Garden Classrooms

Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church

Our garden goal is to grow and expand our current community garden. This grant will allow us to have a successful garden to pay for water seeds and transplants and to pay for training for young people to participate in the garden.

Grant School

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.

Grand Rapids Montessori Public School

Grand Rapids Montessori is one of the only Montessori schools in Grand Rapids. It is part of Grand Rapids Public Schools and is one of the top performing programs in the district. 70% of GRM students are eligible for free or reduced lunch and 62% of the population is minority students. Montessori methods of education make school gardens a logical part of student's education. Parents and volunteers are already working on several raised beds and are eager for new players to get involved.

Graham Hill Elementary

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.

Grace Lutheran School

Our goals for Grace Garden are to create community service and educational opportunities and collaborative church and school relationships. This project will be service-oriented because a majority of the harvest will be donated to a local food bank. We will plant specific plants according to the needs of the food bank. As our relationship with the food bank grows, we may be able to do other service for them as a school.

Governor James B. Longley Elementary

This proposal is for two gardens: (1) a new school garden located in the poorest school in our City in the same downtown neighborhood as most of our urban gardens; and (2) a 12-year old children's garden at the City's largest public housing complex Hillview Apartments. Funding these two gardens will allow our community to both be inspired by the success of the Hillview Garden and kick off the very first FoodCorps school garden in a neighborhood in dire need of access to fresh food

Goshen Elementary School

In a world where our children are bombarded with processed foods and an overall lack of exposure to nature it is crucial to educate our students in regard to nutrition and our natural world. It is our belief that by teaching our students the various aspects of growing harvesting and preparing nutrious foods from a very young age we can not only educate them in regard to the importance of nutrition but also foster an appreciation of the environmental well-being of our community.

Goodrell Middle School

The grant will make it possible for our FoodCorps members to work with 5 schools in Des Moines to build and revitalize school gardens. In addition through the special projects funding we request we will provide a 5-week school garden training in early 2012 to teams of at least 2 people (teachers social workers parents etc.) at a dozen schools. This training will introduce these school teams to basic gardening techniques curriculum that aligns with Iowa Core and garden planning activities.

Golden Gate Middle School

We would like to use the garden to build a bridge between our different school populations and community. We have a special education population which would benefit greatly from the opportunity to plant seeds touch soil see the productive use of sunlight and water. Our school also serves mostly economically disadvantaged students who need the handson experiences provided through a garden. We have received a commitment from our culinary arts teacher to use the produce we produce.

Goethe Elementary School

The grant will fund a container garden as part of an overall wellness program encompassing nutrition gardening and physical activity. Starting in Spring 2012 our Community Partner will teach a curriculum where all kindergartners will learn to understand and appreciate the source and nature of their food and be introduced to the basics of gardening including maintenance tools and plant botany. The container garden will allow these skills to be developed in a real garden setting.

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