ready to bloom.”
Ms. Contreras: “What should we do about it?”
Ximena: “Well, I think you should see how they are growing. Maybe in a month or some weeks, flowers will come.”
Excitement soon buzzed around the idea of taking a photo of the buds each day to keep close track of how the plants will change overtime. As students’ compassion spread for their new indoor plants, I am also left grateful for the air plants clean, the moods they lift and how even small pots on window sills can bring people together.