Whiting Lane Elementary School Living Classroom

My school in Connecticut consists of prekindergarten through fifth grade students. The prekindergarten is geared for working with children who have special needs. Our K through five classes include the integration of students with autism, special needs and language differences. My goal, as school librarian, is to bring these different groups together through events promoting environmental literacy. At this time, each grade level is in charge of growing the flowers, vegetables and herbs in their own 4 x 8 foot raised bed.  Their gardens reflect what they are learning in the classrooms.  Pre-K and Kindergarten study the farm and they have in their gardens, the typical farm produce.  The first grade studies insects and butterflies so they have a butterfly garden.  The second grade creates a garden that allows them to experiment with different types of leaf and root systems.  The third grade studies Native Americans and they grow a garden that is similar to those of the Northeastern Tribes.  The fourth grade studies different cultures and the foods of those cultures so their gardens reflect what they learn.  The fifth grade studies the Colonial period so the kids create a Colonial and Native American Medicinal Garden.  We have a goal to build our own Greenhouse/Living Classroom that will allow students and teachers to enter a building that has classroom space and a laboratory space that will allow experiments with seeds and plants to take place.  At this point, we are working on our 501-c3 paperwork and we have already had many fundraising events to make this dream a reality.