Seedlings for Schools

In mid-February, a fellow teacher approached me about a program called "Seedlings for Schools" through the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

We placed the order for 500 trees and waited.  To be honest, I forgot all about the trees.

On Wednesday this week, the 500 samplings arrived!  SURPRISE

This is when the fun began :)

The seedlings were packed in shredded recycled damp paper.  However, the roots felt EXTREMELY dry.  A guest teacher and I worked hard to separate the seedlings that were wrapped and bound into groups.  Then each individual seedling was wrapped with a wet paper towel and placed in a plastic bag. Remember - we had 500 of these.  My K, 1, and 2 students worked very hard on this in STEAM on Wednesday to help us with this step before the rain showers began.  Luckily it was a beautiful day and we could use our courtyard.  Water, students, and sunshine...it was a loud learning activity.

We did watch a sci show kids video on the world's tallest tree to tie in a bit more science into the process.

Next year, I will pre-collect bags or maybe use milk or juice cartons with soil as the starter...

The next step was creating a parent take home letter, printing student labels, and more!  We decided to send one tree home with each family instead of each student since we ordered just enough trees. The only/oldest in each family got a seedling.  Then we shared the rest with staff and teachers.

Next year, I will pre-print letters and labels and have these ready to go!  Plus I needed 26 boxes so that I could sort the trees into homerooms quicker and easier. Finally, a larger space and more time would make this process go more smoothly.  This year was a huge learning curve!

Plus I want to do more teaching about the trees with students.

Our students took home a mix of Grey-stemmed Dogwood trees, Silky Dogwood trees, and Hemlock trees.

Grey Stemmed Dogwood
Silky Dogwood
Hemlock

Here is a link to the program...set your reminder to order the trees in early February.

Seedlings for School