It’s been warm and rainy, here in the Pacific Northwest, for the past few weeks.  The weather has me really thinking about garden projects.  My kids are great at helping me in the garden.  We spend time weeding, adding compost, planting flowers, and adding vegetable starts to the vegetable garden.

At home, I rotate the kids’ books that we have on display.  I keep a basket of gardening magazines in the corner of our family room. I love to be able to grab some gardening inspiration and start looking for new ideas. This is the place I also display a few of my kids’ gardening books.

I pull out every book I own on gardening and add them to the gardening corner.  I have a variety of fiction and non-fiction, easy readers and read-to-me books.  My daughter is in 5th grade and still enjoys picture books.  It’s amazing how she chooses to read when the books are displayed, rather than on the bookshelf upstairs.  We are also able to talk about the books and how they relate to our own gardening experiences.  Building SCHEMA (background knowledge and experiences) is so important in early literacy!

I’ve been trying to decide which type of plant/seed/garden provocations I’m going to set up in the classroom. We explored sunflowers in the fall.

I know I will have to include a sensory garden in our classroom.

There will be many tree-related provocations.

My tree unit is available on Teachers Pay Teachers.  You can also check out my Reggio Emilia board on Pinterest for  lots of gardening and Reggio Inspired ideas for your home or classroom.  I’ve been pouring over my Pinterest boards lately, trying to get new ideas for my classroom and some inspiring projects for my daughter, at home.

Spring will be here before we know it!  It’s time to start planning.

Happy gardening…  and reading!