News

Aeroponic Gardening with the Tower Garden

1/15/20

Introducing the newest Deerfield garden - the Tower Garden. The Tower Garden was assembled during a library class by some of our fifth graders and will live in their classroom. Stay tuned to see how our aeroponic gardeners fare!

Visit from the Westwood Garden Club

10/11/19

This past Monday, members of the Westwood Garden Club received a tour of our Outdoor Classroom from some of our fifth-grade gardeners. The Westwood Garden Club is celebrating their 90th anniversary this year. We look forward to furthering our gardening knowledge from these experienced gardeners!

Native Pollinator Garden Planted

8/20/19

Our latest garden, the Native Pollinator Garden, has been planted. The garden was planted from a Native Plant Trust pollinator kit. The native plants in the kit were selected to provide year-round color while providing habitat for pollinators. Upon their return this fall, some of our students will also be planting milkweed in the garden.

Unfortunately, some of our native plants seems to also be a popular snack for the local rabbits!

Thank You, Organic Soil Solutions and Westwood Public Works!

5/14/19

The Outdoor Classroom has recently received two generous donations of materials. A huge thank you to Organic Soil Solutions for their compost donation, and to Westwood Public Works for their wood chip donation. Your generosity is a spot of brightness in the midst of this cold and damp spring we're experiencing!

Garden Club Kicks Off

4/23/19

Tuesday Garden Club kicked off this morning under wet, drizzly skies. It was too wet to work in the gardens, but students kept busy creating signs and plant labels, decorating rocks, relocating worms to our garden beds, and working on construction of the erosion wall. Thursday Garden Club will kick off on Thursday, 4/25.

Check out the new Garden Club section of our website to read more!

Colonial Garden Comes to Life

3/26/19

Our fifth graders have been busy! Come by and check out the new Colonial Garden beds that they’ve helped to construct. They’re also working hard to prepare the new Three Sisters Garden. We’re digging out remnants of an old tree, but are finding that many hands make light work.

Seed Starting for Spring

3/6/19

Our Outdoor Classroom may be blanketed under a foot of snow, but signs of spring are all around us. Take a closer look at the trees and shrubs around you - buds are starting to swell, readying to burst open with the bright greens of early spring.

Indoors, we have kicked off our gardening season with seed starting. Students from 2M, 2H and KG planted seeds this week for a new colonial garden. Second grade students will be caring for the new plants under grow lights - watering them, monitoring new growth, and adjusting light and temperature as needed. It's a big job - thank you to the second grade for hosting our plants, and for all your help!

Thinking About Spring

12/18/18

It may be cold and wintery outside, but we are starting to think about spring in the Outdoor Classroom. We have just ordered seeds from the University of Rhode Island’s Free Seed Program, which gives schools up to 500 free seed packets. Thanks to this program, we will have vegetables, herbs and flowers in our garden. Hurry up, spring!

Thank You, Wegmans!

12/10/18

Thanks to the hard work of Ishani Tewari, a member of the Deerfield PTO Grant Writing Committee, the Outdoor Classroom has received a generous $400 donation from Wegmans. This money will be used towards further building out the Outdoor Classroom's gardens. Thank you, Wegmans!

Changes in the Outdoor Classroom

11/19/18

The gardens have been put to bed, but changes are still happening in the Outdoor Classroom. Thanks to a generous donation from the PTO, we now have a garden storage shed. We are all thrilled with the shed and even have students who have said they would like to move in!

Have you noticed the beautiful handmade structures popping up in the Outdoor Classroom? Students from Mrs. Krass' Let's Build mini-course have been constructing trellises to use in the garden this spring. The trellises are as beautiful as they are functional and we look forward to using them!