The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
FOR BEES, AND CHILDREN
Educators create pollinator garden for outdoor classroom
TORRINGTON — On the edge of the Torringford School property, two kindergarten teachers have created a garden for pollinators, with selected plants to draw bees to their flowers, bee watering stations and a pathway in between.
It’s intended to bring nature closer to children, with an outdoor classroom and walking trail to come. Children can learn about pollinators, while getting outdoors for fresh air and activity.
Erin French and Karen Mangin developed the pollinator garden project for the school. They applied for a Fit Together Northwest Connecticut grant, which required a full description of the plan and its effect on students and the community.
In their presentation, the teachers pointed to the benefits of outdoor learning, which has many physical and psychological advantages: improved sleep, healthy blood pressure, increased physical activity and improved cognitive learning.
“To get the grant, we had to do a lot of research,” Mangin said. “This has been a year-long project for us.”
Both hope that the garden will be used by all classes at the elementary school, as well as the community.
“Our main goal is to make this garden a student space,” Mangin said. “Some of our classes have already used it, and they’re learning what pollinators are and their importance to the world.”
The garden is tucked against the western-facing fence on Charles Street at Torringford School, with shade trees for partial sun. The garden has plantings of lupine, bee balm, swamp milkweed and other bee- and butterflyfriendly plants.
Small circles in the soil, filled with sand and stones, are watered to provide a drinking spot for visiting bees. Through the center of the garden, a decorative path with stones leads visitors between the beds.
On June 4, the teachers, parents and children held a work day to create the garden. “We realized once we started digging that the land was full of rocks, and a lot of clay,” said French. “The school district’s head of grounds and our head custodian were very, very supportive and helped us with equipment to get them out.”
The pollinator garden is the first step toward a full outdoor learning environment.
“Now that the garden is completed, we’d like to have a nature trail and an outdoor
learning area — an outdoor classroom,,” said French.“There could be a way to run the trail behind the garden, up to the top of the school property. We could have benches; maybe a corner with a tree stump for reading.”
“Then, the goal is to create lessons, based on our science curriculum for each grade,” she said. “This way, we create a generations who care about pollinators; who learn not to be afraid of bees; and to make a connection with nature.”