Growing Learning Opportunities

School gardens provide students with opportunities to connect classroom learning to the natural world through observation, exploration, and hands-on experiences. The Oswego Lake Watershed Council works alongside Lake Oswego School District educators and school communities to support gardens as valuable outdoor learning spaces.

Living Classrooms

Gardens create opportunities for students to investigate science concepts, explore food systems, observe pollinators, and develop a greater understanding of the relationships between people and the environment. These spaces encourage curiosity, stewardship, and experiential learning across multiple subject areas.

Supporting Long-Term Success

OLWC helps schools identify opportunities to strengthen and enhance existing garden spaces so they remain functional, accessible, and educationally relevant. By connecting garden learning to broader watershed and sustainability themes, students gain a deeper understanding of how healthy ecosystems support healthy communities.

Elementary students became seed scientists in their school garden.
Older students took a more exploratory approach with a scavenger hunt, using iPads to document their discoveries in the school garden.

Cultivating Stewardship

Whether planting seeds, caring for pollinator habitat, or learning about soil health, students experience firsthand how small actions can contribute to larger environmental outcomes. School gardens help nurture a sense of responsibility and connection to the places where we live and learn.

Get Involved: Volunteer with School Gardens

Volunteers help students plant, maintain, and learn in school gardens while fostering connections to healthy ecosystems and local food. No gardening or teaching experience is required—just an interest in working with students outdoors. Training is provided.

Interested in volunteering? Contact Jeanne Wood, Outdoor Education Assistant, at jeanne@oswegowatershed.org to learn more about upcoming opportunities.

Planting seeds in the school garden
An overflowing school garden
Palisades World Language Elementary, students jumped right into garden-based learning in their school garden.