Northpoint Elementary School

The Northpoint Unity Garden and Monarch Waystation is a one-year old program that was created to revamp an used outdoor space.  It resides in an interior courtyard at an elementary school and is home to a vegetable and herb garden, feathered friends and a newly created Monarch Waystation.  We believe in partnering with community organizations to tap into areas of expertise to best educate our youth in grades K-5.

Phase I of the Northpoint Elementary School Garden took place from May to October 2011 with the assistance of Unity Gardens. A formerly unused interior school courtyard was turned into an outdoor classroom. Volunteer community members and parents taught 72 children in Kids Club how to garden, care for, harvest and prepare food utilizing organic practices and educational lessons from the Denver Urban Gardens School Garden and Nutrition Curriculum http://dug.org/school-garden-curriculum/. Gardening lessons were taught by master gardeners and the nutrition component was delivered by staff from the St. Joseph County Health Department and Reducing Obesity Coalition.
 

This spring (Phase II - 2012) students in grades K-3 seeded, grew and transferred seedlings of perennial and annual flowers to assist with pollination of the vegetables and to attract butterflies. They also planted donated vegetable starts from Unity Gardens and the school community. The long-term plan is to continue with organic edible plantings and nutrition education in the garden while introducing conservation with a Monarch Waystation.
 

Phase III will include welcoming additional wildlife to create a habitat which enhances the school's National Geographic Science curriculum for 600+ students.