Horace Mann Elementary School, (Mann Gardens), Washington DC

Horace Mann Elementary has has had a school garden for over 20 years, growing our curriculum out of our science program.  During this time our gardens have changed location many times but have continued to grow despite disruptions to physical locations. Today we utilize the gardens throughout our curriculum and have increased our focus on wellness and healthy eating. We are currently completing a two year building renovation but have continued gardening in our vegetable and native gardens. We are looking forward to adding a rooftop vegtable garden to our collection as part of a building addition.  This rooftop garden will allow us to send produce directly to our new (and first ever) school kitchen.  We embrace all of the natural sites of our campus and treat each location as a learning lab.  These include our Nature Trail, Sensory Garden, Pollinator Garden and Bee Hive, Monarch Garden, Berries for Birds Garden, Rain Garden, Tree Walk, Mann Farm vegetable garden and Rooftop Farm vegetable garden.