Classroom Gardens

Windowsill Gardens are starting now from little seeds on windowsills across the city. Join us as we embrace spring with seedlings!

ONFE’s Classroom Gardens program is helping students and teachers to start their own mini gardens at home. Students in virtual school receive supplies and learn how to plant and cultivate their garden during virtual class, in order to maintain their gardens at home.

Students who have Windowsill Gardens at home will plant 4 different edible plant varieties, watch them germinate, grow, and thrive. Once the plants mature, students can transplant them outdoors where both the learning and the tasting can continue throughout the summer.

Students who usually learn in class will watch their teacher demonstrate a Windowsill Garden online.

We’re offering robust support to teachers, with newly developed comprehensive lesson plans, demonstrations, and scientific experiments.

Windowsill Gardens

At ONFE, we believe that nutrition doesn’t stop at a healthy breakfast – it is enriched and empowered by an understanding of where food comes from, and through encouraging engagement with fresh food from seed to plate.

The newly developed Windowsill Gardens model has been incorporated into both the In-Person Learning and Virtual Classroom models and continues the mission of Classroom Gardens.

About the Program

Need

Poor nutrition is linked with many chronic and costly health conditions including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, and hyperactivity among children. Growing food in the classroom is proven way to get kids excited about eating healthy fresh vegetables, while learning about nutrition, entrepreneurship, and the wide range of career choices related to food. Learning about healthy food at school is especially critical for the one in five children in Ottawa who live in poverty. Not surprisingly, there is a direct link between nutrition and household income.

Response

Now in our fifth year of Classroom Gardens, ONFE is partnering with elementary schools and high schools across Ottawa’s four public school boards to bring this program to students. Classroom Gardens engages students of all ages (with a special focus on grade 3 classes) in planting, growing, harvesting, and most importantly, tasting and enjoying their own classroom garden vegetables. Each indoor classroom garden can grow up to 50 edible plants at a time, all year long. That’s a lot of healthy food to share with students, their families, and their neighbourhoods!

Impact

This spring we have 4018 participating students and 217 teachers.

Classroom Gardens engages local teachers and students in creating and tending to indoor gardens. Targeted lesson plans and growing programs connect hands-on gardening activities with curriculum goals in a variety of subjects. Students gain a better understanding of plants, food supply and demand, nutrition and healthy eating, and food-related careers.

To continue supporting Grade 3 Ottawa students, wherever they are learning, our Classroom Gardens Program has developed a 2 new Windowsill Gardening Programs:

ONFE’s Classroom Gardens program is helping students and teachers in virtual classrooms to start their own mini gardens at home. Students and teachers receive supplies and learn how to plant, maintain and cultivate their gardens at home.
Teachers receive supplies and carry out a teacher led, demonstration only model for in-school learners.

Are you a gardener? Join our journey!

Follow along on social as ONFE staff join students in learning about gardening this spring!

Are you starting your own seeds at home? Join our journey and share your photos with us!

Find us on FaceBook

Support Ottawa kids

Just like all ONFE programs, Classroom Gardens is offered at no charge to students to remain accessible. Help us teach kids about healthy food and the growing cycle.

Donate to ONFE