Building Excitement for Spring

Hopefully you can continue to find ways to engage students in the garden or nature spaces through the winter (SEL Activities are a great way to do this). However, there are some indoor ways to build excitement for the spring garden and get some of the prep work done in advance, too!

1. Request seed catalogs and build assignments around what your students are learning. Maybe they could build an order that results in the most seeds or most variety and comes closest to $20. Or calculating how much potential yield could be harvested from ordering a prescribed set of seeds. Could students be given a photo and tasked with writing a description?
   
2. Planning the spacing for a garden bed is another great math lesson, or developing a themed garden bed may engage other subjects (Check out our Themed Garden Beds). Use this worksheet to guide your garden planning discussions. Most crop guides offer between row and within row spacing; or if you follow the square foot gardening method, there are alternative spacing parameters.
   
3. Make seed mats. Seeds will not germinate unless the light, moisture and temperature conditions are right. The Square Foot Seeds lesson allows you to “plant” your seeds at desired spacing by gluing them to a paper towel. Once the glue is dry, stack the seeded paper towels on a shelf and wait for the right outdoor planting time. Once the conditions are favorable, simply place your seeded paper towels on the soil, cover lightly with loose soil, water and check back regularly for germination. The paper towel will biodegrade and you will have skipped the hassle of handling tiny seeds and thinning, as is often required when seeds are hand-sown.