An Idea is Born at Longwood Gardens

Golden Finch eating from sunflower

     I took a PAWLP (Pa Writing and Lit. Project) graduate class at Longwood Gardens earlier this year and I was  awed by the beauty of the gardens!  In the gardening world I am considered a newbie, plants have been known to shrivel and die in my presence, so the magnitude of Longwood's botanical gardens and conservatory were both inspiring and magical to me!  It caused me to wonder about my students and what they would think about the gardens, I mean, they don't get many chances to experience beauty like that in their semi-urban community so, I decided to document my remaining classes using photography and journal entries.  I figured if I could capture some of the things that amazed me and then share it with my kids in a deeper, more personal way then it would be almost like they were there, right?
     I created a slide show after every PAWLP class at Longwood.  I told the kids about things I learned and projects I was working on and they loved it!  I was working on a project for class about bees as pollinators and I made a powerpoint as part of the unit study.  I shared the powerpoint with my kids one morning and to my surprise, they were filled with questions.  A handful of them signed out bee books from the school library that week and about a month later, while on an outdoor science-based field trip, my kids were able to answer questions regarding pollinators!
     This lead me in the direction of things like the natural world around us, conservation, research from Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, and of course...BOOKS!  I am a firm believer that nothing can be accomplished without a lot of books.  So, I decided to let myself wonder about how nature could inspire my kids.  I wondered about how I could build their background knowledge without having to take an expensive field trip every week.  I wondered how my kids could benefit from exploring picture books, both fiction and non-fiction, in an attempt to bring nature into their literal lives.  I wondered a lot.
Any thoughts?