Garden Classrooms

The following description is a summary of our farm to school plan funded by a 2013 USDA Farm to School Program grant: Funds will help expand existing Farm to School resources and activities from a series of successful but disparate activities into a comprehensive, integrated Farm‐to‐School program.

The following description is a summary of our farm to school plan funded by a 2013 USDA Farm to School Program grant: To continue to stress the importance of local food procurement with educators and other stakeholders by creating a plan for changing procurement strategy and a nutrition education curriculum to reflect the importance of eating locally.

When children are involved in gardening, good things happen. They show more interest in eating fruits and vegetables, do better academically, and demonstrate overall improved attitudes.

The staff of the Farm-to-Child Program believe that, if children are to be our leaders of tomorrow, we need to set them up to achieve great success. We strive to do so by helping schools throughout Southern Arizona get gardens started. In doing so, children at those schools are given access to fresh produce and the opportunity to learn about local food production in a safe and fun environment.

I am building a school garden for the children in the lower grades at Longfellow Elementary along with the help from Girl Scouts, and teachers.  A committee of parents and teachers plan to use the garden area to teach children how food grows, nutrition and health using a program called Growing Great.