Inspired by Bulbs:Home

From Bulbs

Jump to: navigation, search

Share ideas about this page.

Inspired by Bulbs

Projects around the country are exploring creative ways of engaging children and youth with flower bulb activities.

Establish creative plantings, including a living flower bed quilt, a labyrinth, and rainbows of blooms.
Conduct sophisticated science, including testing the effect of growth regulators on flower bulbs, tracking the arrival of spring, and experimenting with bulbs for low-water-use, green landscaping.
Create special gardens to foster teamwork, intergenerational relationships, conflict resolution and peacemaking.
Integrate flower bulb activities with all aspects of the curriculum -- from language and art to science and math.

Here are brief summaries of the projects:

The Learning Quilt

Myers Elementary School Junior Master Gardeners, Gainesville, Ga.

4th and 5th grade Junior Master Gardeners at Myers Elementary will transform a courtyard flanked on three sides by classrooms from an eyesore into a living quilt of bulbs, using a bedframe built by a high school woodworking class as the flower 'bed' for the quilt. The students will learn about how bulbs grow as well as how gardening together – like quilt-making – can help forge social relationships. The Junior Master Gardeners will also help write lesson plans for how each grade level can use the garden to help meet learning standards in language arts, math, science, history, art and other areas of the curriculum. The students plan to add other plants to the garden to provide color when the bulbs are dormant, and will work with local Master Gardeners on the project.

Bulbs Alive: The Correlation of Traditional and Non-Traditional Plant Growth Regulators in the Growth and Development of Plants from Bulbs.

Uniondale High School Science Research FFA Chapter, Uniondale, N.Y.

Students in the Uniondale High School Research Program will study the effects of plant growth regulators on flower bulbs. They will be engaged in the literature search for journal articles, experimental design, project implementation, observations, conclusions and statistical analysis. They will use the regulators in varying concentrations and monitor the bulbs' growth using physical and biochemical measurements. They will enter their project in local, regional, state and national competitions and present their results to community garden clubs.

Blossoming Friendships

Azalea Park Elementary School Panther Earth Pals Club, Orlando, Fla.

In this multi-generational, service-learning project, 4th and 5th graders will work with kindergarteners to develop two gardens. One will be at a nearby assisted living center where students visit with seniors. The other 'New Beginnings' garden will be outside the only building that will remain as the rest of their campus is razed and rebuilt, to reinforce the idea that beauty surrounds us daily even when we face major changes in our lives. The older students will map out the locations, design the gardens, and determine the tools necessary for success. They will read to the kindergarteners about gardening and involve them in the planting and care of the gardens. The project will help both groups meet math, science, social studies, and language arts standards. The older students will report their progress by news spots on the morning announcements, through photo journals and displays, and possibly a display at the county fair.

SEARCHing for Tulips

Liberty Elementary, Toccoa, Ga.

4th graders at Liberty Elementary will become citizen scientists, experimenting with different planting times and recording detailed records of weather and emergence, growth and bloom time of different varieties and species in their scientific journals to discover how plants are affected by climate. They will share their results through the Journey North website. The 4th graders will also be responsible for teaching other students about the bulbs, their scientific studies and the garden area and lead tours for other classes.

When is it going to be Spring?

Grove Patterson Academy and St. Pius X Catholic School, Toldeo, Ohio

Pre-schoolers through 8th graders at these two schools will participate in two days of age-appropriate mini-workshops to learn all about bulbs, contributing to the program's primary goal of understanding and caring for living things and respect for our environment. Topics will range from science to language arts, math to origami. During the workshops, students will also develop planting designs that will be displayed and voted on, and each student will be involved in the planting the chosen design. Plans also include developing a website highlighting the garden's progress and thanking those who contributed to it.

The Big Book of Bulbs

Kellogg School, Chicago, Ill.

Fifth graders at the Kellogg School will use the scientific method as they learn about classifying bulbs by size and shape, and will research bulb growth, planting and the needs of bulbs. Based on what they learn, they will choose a spot and design a planting. They will document their work with photos, illustrations, stories and poems that they will compile into a 'Big Book of Bulbs' that they will share with students in kindergarten through 4th grade.

Petal Power: Energizing community through bulb gardening

Da Vinci Academy, Gainesville, Ga.

Sixth and 7th graders will create a bulb labyrinth and fully integrate the project into the Academy's core curriculum focusing on science, math, technology and fine arts. Students will be involved in planning, sketching, creating, planting, maintaining, and recording the garden and its development as a content-integrated learning activity, and will foster community with teachers, parents and volunteers as they work together on this common project. The students also plan to develop a digital record, podcast and memoir. The students will extend their community-building beyond the Academy to local community groups, including healthcare organizations, inviting them to walk the labyrinth for its spiritual benefits and peace of mind.

Growing A Rainbow

Educational Child Care Center, Lansing, Mich.

This project is based on the children's book, Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert – a wonderful teaching tool for young children to learn about color, patterns and the life cycle of flowers. Each of the five preschool classes at will plant bulbs in the fall and flowers in the spring around a tree to create their own rainbow of colors with flowers. The children will learn important early childhood lessons of teamwork, self-esteem, colors, and patterns, as well as begin a foundation of basic science and math skills.

The Stars of David

The McGillis School, Salt Lake City, Utah

The Stars of David Project will use bulbs to integrate science and art for students in grades 1 through 8. They will study, design, plant and maintain Persian Buttercups, Ranunculus asiaticus, in the xeriscaped school garden of the new LEED-certified middle-school addition. The students will study the cells of the root system, which form of interlocking Stars of David, and learn how the plant copes with drought and heat. The planting will reflect the school’s Jewish values of Tikun Olam, repair the world, and we will use the school garden as a teaching tool for green building and landscaping. The students will make digital scans of the flowers to accompany the signage for year-round education and will be published on the Utah Society for Environmental Education’s website and blog, encouraging members of the community to visit the garden and to highlight the use of bulbs in Utah’s climate.

Growing Peace, Cultivating Friendships: Using a Campus Flower Garden to Teach Tolerance and Conflict Resolution

Raintree Learning Community, Ballwin, Mo.

Raintree Learning Community will use bulbs to help create a Peace Garden to provide an outdoor space for 3- to 6-year-olds to practice concrete ways to focus their minds and energy on peaceful pursuits and to learn new techniques for resolving conflict in their lives. The collaborative planning and construction of the garden will model the efforts and actions that make a community peaceful and strong, highlight each child’s unique contribution as a member of the community, and equip the community of children with the knowledge and skills necessary to share in a life of peacemaking. In the garden, teachers and students will collaborate in hands-on and discovery-based learning, portfolio assessment, and project work. They will use digital cameras, digital voice recorders, and video cameras to document their efforts.

Healing Communities Flower Garden

School on Wheels Alternative High School, Albuquerque, N.M.

Alternative high school youth will design, plan, and install an outdoor educational classroom with xeric (low-water use) landscapes, edible gardens, and public art spaces, including a flower bulb garden. They will learn the science of plant growth first in the lab, then apply what they've learned in choosing the site, composting and improving the soil, and designing and planting the gardens. In addition to learning practical plant skills, they will also gain critical experiences in collaboration, leadership, communication, and collaboration as they teach young children about bulbs.

Inspired by Bulbs:Home

From Bulbs