Conserve: Green Purchasing

Each year our school hosts an annual plant sale. 6th students learn how plants grow and reproduce. 7th grade students learn about plant cells, photosynthesis and respiration. Students in all grades can participate in our garden club learning about aspects of growing a garden, including spacing, planting depth and seasons. The combination of these three groups makes for a substantial plant sale. The proceeds of this sale help to fund many of our green projects for the following school year as well as purchase supplies for our garden.

Students will plan, plant for and facilitate a plant sale in our school's greenhouse during the month of May. Students plan how many and what type of plants to sell at the sale. They use purchase data from the previous year to determine how many and what type of plants they will sell. They will use current market data to set prices for the sale and create labels with growing guides for each of their plants. Finally, students will manage all aspects of the sale including customer service, growing advice and money collection.

Students will teach others in the community about sustainable gardening by providing growing guides as well as verbally educating customers about the plants they purchase. They will also provide garden tours of the facilities at IMS while discussing the process of creating and maintaining a pollinator garden.