Garden Classrooms

Loxley Elementary School

The students, family, and teachers of Loxley Elementary School are EXCITED about our new “outdoor learning lab” (a.k.a. garden)! Just last month (September 2014), we constructed and planted a dozen raised beds where our students learn first-hand about science, mathematics, and nutrition. The vegetables and fruits produced in our garden will be shared with our school’s low-income children and families via our "backpack program". (For a number of years, our school has distributed weekend meals to needy students.

Boston Green Academy

Our goal is to integrate garden education throughout the curriculum at Boston Green Academy. With this grant, we will have the opportunity to involve many different classes in the design, building, and maintenance of different types of garden technology, helping to connect students with real food and providing them the hands-on skills they will need to succeed in the green industry. We will also be able to increase our garden’s capacity, allowing us to hold larger garden events that reach out to our community food pantries, farmers markets and surrounding schools.

Northwood Hills Elementary

Northwood Hills Elementary would like to create an outdoor learning garden for our students, staff, and community because we appreciate that what we feed our children, coupled with what we teach them about food, shapes how they learn, how they grow and how long they will live. We also acknowledge that 23% of all American children face food insecurity, and according to studies, only 2% of children eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables. At Northwood Hills, 61% of our students qualify for free lunch, and may face food insecurity or limited access to fresh fruit and vegetables at home.

Clearmont Elementary School

We are a PBIS school and we encourage community involvment for our staff, students and parents. Our goal would be to incorporate 21st Centruy Learning with the use of our tablets and chrome books. We would partner with our teams at Clearmont for all students to have access and learn about the growth cycles, incorporate learning into Science and Social Studies as well as be able to observe the product produced.

Happy Valley Elementary

•CREATE AND SUSTAIN RICH REAL-WORLD LEARNING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM, serving as an

extension of our classrooms – a place to “dig in” to math, life and earth science, language arts, history,

geography, economics, nutrition and more.

•CULTIVATE POSITIVE LIFE-LONG EATING ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS, helping students fall in love with

good food, with all of their senses. The carrot that a child pulls out of the ground or the spinach that

a child plants and tends is more likely to be joyfully eaten than the spinach or carrot that a child first

Woodland Forrest Elementary

Our teaching garden provides opportunities for hands-on learning in core curriculum including science, math, reading, and writing; leadership and responsibility; entrepreneurialism; as well as instruction in food origins, production, cultivation, and preparation. This interdisciplinary approach has established a measurable increase in students’ academic performance. A University of Alabama study also found improvements in physical health (measured by body mass index), and a willingness to eat vegetables.

Open Magnet Charter

It is our goal to upgrade our existing garden space to continue to allow it to thrive. A Whole Foods grant will allow us to make necessary upgrades and improvements to our existing garden spaces. We need to re-build our raised beds and add raised beds in areas of our physical space that have been deprived recently of sunlight. Our current “main garden” was created prior to the maturation of surrounding trees for shade on our playgrounds. These perimeter school yard trees have made many of our growing spaces obsolete.

Hilton Head Preparatory School

Hilton Head Prep recently integrated HI-5-a health initiative that addresses: (1) Community Outreach, (2) Personal & Physical Development, (3) Joy & Spiritual Wellness, (4) Relationships and (5) Food & Nutrition. HI-5 is gaining great momentum with the students, parents and faculty and after polling each group, a garden project received the most excitement. This grant would enable us to integrate HI-5 into our after school program (Prep Plus), which would like to be more than homework and playground time but interactive with cooking and gardening, and into the curriculum.

Lake Mead Christian Academy

The goal of planting and maintaining an on-site garden is two-fold. The first being, the school would like to take active steps in taking better care of our students, who essentially are our future leaders. Not only would we use the produce for the school cafeteria but to also donate fresh food to local resource centers who have partnered with us.

Sabin School K-8

Sabin Edible Garden's goals are to educate and feed as many Sabin students and community members as possible with our existing growing space. In-class instruction, after-school cooking classes and a weekly community food bag program all depend on the productivity of Sabin Edible Garden. We happily serve those in need in our community, but have observed that both harvest yields and ADA accessibility can be improved.

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