University School of Milwaukee

Our School is fortunate to already have one garden thriving on our campus; this garden is used primarily by our Upper School students as an outreach project. The harvest of this garden is shared within the greater Milwaukee community in areas of need. Our Upper School students work with the Amani community, one of eight neighborhoods within four US cities receiving a BNCP grant, which seeks to catalyze community driven change in neighborhoods that have historically faced barriers to revitalization. This second garden has been created to serve our preprimary and lower school students in grades prekindergarten through fourth grades and is located in closer proximity to these young students. The primary goal of the garden is to use it as an educational tool for our preprimary and lower school students so that they have greater gardening knowledge when they transition to middle school and beyond. It is critically important to begin teaching children about the source of their food and the importance of healthy eating from a very young age. When visiting our existing garden and incorporating the harvest into the lower school curriculum, we have found that young children are more likely to taste and try new foods if they have had an active role in planting, caring for, picking the produce, and preparing the meal. This new garden offers us a space dedicated for use by lower and preprimary students where they can observe how their gardening efforts result in healthy produce for their classrooms. We had been interested in planting a second garden for several years. Work began on this new garden during the spring and summer of 2014. We were able to construct a fence and with the help of middle school students, build raised bed garden boxes. During the summer of 2014 we were able to plant a few vegetables and harvested them this fall with our students. Receiving funding from the Whole Kids Foundation will allow us to continue purchasing the supplies we need such as plants and seeds, and add vertical planters to the fence. We would also like to add a path to the space and invest in curriculum materials that will support the lessons our students are learning in the garden. Through our garden curriculum, we anticipate working in the garden will facilitate the following for our students: • Cooperation, teamwork, and multiage efforts working towards a common goal • Dispositions of learning, such as patience, hard work, risk-taking and problem-solving • Hands-on, experiential learning through active involvement of the students and teachers • Awareness of the true source of their food • Interconnectedness with nature and complexity of the natural world • Responsibility and ownership of the care and maintenance of the garden • Positive attitude towards healthy eating, trying new foods, and developing a positive outlook on food • Family involvement through volunteer hours, learning about diverse cultures and ethnic recipes and traditions