teacher spotlight Archives

Teacher Spotlight: Lauren Hollis

Posted on February 2, 2018 by sara

Interview with Lauren Hollis, a teacher at Clay Academy in St. Louis, MO., about how she personally became involved in the school’s garden.

Educator Lauren Hollis standing with her class in front of Clay Academy’s gazebo in the school garden.

How long have you been gardening personally? How long have you been gardening with students?

Probably just 2 years. My parents have a pretty big garden. My mom just got started gardening but we’re both rookies. We Pinterest a lot of things.

Were you hesitant to get outside at first?

For sure. Taking the kids anywhere outside the classroom is a little bit nerve-racking. They have so much room to run and it makes me nervous. But the more you expose them to the outdoors, the more they listen and are familiar with it. I have learned a lot – I give my mom tips now, tried new foods like bok choy.

I have to be a leader and try what is growing in the garden. If I don’t try it, the kids are going to just say, “no thanks.”

What is your students’ favorite part of gardening?

Exposing them to the outdoors. Getting them to try new foods, teaching them about their environment and what plants and animals need.

What is your favorite thing to plant with your students?

Tomatoes because they don’t really try tomatoes for lunch. They are not open to trying tomatoes, sauce, or in the salads at lunch. In the garden, they pick the tomatoes and they eat them just fine. Even if they don’t like them the first time, you let them try the tomatoes again. They still may not like them but they are willing to try them. Even the kale. They wouldn’t eat that normally but they will in the garden.

Why do you believe school gardening is important?

Gardens help the students learn more about their environment and learn where their food is from. Not all of their food comes from the grocery store or magically appears. Kids don’t get out very much or get to garden on their own. Gardens help them see a process – a plant growing or a pumpkin decomposing.

What do you think teachers need the most in order to garden successfully?

Confidence. In the beginning, I was so scared I was going to kill all the plants. Now I have experience and someone to answer questions. After going to the garden (for the past year) I would totally teach any lesson outside with confidence and not be worried. If I wouldn’t have gone to the garden every Wednesday, that never would have happened. I now can expose them to learning outdoors more.

Do you have a favorite garden book?

The Leaf Man. I love reading the story and letting them go find leaves. The things they turn the leaves into, even at this young of an age, is incredible.

What are you excited to try this coming growing season?

Plant things that I’ve never heard of or the kids have never heard of. Things that the kids are not exposed to. Next week we’re trying radishes. I am excited for them to try a radish. If they can eat Flaming Hot Cheetos, they can try a spicy radish.

What is your advice for other school gardeners?

Have confidence and just get out there. The more you are out there, the better your kids will acclimate to being outside. They need more exposure to the outdoors than the playground.

Looking for more ways to incorporate the school garden into your lesson plan? Stop by:

Gateway Greening’s Workshops for Educators page to explore monthly workshops that address the challenges and opportunities represented by teaching in school gardens
The Gateway Greening Educators Facebook group to connect with other teachers throughout St. Louis with similar interests in school gardens
Check out our In the School Garden Youtube playlist for short, actionable how-to videos that are seasonally relevant.

Teacher Spotlight: Patti Stogsdill of Patrick Henry Elementary

Posted on January 9, 2018 by sara

Interview with Patti Stogsdill, preschool teacher at Patrick Henry Elementary in St. Louis MO., about how she personally became involved with the school’s garden.

How long have you been gardening personally, and with your students?

All of my life because I was raised on a farm. However, I have only been gardening at the school since the Fall of 2016. My husband helps the preschoolers and I do a lot of the work.

How did you get started with gardening at school?

We had a garden when I first started working [at Patrick Henry Elementary]. The garden was overgrown with weeds and the person that was in charge had been out on medical leave. However, I believe it needed to be used so Patrick Henry put me in charge.

What is the most worthwhile part of school gardening?

Seeing the kids’ joy when they’re out [in the garden]. The teachers don’t utilize it as much as I wish they would but when they do come out and take advantage of the garden they realize how exciting it is.

What is your favorite thing to plant with your students?

Sunflower seeds.

What do teachers need the most in order to use a school garden successfully?

Just be convinced that it is a worthwhile process. They need a lesson plan that gives them ideas and need to see for themselves how beneficial it is for the children.

What are you excited to try/do this coming growing season?

I am excited to try and use cattle fencing to keep our tomatoes from drooping.

What is your best garden tip?

Borax and sugar to keep ants away from your plants.

Interview with Allison Berndt, Education Intern at Gateway Greening, in Fall of 2017.

Looking for more ways to incorporate the school garden into your lesson plan? Stop by:

Gateway Greening’s Workshops for Educators page to explore monthly workshops that address the challenges and opportunities represented by teaching in school gardens
The Gateway Greening Educators Facebook group to connect with other teachers throughout St. Louis with similar interests in school gardens
Check out our In the School Garden Youtube playlist for short, actionable how-to videos that are seasonally relevant.

Teacher Spotlight: Shannon Flanders of Mallinckrodt Academy

Posted on April 18, 2017 by sara

Mallinckrodt Academy’s school garden in late spring of 2016.

Interview with Shannon Flanders, kindergarten teacher at Mallinckrodt Academy in St. Louis, MO, about how she personally became involved with the school’s garden.

How did you get started with gardening at school?

I started as a parent when garden beds were installed at Mallinckrodt. When I became a teacher, I started working with Miss Meg, the Gateway Greening Youth Educator immediately.

What is most worthwhile part of school gardening?

The most worthwhile part is being outside. We use the garden as an outdoor classroom where we get hands-on experiences, watch cycles of nature and the kids are able to get dirty.

What is your favorite thing to plant with your students?

We made greenhouses for lima beans in plastic bags in the classroom. The students observed and recorded the growth of the plants. It wasn’t something mysterious, happening underground. Being able to observe the process of growth made the topic more concrete for them and tied together a lot of experiences they will have out in the garden.

What do teachers need the most in order use a school garden successfully?

Time in the day, the desire to get outside and get their hands dirty, and the willingness to learn.

I am not a great gardener. I actually have a giant brown thumb. So the garden is an opportunity to model not being good at something but not being intimidated and still getting out there and trying, having a good time.

What is your best garden story?

We were preparing the beds for winter, everyone had their hands in the soil and each child ended up with a worm in their hands. The students were so dirty; they had dirty hands, dirty faces, and dirty clothes. But they were laughing and working together and having a great time.

What are you excited to try/do this coming growing season?

We are watching the fruit trees that are in the orchard. They’re blooming now and when school starts back in the fall, there will be fruit for the students to harvest. I love teaching about cycles and patterns in nature, and the garden and trees at school are perfect for observation.

What are your favorite garden-themed books?

Jack’s Garden by Henry Cole

Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens

A Place to Grow by Soyung Pak

Interview with Shannon Flanders conducted by Kathleen Carson, Gateway Greening Education Manager, in April 2017.

Mallinckrodt Academy School Garden, Summer of 2016.

Looking for more ways to incorporate the school garden into your lesson plan? Stop by:

Gateway Greening’s Workshops for Educators page to explore monthly workshops that address the challenges and opportunities represented by teaching in school gardens
The Gateway Greening Educators Facebook group to connect with other teachers throughout St. Louis with similar interests in school gardens
Check out our In the School Garden Youtube playlist for short, actionable how-to videos that are seasonally relevant.

September Teacher Spotlight: “Let’s Get Dirty!”

Posted on September 20, 2016 by sara

We want to highlight Nina Warren, a kindergarten teacher at Clay Elementary whose class has been a part of our Seed to STEM progam for several years. Ms. Warren is passionate about getting kids in the dirt, and after you read her interview, you will be too.

What’s your favorite story from taking your class out to the garden?

Nina Warren: “One of my favorite stories is teaching kids about trees. They have life like we do, and they don’t like to be poked and prodded just like we don’t like to be poked and prodded. They need love and care just like we do.

“One day, we were in the garden sitting in the grass, and the kids were pulling all the grass out and they brought it inside. When we got in, the grass was all shriveled and brown, and they were asking me, “Ms Warren, why is the grass dead??” We talked about how plants are alive, and if we pull them out of where they’re growing, the plants die. That’s something kids need to know.”

What is the biggest impact of taking your students outside to the garden?

Nina Warren: “Monday! Monday was the biggest impact. They were so excited about the peas that they planted in the ground. They remembered actually putting their fingers in the ground for those peas, and when they pulled [the peas] off, they said, “We planted these, Ms. Warren! We planted these! This is what we did!” and I was like, “I know! I know!”

“Bria doesn’t like peas, but the fact we planted them was the only reason why she ate them. These are the things we planted a while back, and now they’re grown. If more parents had gardens in their backyards, maybe more of our children would eat fruits and vegetables.

“The peas were one of the best things. I took pictures of it because it was so amazing. It made it all worth it. This is what the garden is all about. “

What do teachers need the most to be successful in the garden?

Nina Warren: “[Teachers are] so busy with all the other stuff we have going on, what will happen is we’ll be like, “We’ll just skip garden today, there’s so much stuff to do and we just don’t have time.” Because you left [the class some garden curriculum], I could read the plan and know what to expect when the students are out there. Knowing there is a plan in place beforehand so there’s not so much prep work for us, we can allow the kids to go out there and have the a lesson and then let them go out and explore nature.

What’s your favorite thing to plant or watch grow?

Nina Warren: My favorite thing to watch grow are the snap peas, because lettuce just looks like grass but the peas really do change and grow. We put a lot of work into growing those peas—we put our fingers in the dirt to plant the seeds, we put sticks in the ground for the trellises, we put the yarn around the sticks for the peas to climb, and they grew up them, and then all of a sudden the peas came out of nowhere. Kids look for detail, and the peas had lots of details to observe as they grew.

What advice would you give teachers who want to bring their classes outdoors?

Nina Warren: “If kids find things, allow them to explore. Don’t let them know if you’re afraid. If you’re afraid, they’ll be afraid. At recess a few weeks ago, one of my students found a huge hairy black spider. She wasn’t afraid- she was playing with it, letting it crawl up and down her arms, showing the other kids. I was terrified but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want her to be afraid.

“I think women especially tend to say, “Ew, kill that bug, get it off me, I don’t want to get dirty and I don’t want my kids to come home dirty.” Well guess what? Kids are supposed to be dirty! They’re children. Otherwise, what’s the point? If they’re dirty, that means they are touching, feeling, and experiencing the world around them.

“I have parents who send their kids to school in sandals. I tell them, “Sandals aren’t made for school. They need shoes they can explore and get dirty in.” We’re too busy trying to stay clean—let’s get dirty!”