About the Project

Gardens are a place where students can explore, create, and relax as they work to maintain a space that nourishes their emotional, physical, and mental needs while connecting them to their community and to nature. The mission behind this project is to create a sustainable garden complete with the tools needed to support young learners with the NGSS and other subject areas, while boosting their social-emotional skills. Gardening has been known to improve mood, boost self-esteem, provide exercise, improve nutritional health, increase attention span, and encourage social bonds. There is a critical need to foster these attributes, especially post COVID, as our students continue to acquire the skills they need to alleviate stress and anxiety while they heal. Students will learn how to grow and harvest their own food, engage in healthy habits, and connect concepts to state standards. Collaboration in the garden between students within their own class, as a grade level, and with multi-grade interactions with our existing buddy program will expand and strengthen social integration. Students will be encouraged to try new produce and share their abundance with our broader school community. This outside learning space will give students an opportunity to move beyond the four walls of the typical classroom environment, making connections between their lessons while applying this newfound knowledge to the world around them.