Garden Classrooms

Coastal Middle School

Our eighth grade Humanities classes study the Colonial times from the early 1600's to the late 1700's. Our goal is to plant crops that sustained Colonial life. These cash crops were exported and used by the colonists in their everyday life. Each year our eighth grade students get to experience first hand what life was like during these times as they walk through Wormsloe Plantation. Back at school the opportunity for hands on learning; growing fruits and vegetables and bringing them to farmers markets, this will help us maintain our gardens.

Hilltop Elementary

Our garden’s primary goal is to incorporate the outdoors into multiple facets of classroom learning. We are currently in the process of segmenting the garden into smaller areas that will enhance individual lessons. For example, we are creating a Texas Pioneers garden with vegetables and plants that early settlers to this area would have grown. This dovetails with social studies lessons. The garden’s secondary goal is to familiarize the children with different vegetables and open them up to trying healthy new foods.

Douglas Elementary

Our garden's goal is to help educate our students and community members about not only nutrition and how plants are planted and grow, but about being a community member, helper, and understanding differences in peoples lives. We want to utilize this grant for tools and tool storage so the children have something to use during class times outside in the garden. We would also utilize the grant to create another raised garden bed or two. This will allow us to have more produce to give back to the community and will also allow for more space and outdoor teaching time with the classes.

D L Dusty Dickens

Receipt of this grant will allow us to build more raised bed gardens. We currently have 3 beds and we would like to add 3 additional beds. This will make it possible for every grade level to have a designated bed in the garden. Having our children and families assist and collaborate with teachers in the garden can increase the chance that they will eat more of the fruits and vegetables they have helped to grow. With perseverance and community work from teachers, parents and students, we can grow fresh and nutritious fruits and vegetables.

Garfield ES

We currently have a school learning garden with ten raised beds. It was donated thanks to a three year grant from the American Heart Association. The grant provided all the needed start-up supplies, as well as twice yearly planting days. As the Garden Champion, I met with a seasoned gardener who works for the AHA and she lead me through their curriculum and basic garden lessons. Now that our grant is expiring, it is up to myself and a team of students and parents, to keep our garden going strong!

Emma B Trask Middle School

Our first goal is to create an Ability/Sensory Garden. The purpose is to provide a dynamic interactive educational space for engaging in gardening with a therapeutic goal. These types of gardens are popular with and beneficial to both students and teachers, especially those who have sensory processing issues, including autism and other disabilities. It may be used as a calming place and as a gentle way to stimulate the senses.

Ripley Elementary School

Delve Into Gardening, DIG's, mission is to offer a garden environment in which to plant the seeds of knowledge, experience the joy of learning, and harvest a bountiful crop of lifelong learners. In December of 2012,we received approval for DIG. to add a school garden to enhance the curriculum for Ripley Elementary School's learners. Stakeholders agreed that learning to appreciate the wonder and power of nature is the core to environmental education by creatively engaging students in a manner that encourages them to learn more about agriculture.

Phoenix Academic Magnet Elementary

In Fall 2012, with help from Good Food Project (GFP) of The Food Bank of Central LA, we created four 4'x8' raised box organic garden beds & a compost area. While 4th Grade 4-H Club (includes all 87 of school's 4th graders) manages the garden, the entire school (689 students, Pre-K-6) utilizes the garden for science, health & nutrition education. Students learn from GFP staff & their teachers about seed germination, composting, cultivation, and creation & use of organic fertilizers & pesticides.

Dr. Elmer S. Bagnall Elementary School

Our goal is to continually evaluate what it takes to keep our garden sustainable and accessible for staff, students and volunteers who tend the garden throughout the year. An area that we have been striving to improve is the accessibility of garden tools/supplies for staff, students and volunteers. A shed near our garden has recently been rehabilitated for use as a garden storage shed. This is great news. For 4 years we have relied on borrowing garden tools from families as well as tools used by the school maintenance group.

Lincoln Elementary

Located in the central courtyard of Lincoln Elementary, our beautiful edible garden thrives under the support of our many volunteers and community partners. Our goal is to promote health, school and community connections, and integrated learning opportunities for our students. Our garden supports health by building relationships with the land and nature, increasing access to fresh organic produce, and broadening plant and dietary knowledge. In the garden children experience a deeper connection with their school and feel pride seeing the results of their own labor.

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