Students are learning an appreciation for the earth and how to care for plants through a classroom project in Steinbach.

Southwood School teacher Cassie Gobeil says the project started off as an Earth Day initiative and ended as a community connection project where students learned the importance of gardening and caring for a plant. Gobeil notes students toured Oakridge Greenhouse where they also planted their flowers in a 2-litre pop bottle donated by Eastman Recycling and parents.

"First, we cut holes in the pop bottles and we coloured the pop bottles," explains student Isabella Little. "We put [the plants] in the windowsill and gave them water."

"Then we kept them in the class for a bit and watered them," adds student Ty Klassen. "Then we brought them outside and zip-tied them onto the fence. We watered them and they're still out there."

 Little says her favourite part of the project was touring Oakridge Greenhouse and will bring her plant home after school to see how long she can keep it alive. Klassen says his favourite part was decorating the pop bottles and, though his plant has died, he wants to plant something else and see how big he can grow it.

Gobeil says the students were able to choose one of four flower varieties to plant in their pop bottle including petunia, portulaca, zinnia, or gazania. She adds the students are understanding how to care for a plant and notice when the soil is dry and needs to be watered. She notes this is the first year for the project, but something she would like to continue implementing in her classroom.

"For our learning outcomes, it was an appreciation of the earth and how we can care for the earth," notes Gobeil. "That was the goal through our committee, that was our goal through Earth Day. But, it also ties in nicely with Grade 3 and Grade 2, with caring for living things and also plants and soils. With Grade 4 it's a lot of appreciation and how we can care for the Earth."

She adds it's great when students can get excited about growing things when they're young and, hopefully, it's something that will continue with them as they grow older.