Bench Of Life installation at Prince of Peace School

Some of the areas of interest and teaching points for this project were soil testing, decomposers, sustainable soil management, biodiversity and ways in which we can support nature by providing it with what it needs to thrive. 

Our grade 4 students took on a leadership role in this exploration and have been learning about decomposers and how they build healthy soil in partnership with Box of Life. They have been caring for a classroom sized vermicomposter to learn about red wrigglers, collecting appropriate food waste, collecting data on our current garden soil’s health, and mentoring the other Grade 4 class on collecting worm food. This project has allowed them to explore the lifecycle of food waste to soil and is a journey they are still on.

In connecting this to our garden, they used a grant received by the Jane Goodall Foundation to install a “Bench of Life” which is an outdoor worm composting system. 

Their next goal is to share all the knowledge they have gained with the rest of the school community as well as Herongate Early Learning Centre (who care for the school garden over the Summer) to encourage the cycle of food waste to soil in building healthy plants. They also have a plan to mentor next year’s Grade 4 students.

As a community we will be amending the soil with the gift of castings before planting the crops selected by students and grown in different classrooms this year.

Cordially,

Leah Dabrowski
Resource Teacher
Prince of Peace

1620 Heatherington Rd, Ottawa