Ben W. Murch Elementary School

The Ben W. Murch Elementary School is a DC public school serving 630 students from Pre-K through 5th grade. Murch, its Home and School Association, and community partners, have supported a school garden program, the Murch GreenScene, since 2009. Each year every student at Murch has between one and three lessons in the gardens, sometimes more, plus one nutrition-based lesson with a local chef. The GreenScene program supports six outdoor garden learning centers: 1 - a 15-tree fruit orchard and diverse tree canopy, supported in partnership with Casey Trees; 2 - a 190 sq. ft. textile demonstration garden; 3 - a 900 sq. ft. organic vegetable garden; 4 - an organic herb container garden; 5 - a 1610 sq. ft. native plant and butterfly habitat garden, supported in partnership with the Monarch Sister Schools Program; and 6 - a rain barrel and compost center. Through our partnership with DC Greens and the DC OSSE, Murch supports a part time School Garden Coordinator who teaches, assists classroom teachers outdoors, and helps teachers create an exciting experiential curriculum. The gardens are an integral and open part of the campus, and students and the community have access to the gardens at all times. The school garden program is an extension of the indoor classroom, and all lessons are during regular class time. When preparing the garden lessons, Murch teachers consider the thematic unit a class is covering (e.g., Colonial America) and DCPS Standards for the grade in all subjects, especially science, social studies, and math. All garden lessons support the curriculum.

The greater Murch community has been an integral part of the GreenScene program from its inception. Murch families have provided more than 500 hours annually in volunteer time to support the GreenScene, and the HSA has provided consistent funding. Community businesses, neighbors, and school families regularly make in-kind and discount contributions to the program. Local chefs present community cooking demonstrations. The community, including DC Master Gardeners, participates in regular garden clean up and work days. Every summer volunteers water the trees and gardens, and families adopt garden plots for weeding and maintenance.