2025 Registrations will open in...
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- Are you new to our method of growing food in schools? We highly recommend Oasis Classroom (to grow an indoor garden) to get started. To find out about Oasis Classroom click HERE.
- Do you have any questions about any of the Oasis Programs and the different options? Don't hesitated to book a call with or email Leila.
Or simply email or call Leila: 647-887-1534, [email protected]
Grows a curriculum-connected school garden and transforms your teaching!
Engages different learners and leaves an amazing legacy for you, by giving your students the authentic hands-on experience of growing their own food, right in your classroom.
It's never been easier to empower!
What do you think it takes to grow a food garden at school?
With Oasis School all that it takes are:
- Following instructions.
- Knowing how to teach off of pre-written (tested and proven) lesson plans!
- A sunny window (4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight) to start seeds indoors
- Permission to turn a small portion of your outdoor space into a regenerative garden
- Enthusiasm to grow your classroom garden into existence!
No...
- guess work!
- spinning your wheels
- spending time outside your prep or class time to research or write plans
Not required:
- Any growing experience!
Oasis School gives you everything you need
It's entirely curriculum-centered, all lessons come with a curriculum connection chart example for grades 3 to 8 that you can easily match with your curriculum.
Why Trust Us?
Growing School and Classroom gardens since 2013
Kids' Growing City had humble beginnings starting as an after-school gardening program in a private school. Since then our main focus has been figuring out the answer to this question:
"What's the most effective way to teach elementary curriculum using gardens as an authentic learning tool?"
And after a decade of working with educators side by side, developing, getting feedback, testing, and fine-tuning programs on the ground, we've got the perfect solution:
A proven 2-phase comprehensive program:
PHASE I: Oasis Classroom
PHASE II: Oasis School
Pre-COVID we our facilitators grew 15 amazing schools gardens in local schools.
Some of the schools we've worked with throughout the years are...
Redstone p.s., Windham Ridge P.S., Gosford P.S., Island Public/Natural Science School, R J Lang Elementary and Middle School, Don Mills M.S., Pelmo Park P.S., Donald Cousens P.S., Armadale P.S., Hollywood p.s., Beckett Farm P.S., Firgrove p.s., Somerset Academy, Mcmurrich p.s., CMS Private Schools, Richland Academy private school,
just to name a few.
post-COVID we pivoted and made our 2-phase plan available to teachers online
Oasis Classroom grew over 100 classroom gardens in 2021, 2022 and 2023 for participating teachers.
Some of the schools that joined Oasis Classroom Program are...
Brown Junior Public School, Beverley Heights Middle School, Alexander Stirling P.S., Windham Ridge P.S., Greensborough P.S., Baycrest Public School, Dixon Grove Junior Middle School, Elmbank Junior Middle Academy, Rawlinson Community School,
just to name a few.
What's included in Oasis School
&
Classroom and School Gardens are hands-on teaching tools.
And you need lesson plans to effectively teach!
So how can you be expected to grow a food garden that you teach in without curriculum-connected lesson plans that include all step-by-step instructions?
You can't be! That's why both Oasis Classroom and Oasis School programs come with Lesson Plans and much much more:
For each of the 12 lessons, you will get:
1) A lesson plan
2) A poster (available in English and French)
3) A materials checklist
4) Curriculum connections checklist
As well as:
5) Online access to digital formats of all the above plus the student booklets
6) Coaching sessions with Leila, the creator of Oasis programs, to the end of the school year.
Oasis School 12-Week Lesson List
Oasis School
Grows an Amazing School Garden
Recommended for Phase II (second year) of your garden project
Week 1 (the week before March Break in Ontario: the week of March 3rd): Choosing outdoor garden type and spot
Week 2: Garden design and plant arrangement
Week 3: Seeds and Seedlings (growing Tomato)
Week 4: Soil (growing Marigolds)
Week 5: Water (growing Swiss Chard)
Week 6 : Building the Garden
Week 7: Sowing in the garden (Lettuce, Arugula, Spinach, Radish, Carrots)
Week 8: Beneficial Animals and Insects, Biodiversity (growing Peppers and Corn)
Week 9: Hardening off and Transplanting (Optionally growing Basil and Dill)
Week 10: Sunlight (growing Beans and Sunflowers) --> Contributes to 3 sisters
Week 11: Summer Maintenance arrangements
Week 12 (last week of May): Harvest and Celebration
For each of the 12 lessons, your students will get a booklet they can take home after used in class. This booklet includes:
1) A lesson on the topic (usually 4 pages)
2) Material and Tools Checklist
3) A Step by step activity guide for growing the seed of the week
4) A Word-Games page on the topic
5) A Self-assessment/Journal sheet
Booklets are available in English and French.
Immediately Upon Registration, For each of the 12 lessons, you will get:
A Complete Material and Supplies Checklist of:
- Seed, Soil, Seed, Starting Pots, etc.
- General Tools such as Table Covering, Watering Cans, etc.
Lesson Specific Supplies such as material for building water filter, soil experiments, Worms, etc.
Professional Development Hours
Upon Completion of Very Simple Progress Reports...
- Every implemented lesson inside the Oasis Classroom and Oasis School programs is considered 1.5 hours of professional development.
- A certificate of participation will be issued for the participating teachers, indicating their acquired professional development hours.
- This will be given ONLY to teachers who submit their weekly reports clearly showing their lesson executions and progress.
What to do with what you'll produce
Fast-maturing plants such as sprouts, micro-greens, arugula, or leaf lettuce could be enjoyed right in your classroom. Make salads or smoothies!
Longer-maturing seedlings and a number of your Short-maturing plants will be...
- Transplanted into the outdoor garden you and your students designed and built!
The rest of your Longer-maturing seedlings can be...
- Sold at a student-led market (entrepreneurial connection),
- Taken home by students and staff,
- Donated to local community gardens (community connection),
- Or all of the above!
Have never grown a garden before?
That's not a problem!
But we highly recommend starting with our Oasis Classroom program to grow an indoor classroom garden first.
Ever felt like this, thinking about growing a school garden?
With Oasis School you...
- will have more than enough time
- your summer maintenance will be arranged by your students as part of one of the program lessons
- won't need no experts to pay your class a visit
- your regenerative garden will be designed and built (or if you already have one replenished) by your students as part of the program
- will know exactly how it all connects to your curriculum and what to teach when
- will need no raised beds, expensive or complicated tools or equipment and a lot of things most people buy for a conventional garden...
... And you'll still grow an impressive garden that wows everyone and produces a lot of food!
Alternatively...
Alternatively, you could go it alone!
How long do you think it will take you..
to replicate close to a decade of our experience growing classroom and school gardens...
... all by yourself...
... making all the mistakes...
...without a plan or program like Oasis
or Leila's coaching?
This will be a slow and torturous process and is the reason behind teacher exhaustion and abandoned school gardens!
You can achieve spectacular results with Oasis programs (see below for testimonial videos).
It's simply too much trial and error and you'll need a lot of luck and tons of growing knowledge to do this right.
OR...
You could develop a similar program yourself!
How many experienced teachers...
...who know how to grow food in a school environment,
...who have very strong knowledge of the curriculum,
...and are good at program development
...and also have strong graphic design skills
...do you think you'll need to pull it off?
How many hours do you think every lesson plan will take these teachers?
Answer: at least 3 hours to write and 2 hours to review and revise
How many hours do you think every poster will take them?
Answer: at least 6 hours to create and 2 hours to review and revise.
And every student booklet?
Answer: will take them at least 2 hours to write and 1 hour to review and revise,
Assuming you have the right expertise, and counting in the time to connect it all to your curriculum learning expectations and putting it all in a schedule that matches the season and the school timelines...
creating this program will cost minimum of a $60,000.
We suggest you skip all that and join this program!
Your Investment for 2024 will only be...
12 Oasis School Lessons
---2,975 CAD for the first teacher---
---297 CAD per additional teacher int he same school
One School Year License
(1 class of up to 30 students)
Email [email protected] and request an invoice to register.
Registration Deadline
00
DAYS
00
HOURS
00
MINS
00
SECS
- Are you new to our method of growing food in schools? We highly recommend Oasis Classroom (to grow an indoor garden) to get started. To find out about Oasis Classroom click HERE.
- Do you have any questions about any of the Oasis Programs and the different options? Don't hesitated to book a call with or email Leila.
Or simply email or call Leila: 647-887-1534, [email protected]
Add-On Services for Greater Toronto Area Schools
Supplies Add-on
(for Greater Toronto Area schools ONLY)
This includes the cost of labor for purchasing, packaging per lesson, and delivery
We will deliver to your participating classrooms
- All indoor Organic Soil bags, Organic Seeds, other lesson-specific supplies such as seed starting cups and containers, sprouting kits, worms, supplies for making herb drying racks and other experimental kits and much more.
Oasis School Indoor Supplies:
$775 per participating class of up to 30 students
Oasis School Outdoor Supplies:
We do not deliver bulk soil or mulch. But we can connect you with suppliers and help you arrange for deliveries. You should set aside approximately $300 to $500 for soil and mulch, per participating class of up to 30 students.
You DO NOT need to purchase raised beds.
Delivery to GTA schools is free.
If your school is outside of the Greater Toronto Area, no worries, every lesson is coming to you with a supplies checklist and we will help you source during your coaching sessions.
Print Add-on
(for Greater Toronto Area schools ONLY)
This includes the cost of color print, packaging per lesson, and delivery
We deliver to your participating classrooms
- All professionally printed Posters
- All professionally printed and assembled Student Booklets
Each lesson has 1 to 2 posters + 30 student booklets (6 double sided 11 X 8.5 color pages)
Oasis Classroom Complete (all 12 lessons) Prints:
$2,350 per participating class of up to 30 students and 1 teacher
Oasis Classroom 5-Lesson Prints:
$750 per participating class of up to 30 students and 1 teacher
Delivery to GTA schools is free.
If your school is outside of the Greater Toronto Area, no worries, all posters and student booklets are available for download and you have license to print.
Even if your school is located in the GTA, you might have access to more affordable printing facilities at your school board. We encourage you to explore those options before investing on this add-on with us.
If you followed and executed all Lessons and utilized my coaching sessions to ask your questions and your garden was not successful(*)…
Just email [email protected] including your proof (documented with pictures) and we will refund 100% of your money!
(*) Disclaimers:
- Not even for expert growers, does every seed grow and not all seedlings grow perfectly well even if you do everything right! We trust that you measure success fairly, looking at the overall growth of the garden as well as the hands-on learning your students gained and not based on a few seeds that didn’t grow or seedlings that didn’t survive.
- Your success directly correlates with the quality of your seeds and soil as well as the sunlight your seedlings receive. We highly recommend Supplies Add-on for local schools and attention to quality indicators on the material checklists for all!
Transformations
Plus 2 Amazing Bonuses
(free of extra charge)
Coaching
FREE Coaching sessions with one-on-one help before, during and after the programs till the end of the school year!
At least 1 hour per Lesson.
Session are with Leila Mireskandari, the founder and director of Kids' Growing City and the creator of Oasis Programs who's been growing food with students, teachers and schools for almost a decade at full-time capacity.
She charges $200/Hour for Private Coaching. At least 12 hours of access to her is
valued at $2,400
Reading Lists
We've also curated 6 lists of books (one for each grade, 3 to 8) that you can utilize to deepen the learning of these 12 lessons for your students.
