Building School Gardens

Started during the 2006–07 school year, Building School Gardens installs gardens at Chicago public schools to achieve the following purposes:

• Develop "garden teams" to support the garden,
• Integrate the gardens into multi-disciplinary curriculum at multiple grade levels,
• Use art creatively in the landscape,
• Instill an environmental ethic in those who the gardens effect, and
• Incorporate physical activity as a regular daily activity

Based on each school's curricular interests, Openlands works with garden teams to identify the goals and elements of every garden, hires subcontractors to carry out the designs and structural elements, and provides all of the materials and oversight for installation. Elements of the customized gardens may include:
• Benches for outdoor classroom seating for any subject;
• Raised vegetable beds for growing food and healthy eating;
• Native plantings to study insect and animal habitats, as well as ecological history of Chicago; and/or
• Ornamental gardens with ABC, color, or literature-inspired themes.