At the opening of the school year, we went to see the results of a
\nproject run by children. The Garden in the School Yard won an award at the
\nBucuresti(tu) Gala, in the ecology section, a gala under which the Bucharest
\nCity Hall rewards people who breathe life into the city, changing things for
\nthe better. The project started as a game, according to Violeta Dascalu,
\nheadmistress of Ferdinand I Secondary School in Bucharest:<\/p>\n
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The idea came in collaboration with the Romania in Transition
\nassociation, which came to us three years ago to set up a workshop for kids to
\nteach them how to tend a garden. We called it Garden in the School Yard. It was
\na complex project, with the participation of architects, designers and
\nengineers, which means it incorporates elements of various types. For instance,
\nrain water is gathered in a large reservoir, it goes into an overflow, and then
\nit gets to the green areas. The soil is enriched with compost, which the kids made
\nthemselves together with the people from the association.<\/p>\n
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Confident that forming skills for sustainable living through green
\ngardening is key to smart co-habitation in modern society, the project
\ncoordinator, Ionut Badica, tried to get the kids to know their environment and
\nlearn right in their school yard. Here with details is Violeta Dascalu: <\/p>\n
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The children have learned about each natural element, from
\napple cores to banana peels, and how they turn into compost. The grass cut in
\nthe garden was also put into the compost. The children made the sluices that
\ndrain the water. For the green areas, they made trestles to decorate the
\nplanted space. Then we brought in the science side, and discussed the
\nrelationship between water, soil, plants and the air. All the elements are
\nbrought together for the kids. They also have had a chance to talk to
\ninternational trainers, to tell them what they learned. We have the parents
\ncoming in on Saturdays. We are very glad that parents support the children, they
\nlearn organic ways of growing plants, learn that nature is perfect and
\nregenerates. This is what we teach the children, and we don’t use any chemical
\nfertilizers, the seeds and saplings come from sources that are not genetically
\naltered.<\/p>\n
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We asked Violeta Dascalu how the children see gardening: <\/p>\n
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At first they were curious, we started with planting seeds in
\nFebruary. They watered the plants and saw the frail saplings growing, in pots
\npicked and labeled by them. They came each day to watch the tiny plants grow.
\nThen they built hothouses, where they planted with their own hands tomatoes,
\ncourgettes, cucumbers, radishes and herbs. Some children wanted to do this at
\nhome, in their balcony. The parents came to ask what we did, because their
\nchildren wanted to have the same thing at home. The children basically
\nreeducate the parents.<\/p>\n
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The Garden in the School Yard project started at Ferdinand I Secondary
\nSchool in Bucharest in 2012, and in 2014 it was implemented in a school in the
\ncity of Bacau. Children and teachers can get to know and protect the
\nenvironment every day, offering solutions to the degradation of the
\nenvironment, to the distancing of people from nature, to the rise in obesity
\nand sedentary habits in children. <\/p>\n
\n
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And once you create good habits, they have to be practiced. At
\nschool and in the garden, applied knowledge of nature is now an
\nextra-curricular activity, as we were told by Violeta Dascalu: <\/p>\n
\n
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Our project is part of a larger project run by another NGO,
\n‘Green Schools’, another example of how you can teach ecology and how children
\ncan learn about nature practically, not just theoretically, in biology class.
\nThe project is at a stage when they are implementing an electronic manual,
\naccredited by the ministry. We offer this manual optionally this year, it is a
\ngreat textbook. There are more and more initiatives from civil society, which
\nare a great resource for us teachers.<\/p>\n
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This project offers schools practical means of planning and
\nimplementing modern environmental education. <\/p>\n
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\n
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‘The Garden in the School Yard’, a project run by children, won an award at the Bucharest Gala.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":134937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42520],"tags":[43049,43048,37446],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-134932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-romania","tag-childrens-projects","tag-garden-in-the-school-yard","tag-secondary-school"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n