Garden Classrooms

This grant would allow us to expand the square footage of the garden help us create and build our own irrigation system create rain barrels and create compost bins. Additionally we are planning on raising chickens from eggs to hens so that we can educate the students about the importance of responsible ethical animal husbandry and the connection between growing food and raising animals.

Green Children's House and The Need to Feed Inc. have formed a wonderful community partnership which has allowed the children from GCH to have access to an outdoor classroom environment. Because it is a hands-on cross disciplinary tool gardening with preschoolers has been a great way to connect them to the outdoors and agriculture. We are seeking funds to expand the children's gardens to include themed garden boxes that will teach them a variety of educational concepts.

We have built a community vegetable and herb garden at Grant Elementary school, supporting a gardening and nutrition education program that began during the 2011-2012 school year. Each grade level has two 4' x 8' garden boxes and local volunteers work with each class to plant, then later harvest and taste healthy foods straight from the garden. Gardening and nutrition curriculum is delivered year after year, teaching children the importance of a healthy nutrition and healthy choices.

One of our main goals is to create an outdoor classroom where teachers can make classroom lessons more powerful by allowing students to have hands-on application with nature. This grant will allow us to purchase outdoor tables and seating where students can sit to share their harvest, record their observations, do nature drawings, or develop their writing skills. Having seating will allow more classes to utilize the space and benefit from it.