Excel Academy Public Charter School

The garden is first and foremost a great teaching tool. Our teachers use the garden regularly for both small group and individual instruction.

The garden provides Excel with a wonderful green space to use to teach students and the broader community about ecology, healthy eating habits and environmental stewardship. We use our gardening activities to expose students to a rich new vocabulary about ecology. We use the garden to teach about earth conservation, proper health and nutrition, food access equality and community hunger. We also improve the cultural awareness of our students and community by providing instruction for cultivating regional fruits, vegetables and flowers.

We also use the garden as a sanctuary for students, a place of peace to build community and to connect with and explore the natural world. It is a place we use to promote reflection and relaxation, a space teachers can use for de-escalation, meditation and remediation efforts.

This program is supported by .