Growing Together: Open Forum

Hi Everyone! I'm curious if anyone has had success displaying an outdoor board of some sort for garden vocabulary words? I work with ESL kiddos in our garden program and am trying to think of a way to to create a word wall that will hold up to the outdoor elements. Thanks :)

Great idea! We use canva for singage and then laminate using a very inexpensive basic laminator that we bought in amazon (i think $35 ish) Then we use laminating pouches to run thing thru. We do not staple them, but use binder clips on paint sticks. These hold up really well. We tried thr thin laminating from school, but those did not hold up at all. Water seeped in because they were cut and not sealed. We also have used canva to create veggie markers - and labelling the picture with words in any language.

Good luck! Happy Gardening!

Kim

Thanks Kim! Yes...I remember you sharing that awesome tip at some point. I use that amazon laminator and paint sticks for labeling plants. You're right - they hold up so well! Its a great idea to do the same thing with our vocab words 

I am getting communication boards (signs with ions and words) made up for our special needs and EL population. I am working with a local sign company that will make it out of metal. Local sign companies are very reasonable and will give school discounts. They typically can make signs out of a variety of materials that are durable outside. 

This is great advice - thank you Evelyn! I will search for a local sign company to ask. 

Hi Alicia, 

I hope you are doing well! What a wonderful idea. If you have a Makers Space in the area (local library, within the school district, or in the community) we designed and then made wooden signs using a laser printer (similar to a Glowforge). We sealed them and they have been holding up. Let me know if you are interested in learning more and I would be happy to help! 

Ooooo I'm so intrigued by this Mariam! Would you mind sharing pictures of how the signs turned out? I can't picture it. We have a maker space at our local library so I would love to check this out. Thank you!

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Mariam Murphy
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We're very fortunate to have an active scout troop that is always looking for Eagle Scout projects.  Recently, one scout built a kiosk for our educational use outdoors.  It has a plexiglass front so that we can change our information as we wish.  As an aside, another scout constructed a pollinator bed for us.  The troop has been a blessing for large projects that our students can't accomplish.

Thats a great idea to chat with our local troop about this Eugene! We actually partnered with them last year and they built us two new raised beds. You're right...a blessing indeed!