Truro Elementary School Celebrates with a Harvest Meal

With the first month of school already gone, students at Truro Elementary School have been hard at work in their classrooms and in their garden. On September 20th, their enthusiastic Green Team harvested their school garden. The school’s newly built garden was made possible thanks to a large grant from the Nutrients for Life Foundation. The team successfully grew potatoes, onions and chives! They used their fresh veggies to make some delicious cheesy smashed potatoes. What a great way to enjoy the fruits of their labour! Check out their great photos below.

Having a school garden and establishing school routines to help students learn how to plant, grow, care for, harvest, and prepare their own food provides a surplus of benefits, many of which are curriculum linked. Some benefits include:

-Learning in the Garden
-Discover healthy food
-Learn how to grow your own food
-Develop teamwork skills & independence
-Promote better nutrition
-Learn to value farmers’ work
-Hands-on, fun learning

Source: FAO

If you’re interested in starting a garden at your school, but don’t know where to start, check out the Getting Started with a School Garden support package.

The Green Team at Truro Elementary School, which consists of Grade 4 and 5 students, are having lots of fun doing green things around the school, and they are very proud of their recent growing efforts. Mrs Jacqui MacIntosh has been a key player for Truro Elementary’s successful green efforts throughout the last few years. While she works hard as the school’s Vice Principal, she also coordinates the school’s active Green Team, for example, by organizing the meetings, and helping students succeed with green projects.

Their school garden is only one of the projects the team has taken on. They also help the school with their recycling, they’ve upcycled rotisserie chicken containers into mini greenhouses, organized a battery recycling campaign, had the school community recycle their old cell phones with RecyclyMyCell.ca, and more! A few years ago, they even made their own video showing their fellow classmates how to properly recycle at school. They’re always finding new ways to reduce their ecological impacts and protect the earth.

Green Schools Nova Scotia has been fortunate to work with Truro Elementary School over the past three school years, and we look forward to supporting all of their current, and future green endeavours. Way to go, Truro Elementary School!

~Pam Chandler,
Engagement Officer