Native Plants

NATIVE PLANTS AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE SOUTH WHIDBEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The large raised entrance bed at the Elementary School needed to be renovated, and the 4th grade classes took on the project to restore, plant and maintain it as a demonstration native plant bed. In the process, the students are not only learning about Pacific Northwest native plants, but also about how to select plants based on their habitat preferences, and the importance of native plants in our ecosystem and for the indigenous peoples.

Here is a slide show of students restoring and planting the bed, and some of the variety of plants HERE

To select the plants, the students used a worksheet with the plant requirements that would work in the constraints of the entrance bed, such as sun/partial shade; dry/moist, not wet; open woodlands, prairie, meadows; height less than 3 ft.; flowers bloom in spring and fall.

Click HERE for the worksheet and list of plants.

Plant cards with information were printed up for the class.

We made our own cards HERE 

(The habitat info was printed on label paper and attached to the back of the card.)

Cards are also available through these sources:

https://www.stillaguamish.com/natural-resources/outreach-education/plant-id/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1257279554/printable-pacific-northwest-native-plant

https://heidibohan.com/native-plant-knowledge/starflower-native-plant-id-cards/

https://outdoorlearning.com/product/pacific-northwest-plant-cards/

https://www.wnps.org/starflower

https://gooddayswithkids.com/2016/12/23/teach-kids-about-nw-plants/