The Bella Garden Project

The Bella Garden Project surrounds itself in a learning experience for the students with a project-based concept.  The understanding of growing food from seed, health, wellness, teamwork, ownership, and the empowerment to become environmental stewards of our land encompass our educational experience in a Montessori learning institution.

Bella Mente Montessori Academy opened its doors in 2013 as a free charter school located in Vista, CA, and serves approximately 350 students from Kindergarten to 7th grade. During the 2013-2014 school year, BMMA began its quest to become a school wide inquiry garden-based educational program.

We are in the process of writing our own hands-on curriculum and also use the following curricula for our program: Common Core standards, Sage Garden Project Garden/Nutrition Lab lessons, Life Lab, developed by UC Santa Cruz and lessons obtained from the Edible Schoolyard Academy in Berkeley, CA.  The Bella Garden Project will ultimately be made up of raised garden beds, a mini farm, outdoor classrooms and a Kinder-Garden area all injecting into a future sustainable farm to school and seed to table experience.