Our Green Class Room

If you have a garden and a library, you will want for nothing – Cicero

The LIS school garden is a beautiful, green, wild oasis about 100m from the school on the cusp of the forest. It had been standing dormant and untended for five years before an active parent´took it under their wing in August 2018. Since then, the garden has become a thriving piece of land with numerous interesting activities for our students to partake in. Teachers and parents alike use the space for gardening, as a “green classroom” or as a meeting place to exchange ideas and enjoy the outdoors.

Together, parents and teachers develop ideas to create an interesting place to learn in the fresh air. In cooperation with students of the 12th grade, a weather station, insect hotels, a bee drinking station, a worm observation station, nesting boxes and feeding houses for birds were created. In addition, we have developed a gardening diary. In it are beautifully designed worksheets on various topics (weather, plants, insects, bees) which are gladly used by students in the primary school.

Regular work also takes place on weekends and enrich not only the development of the school garden, but also promote the exchange between all members of our international community.

Every Wednesday afternoon our afternoon activity group “Garden Explorers” takes place. Here students can engage in gardening in their free time, digging, sowing, weeding and planting – depending on the season.

The LIS school garden helps our students engage with natural resources and are confronted with the actual origin of our food. Each primary school grade is responsible for one of the beds and experimenting with growing their own vegetables, fruits and flowers.

In the “Green Classroom”, students can explore topics such as mathematics, science, art, health and sports in the different context or just enjoy being a change of setting.

There is something to do in the garden almost all year round, whether its weeding or planting or harvesting. But a garden isn’t just all work, it is enjoying the peace of a green oasis in the middle of a busy city or using the bounty the space gives us to create something beautiful be is a wreath in autumn or a spot of colour in the monotone winter. Most often it is bringing together friends and family to cook and eat and play and be together.

Our school garden gives us space to grow together as a community away from work and other commitments. Every Tuesday morning, interested parents meet for garden workouts to garden together; in the Garden Academy we share our knowledge with each other; barbecues, school graduation parties or picnics give us the opportunity to get to know each other better.

There have been a number of set backs and challenges. A spring storm blew a huge branch right into the freshly planted primary school beds and undid weeks of work. The team of garden regulars stepped in quickly though and together they cleaned up the mess in no time. But there have been equally as many highlights and triumphs. The first harvests of herbs, salads and berries were a special delight. Recently, the team unearthed their first potatoes and were enchanted with the results. For every one potato planted they harvested twenty. Talk about return on investment!

There are many ways our garden can be used by the community in a creative, peaceful and refreshing atmosphere.

If you haven’t been yet, pop around on Tuesday morning or one of the dates advertised in the Ticker or on the Website or social media, even if it’s just to have a look at what this great team is doing.

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