Create a Safe Environment

Providing a safe environment for school food gardens to operate encourages program participation and provides opportunities for students to build supportive relationships through positive social interaction with adults and peers.

 Curriculum Connection

Safety First: Demonstrate understanding Have class create agreements on garden safety. What are the physical and community rules needed to make sure everyone feels welcome? Have students demonstrate their understanding of safety rules through health and physical education classes. Students can show proper physical form when moving heavy objects or create guidelines for clean working spaces.

Story from the Field: Supervision in the Garden

Having adult staff and volunteers in the garden allows students to learn in a safe environment. Teachers and Resource Centre staff meet with each class beforehand to ask what they would like to plant in the garden bed. At planting time, Resource Centre staff take the students out in small groups of about three children to every adult, so that they each get to experience every step of gardening, from preparing the soil, planting different kinds of seeds and plants, watering and mulching. During the summer, the Dietetic Intern works with the Summer Day Camp leaders to take out small groups of children to care for the gardens and harvest. The children have fun and are safe, and get to fully participate. - Community Garden Leader

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