Kindergarten

Our goals for Grace Garden are to create community service and educational opportunities and collaborative church and school relationships. This project will be service-oriented because a majority of the harvest will be donated to a local food bank. We will plant specific plants according to the needs of the food bank. As our relationship with the food bank grows, we may be able to do other service for them as a school.

Our goal is to empower students to become agents of change in their communities. We believe that the experience of working in the garden and the many skills developed including problem-solving future-thinking teamwork hard work etc. are keys to breaking the cycle of poverty that exists in the communities where we work. The Whole Kids Foundation grant will continue to make our presence possible as we cultivate deeper relationships with students and parents and invite them into the garden to work learn and teach.

Our Farm to School programs makes connections between our food system and our school system. We work directly with school districts to procure and promote locally grown foods. Our program is working to increase the use of local foods, encourage our children to make healthy eating choices, and support regional farmers.

Our school has a vision of beautifying school grounds through gardening while providing child interaction and learning in the gardens. This grant will allow us to begin our efforts by creating a vegetable garden. This prototype garden will involve parents teachers and children in creating and maintaining the garden and developing a related school curriculum. A vegetable garden will create an accessible hands-on experience for the children and foster interest and energy to expand our garden.