School gardens are sprouting up across the nation. These outdoor classrooms are ripe with lessons on science, nutrition and more.
For the students at Woodland Elementary West in Gages Lake, Illinois, the arrival of spring means one thing: time to get planting! Each year, the kids trade in their textbooks for shovels and head to the school harvest garden. They will plant seeds to grow fruits and vegetables. Then, they will tend the garden. In early fall, students will harvest, or collect, the produce. Gardening is part of the school's science curriculum.
Woodland's project is part of a larger trend that has taken root across the U.S. More schools are using garden activities to teach science, math and even history. Educators believe that the hands-on lessons give students a deeper, richer understanding of the subjects.
Back to Nature
Learning gardens began growing in popularity in the U.S. in the late 1800s. During World Wars I and II, produce from school gardens helped feed the country. But in the 1950s, school gardens lost popularity as science classes moved beyond nature study to other topics.
Today, concerns over nutrition and childhood obesity have sparked renewed interest in gardens. Studies show that kids who work outdoors are healthier. They also score higher on science achievement tests. This is no surprise to gardening expert Anne Nagro. "When learning about soil, if students can explore in it, it sinks in more," she says. Nagro volunteers at the Woodland plot. Her book, Our Generous Garden, tells of the school's garden project.
Here We Grow!
According to the National Garden Association (NGA), there are 1,500 school gardens in the U.S. But many more school gardens are not registered with the NGA.
Nearly 4,000 school gardens exist in California alone. One of those is the vegetable patch at Alice Fong Yu Alternative School, in San Francisco. Stephanie Ma is the garden coordinator there. She says her goal is to connect kids to the foods they eat. "I try to instill in the kids that apples don't magically come from the supermarket," Ma says. Students plant everything from tomatoes to chard, a leafy green. Ma says the kids love eating veggies straight from the garden.
Seeds of Change
By fall, the Woodland garden is ripe with peppers, cucumbers and broccoli. It's time to harvest. Third grader Teaghan Brennan says she likes that job the best. "It's like a scavenger hunt," she told TFK. "You have to look at all the vegetables to find the ones that are ready to be picked."
The school donates the produce to a local food bank. Giving back to the community is a lesson that Woodland principal Ann Goldbach hopes to nurture. "I want students to appreciate what they've done and how it can help the community," she says. Teaghan likes that her hard work helps others. "Everyone can make a difference," she says.
Now, post
1. One interesting fact you learned about gardens?
2. How has gardening changed over time?
3. What book, story, or movie does this article remind you of?
4. What did you already know that helped you understand his article?
1.One interesting fact I learned about the garden is that you get to pick the fruits and veggies.
ReplyDelete2.Gardening changed over time from the late 1800`s,gardening was popular then and it became less popular.
3.This article reminds me of a book called Anne of Green Gables.
4.The thing that helped me understand this article is that I already knew that some schools did gardening.
By Ginny Lee
1. one interesting fact I learned about gardens is that the 4,000 schools in gardens in Caluforna alone.2. Gardening has changed over time because know there are eser wase to garden. 3. This artikal rieminds me of a gardening book.4. A gardening show helpedme understand this artikal.
ReplyDeleteby Malina
1 One cool thing I leaned is gardens can get to grow really big.
ReplyDelete2 Gardens change over time because they sometime get spoiled.
3 We watched a movie called making the world a better place.
4 It helped because I garden with my grandfather a lot it is fun.
By zach
One interesting fact I learned that there are 4,000 school gardens alone in California. Gardening has changed over the years because there is new ways to plant. This article reminds me of this show I used to watch when I was little. The thing that I already knew about this article is that planting is good for the earth and that was the thing that helped me under stand this article.
ReplyDeleteBy Hunter