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In Amman, Classrooms Take to the Garden

By Shawn Akard
11-Apr-13
In Amman, Classrooms Take to the Garden


Two young gardeners from the American Community School of Amman, trowel in hand (photo: ACS Amman).
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A garden is a stimulating learning environment—and children love to get their hands dirty!
Prior to moving to Jordan in August 2011, I developed school gardens in Fairfax County, Virginia (USA). So when my children enrolled at the American Community School of Amman, I discovered enthusiasm and a nascent project. The school had a preexisting site, thanks to a past Eagle Scout project. It needed updating, expertise, and some money for start-up costs and local labor. My experience proved relevant, and the garden would soon bloom!
A few principles apply. First, every school has a different need for its garden, depending on curriculum goals, and every garden evolves as the school evolves. So build a flexible base. Second, school administration must support the project for sustainability. At ACS Amman, the administration, teachers, and a group of parent volunteers embraced the garden project. The custodial staff stepped in over the summer months, watering, weeding and harvesting as needed.
Third, use the community’s resources. In our case Lucy Roman, a parent volunteer, took charge of raising the start-up funds for the garden (approximately US$2,100) through bake and poinsettia sales; subsequent annual costs are minimal. A long-time resident of Amman, Lucy also used her community connections to organize the redesign and arrange for expert labor to rebuild the garden bed, install the rock base, and set up irrigation.
During start-up, I filled two large plastic containers (so two classes could work at once) with 25 hand trowels, 25 hand rakes, five watering cans, 25 rulers, and 25 magnifying glasses. Use adult sizes; they are less expensive, and even the youngest students are eager to use “grown-up” tools.
All climates support many crops, even if growing seasons vary; soil content can also be a factor (our soil, for example, has lots of clay). At ACS Amman we now grow eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, okra, and carrots.
ACS focuses the garden project in the elementary school; every class or grade has a plot, about four and a half by seven feet. It is easy to fit 18 to 20 students around a garden plot, provided this is taken into account during the design phase. At the start of the year, I talk to students about “garden etiquette” (how to plant, water, and seed) and how to use our “garden feet” (not unlike the famous “indoor voice”). My involvement with teaching varies, depending on the needs and garden knowledge of the teacher.
ACS has integrated the garden into many parts of its curriculum. In science, for example, students can plant seeds and monitor growth, learn about soil, or study the parts of a plant. In mathematics, a garden and its plants are a fun way to learn about non-standard measurement, perimeter, and area. For social studies, students use the garden to learn about the market and produce prices. Our Grade 5 students grow vegetables from American colonial times and cook with colonial recipes. In language arts, our students use pictures of the plants and compile recipe books.
School gardens have spawned a lot of helpful resources. How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers (by Bucklin-Sporer and Pringle) is excellent. The American Horticultural Society’s website, http://www.ahs.org, also has a helpful youth gardening section.
Get some tools, get out there, and start digging!
The American Community School of Amman, Jordan, is a U.S. accredited, independent, non-profit, Pre-K through Grade 12 school that offers a U.S. curriculum with an international and regional focus to a diverse, multi-cultural population. Its current student body represents over 50 countries.




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Comments

04/13/2013 - jiwoogae
Hi thank you for posting my picture and my friends picture working in the garden!!!

04/13/2013 - DenaliDad
This is a terrific way to use part of the Earth wisely and to teach sustainability to young minds without them knowing it! As a long-ago student at ACS-Amman - my family lived there almost 10 years while my Dad worked to create the university system in Jordan - I wish I had such a garden. I hope they enjoy many tomatoes and plenty of okra.