Garden Classrooms

Oakton Elementary School

Seventy percent of Oakton students are from low-income families. Given the established links between 1) lower income and higher obesity risk and 2) childhood obesity and long term health problems it is imperative that we employ innovative techniques to educate our children about health and nutrition and improve their access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Grant funding will support both of these objectives.

Oakmont Elementary School

Our third grade class studies plants and their life cycles. We would like to establish a garden to help them master this section of their curriculum. This would also be a community service project for these students. After harvesting the crops we plan to give the food to those in the community in need. It would be free for these people. All they would have to do is come to the school on set days to get what they need. This would help us establish it so we can continue the project.

Oakland Steiner School

We have recently had an outdoor learning environment professionally designed and development and expansion of our school gardens are a part of the plan. This grant will provide funding for the development of existing gardens and creation of new gardens including excavation soil plants and fruit trees on the school grounds.

Oak Park and River Forest High School

The club goal is to improve and expand the garden. Members will add soil as the original soil has settled. They would put in a vertical component for more space. A wall garden would provide an accessible area for everyone including our physically challenged students. The garden has a brick wall as its backdrop. Adding a vertical garden there would also beautify the building. The club would then be providing a green sustainable legacy that benefits the school and communities.

Oak Grove School

Oak Grove has two goals. First move the greenhouse to a sunnier spot to increase production of organic vegetable starts. Second plant fall-bearing fruit trees in the landscape to increase nutritional variety. For Willowside Middle School the goal is to begin a salad bar program using produce from the garden beds supplemented by donations. Student and teacher participation will be modeled after the successful program at the elementary school.

Oak Grove Elementary

Our goal is to establish school gardens where students learn important life skills in multi-discipline areas (science math healthy living and language arts). In addition to gardening skills this project will teach teamwork and good character traits like trustworthiness respect fairness caring responsibility and citizenship. The youth will utilize products from the garden consuming vegetables and in some cases participating in a service-learning project to donate to needy families.

Oak Grove Bellemeade Elementary

Our goal is to create a dynamic school garden. The garden will serve a variety of purposes: 1)Creating an opportunity for dramatically underserved populations to connect with their food learn about growing food and healthy eating. 2)Provide a hands on educational component to supplement math science art English and history curricula. 3)Provide a valuable way for the school to serve as a vibrant community hub within the neighborhood.

Novato Charter School

Every Novato Charter School student studies farming botany and nutrition. They read Omnivore's Dilemma and consider food production systems. Now we would like to make the farm to table connection at school. We have a wonderful organic garden but we do not have a means for students to prep the food they grow on site. Our goal is to have a wash and prep station for students to prepare produce to cook in the garden contribute to hot lunches and to sell at our NCS Farmer's Market.

Norwood Elementary School

The goal of our garden project is to foster the reconnection of our students to the land as the source of their food. We will teach our students to be advocates for healthy eating by learning to prepare the foods they grow through first-hand gardening experience. Families in our community do not have access to affordable fresh produce and this project will not only be able to provide this for them but will also help to foster a deeper sense of community connectedness to each other and nature.

Northwestern High School

The grant would build relationships between children and the community. It would provide vegetables for members of the community. It would also bring awareness about the positive things the church is doing in the community towards strengthening the outreach that the church does.

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