Project: Military Kids Grow Roots with a Schoolyard Garden
Resources Needed: shovels, rakes, and peat to tend their garden and to attract wildlife so they can study life cycles, food chains, ecosystems, and sustainability.
School Poverty Level: High
Location: Palo Alto Middle School in Killeen, TX
Total Cost: $234.20
Still Needed: $234.20 $38.20
Expires: Apr 16, 2013
Teacher's Comments from Mrs. Adams:
My Students: Returning to our Roots. Our students do not have the basic outdoor experiences that only a couple of decades ago could be taken for granted. We want to turn that around by getting their hands in the dirt and putting to practice what we study.
Our low socioeconomic, neighborhood school serves the local Army base and surrounding community. Because the students tend to move from place to place frequently, many do not have the outdoor experiences with plants and animals that we had as children.
My Project: Our garden is integrated with the curriculum throughout the school year.
Instead of just learning about life cycles from a book, our students will watch a bird build its nest, lay eggs, and hatch and feed its young, using the birdhouses and birdfeeders requested here.
Instead of just studying the parts of a plant, they will GROW plants from seeds using the Jiffy pods.
When asked, "How Does Your Garden Grow?" our students will answer that question with personal knowledge and experience from preparing the soil to planting to cultivation to harvesting.
Along the way they will learn about sustainability through composting, recycling, and water conservation. The garden tools requested will allow our students to work the soil, water their garden, and shovel compost to fertilize their beds.
Our local community nursery was generous enough to donate plants, so now we just need these resources to get planting!
Motivating kids to learn is easy when they have authentic experiences and don't just sit in a classroom. These military kids may move from place to place, but they will never forget their experiences as a scientist in our schoolyard garden.
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