A classroom garden can teach students how a seed becomes a plant.

In Patricia Goodine’s classroom, it can also become a place to learn about responsibility, food, culture, community and the connections between them.

In our Little Green Thumbs Teacher Spotlight series, we’re celebrating educators from our National Teacher Award submissions who bring the values and spirit of Little Green Thumbs to life in remarkable ways.

Today, we’re celebrating Patricia, a Grade 9 teacher at Dauphin Regional Comprehensive School in Manitoba whose garden has become a thriving space for hands-on learning and cultural connection.

Growing, Harvesting and Sharing

Patricia has transformed her classroom into a hands-on growing environment where students experience the full cycle of food—from planting and tending to harvesting, preparing and sharing.

Students have prepared meals using vegetables they grew themselves, giving them an opportunity to experience where their food comes from while developing responsibility, teamwork and pride in what they can accomplish together.

For some students, the garden also offers another way to experience success and discover interests or abilities that may not always emerge through traditional classroom learning.

Patricia extends those experiences beyond the indoor garden through horticulture and outdoor growing, helping students apply what they learn to real-life growing spaces.

But one growing project has developed into something particularly meaningful.

From Seed to Ceremony

At the end of a school year, Patricia and her students welcomed Elder Phyllis Racette into their classroom to share her knowledge and teachings about growing ceremonial tobacco.

Students participated in the process of separating seeds from mature plants and planting them into starter kits. As Patricia later wrote in an Agriculture in the Classroom–Manitoba newsletter, the experience helped students understand “the care, patience, and respect required when growing plants with cultural significance.”

The seedlings were later transplanted into an outdoor garden. The growing season wasn’t easy, and the plants struggled over the summer. In the fall, students gathered what they could salvage and brought the plants back into their Little Green Thumbs indoor garden.

With continued care, the tobacco began to flourish.

For Patricia and her students, the project became much more than an exercise in horticulture.

“We are grateful for this journey and are looking forward to drying and preparing the tobacco so it can be gifted and used in traditional ceremonies throughout the year in our school and wider community,” Patricia wrote in the Agriculture in the Classroom–Manitoba newsletter.

She described the experience as “a powerful reminder of the connections between land, culture, learning, and community.”

A Story Shared Beyond the Classroom

The students’ work also attracted attention outside their school.

The Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) learned about Patricia’s work with Elder Phyllis Racette and her class and responded to the story on its Facebook page.

For the students, having others take an interest in what they had learned and grown was an opportunity to take pride in their work and share their knowledge beyond their classroom.

That same spirit of sharing is evident throughout Patricia’s garden program. She welcomes families, colleagues and community members into the garden and encourages students to explain what they are growing, what they have learned and how the harvest is being used.

Creating Opportunities to Grow

Patricia’s commitment to her students extends well beyond the garden.

Her colleague and nominator, David Byckal, describes an educator who actively works to make meaningful experiences accessible to students who might otherwise miss them.

From ice fishing and educational trips to Winnipeg to guitar and knitting lessons, Patricia creates opportunities for students to discover new interests, build confidence and experience learning in many different forms.

Her garden reflects that same philosophy.

It is a place to learn horticulture, but also a place to practise responsibility.

A place to grow food, but also to understand where it comes from.

A place to learn from Elders and community knowledge.

And a place where students can discover that something they have cared for together can have meaning far beyond the classroom.

Patricia and her students are supported by Agriculture in the Classroom–Manitoba and Regional Coordinators Kira Rowat and Alvin Dyck, whose regional work helps bring Little Green Thumbs experiences to Manitoba classrooms.

Little Green Thumbs is proud to shine a spotlight on Patricia Goodine and celebrate the thoughtful, community-connected learning she creates for her students.

Thank you, Patricia, for showing how a classroom garden can connect growing with culture, learning with community, and seeds with something much bigger.