Each month GardenABCs features a garden program or project that's making a difference with students and the community. We're honored to share these stories and hope they inspire you to get gardening with children! Read
Success Story:
St. Francis School Garden
Four years ago, St. Francis School in Goshen, Ky. renewed its commitment to environmental stewardship. How? By encouraging students to get their hands dirty!
The school dedicated its “Children’s Garden” on Earth Day 2007, and since then has significantly expanded its garden program. Now, Kindergarten and first-grade students team-up with 8th grade buddies to perform gardening tasks in the new Woodland Garden, featuring herbs, berry bushes, small trees, perennials and annuals.
In addition, six plots were dug to create a separate vegetable garden, which last year yielded a variety of lettuces, squash, beans, carrots, watermelons, cantaloupes, and corn.
This spring, students are germinating seeds in the school’s new greenhouse, and will transplant the seedlings to the vegetable plots in early May. This allows students to experience the whole cycle of a plant’s growth from seed to harvest, explained Garden Coordinator Michael Mahoney.
The gardens have been a great teaching tool, he said. Students have learned about the importance of weeding, the usefulness of worms, the life of a seed, climatic variables, food origins, and nutrition. "They have a new awareness of where food comes from and the alternatives to processed food," Mahoney said.
Other benefits are learning how to care for and use tools, lessons in teamwork, and that hard work, persistence, and patience do pay off.
Students also "learn that gardening can be fun, that working in the dirt can be so satisfying," he added. "At St. Francis, gardening has allowed the community to become involved with the land in new and meaningful ways."
Learn a lot more about the St. Francis School Garden! View other garden projects we've featured on GardenABCs.
Tell us about your school or community garden project so we can share it with others!
This past year, GardenABCs featured some awesome school garden projects. In fact, they're so inspiring we've listed them here so you can review them whenever you like. Garden organizers - thank you for sharing your knowledge and passion with us! Tell us about your garden project and we'll feature it on GardenABCs. Got broadband? Let us know how you're using technology in the garden.
After-School Gardens
City Blossoms Washington DC
Children & youth, entrepreneurship, hands-on learning, art, community, healthy living skills
Gary Comer Youth Center Rooftop Garden Chicago
Youth, community, rooftop, season-extending techniques, healthy eating
Butterfly & Bird Habitats
The School 5 Learning Garden with City Green Paterson NJ
Third grade, learning lab, integrated curricula, also incorporates vegetable patches
Woodland Primary Butterfly Garden Gages Lake, Ill.
Students, seeds, flowers, butterfly life cycle, integrated curricula, hands-on
Community Gardens
Common Ground Community Garden Univ. of
Lake County Health Department WIC Garden Waukegan, Ill.
Nutrition education, mothers and children, vegetables, farmers' market
Troostwood Garden Kansas City, Mo.
Youth, vegetables, healthy eating, market / entrepreneurship
WE Garden in Capital Park Sacramento, Calif
State capital demonstration garden, community, students, edible, lessons in nutrition, academics, healthy living
Container Gardens
Interlachen Elementary Cafeteria Garden + More Interlachen, Fla
Multiple examples of container gardens. Elementary and high school students, science, curriculum, food production, healthy eating, science exploration
Cultural Gardens
Organic School Project Multiple locations - Chicago
Culture and history-based gardens, healthy eating, food sources, multiple disciplines
Discovery Gardens
Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Children Garden Brooklyn, NY
Planting, weeding, harvesting, tasting, and exploring the garden ecosystem, PreK and caregivers
Wee Gardeners Nature Workshop & Legacy Demo Garden Greensboro, N.C., Early childhood, hands-on, sensory, exploration, multiple intelligences
Environmental Education / Green Gardens
Patuxet Elementary Upper Marlboro, Md.
Outdoor classrooms, schoolyard and habitat improvement, community-building
Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School Washington DC
Garden-based academics and watershed education, student mentoring, business model for garden sustainability, healthy eating, developed in partnership with Earth Day Network
Mentoring Gardens
Gardening Together Habitat for Humanity Lake County, Ill.
Homeowners, landscaping, vegetables, community-building
Outdoor Classrooms
Alice Fong Yu Alternative School San Francisco
Pond garden, composting, raised vegetable beds, elementary students, environmental stewardship, California science, math & environmental standards
Atwood Elementary School Macomb, Mich.
Theme-based gardening, Wildlife Habitat, Michigan Junior Master Gardener Program, Feed the Hungry, Native Gardening and environmental sustainability, composting and vermicomposting.
CitySprouts Cambridge, Mass.
Helps school communitities create schoolyard learning gardens and teachers use these gardens by supporting core curriculum.
Rainwater Gardens
Students, stormwater run-off, pollution control, environmental education
School Ground Improvement
The Schoolyard Greening Project - Brent Elementary, Washington, D.C.
Safety, learning, health, environment, gardens, asphalt graphics, library development
Various Projects
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Projects
Vegetable / Edible Gardens
Borton Primary Magnet School Community Garden Tucson
Nutrition education, farmstand, chickens / eggs, tastings
The Dawes School Garden of Eatin' Evanston, Ill. Website
Slow Food in the School Project, healthy eating, preparing food
Dorset Cereals Edible Playgrounds Winner - 2008 RHS Chelsea Garden Show, Children, community, school yards, healthy eating, food production
Common Ground School Garden University of
Learning Gate Community School Lutz, Fla.
Seed to Soup organic fruit and vegetable garden, raised beds, beneficial insect garden, compost yard, chickens, spiraling curriculum
Organic School Project Multiple locations - Chicago
Healthy eating, food sources, gardens based on culture and history, multiple disciplines
SEED School Good Food Garden Washington DC
Healthy eating, 7th grade curricula, community education
St. Francis School Garden Goshen, Ky
Nutrition, lifecycles, germination, greenhouse, learning where food comes from, environmental stewardship, grades K-8
Urban Sprouts School Garden Programs Multiple locations, San Francisco
Middle and high schools students, under-served neighborhoods, nutrition and health, academic achievement, ecoliteracy
Woodland Elementary West Harvest Garden Gages Lake, Ill.
Students, vegetables, charitable giving / food bank
Urban Farms
Earthworks Urban Farm Detroit
Learning food's origin, social justice, helping others, farm markets, summer programs
Green Youth Farm Chicagoland Also visit this link
Vegetables, market / entrepreneurship, team-building
