The Infant and Primary pupils have been working in the new school vegetable gardens. This activity, which is part of our innovation projects, has proved to be very successful and offers endless educational possibilities. They have planted lettuce (which many pupils have taken home), beetroot, onions, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins and courgettes.
As is logical, the simple fact of having a vegetable garden implies regular maintenance and care, a responsibility that is entrusted to the children. There is already learning involved, such as observing the growth and reproduction of the plant day by day, the use of different irrigation techniques, the atmospheric phenomena that condition its development, the partial knowledge of the workings of nature, etc.
This year, the 3rd year Infant pupils have worked on the vegetable garden and, in English and Science, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year Primary pupils have worked on it. But also, for example, from the point of view of mathematics, it is possible to plan a didactic unit around the vegetable garden; the pupils can be asked to decide the orientation of the land before building it, to measure the land and calculate its area, to make a forecast of the cost of the material they need, to look for the best prices... This initiative does not only include knowledge related to science. With this method, students work on other skills while learning civic and social values and learning to learn in a cooperative way.
