Why make the effort to have a garden project at your school?
- School gardens are the ultimate hands-on, interactive, kinesthetic, multisensory, holistic curriculum unit!
- Gardening enriches every subject area, from art to social studies, including special ed classes.
- Students who participate in garden projects at their school show increased academic performance.
- Children who learn to grow their own food make healthier choices about what to eat.
- Gardens teach cooperation, responsibility and patience, and increase self-esteem.
- Gardens offer a unique way to integrate the greater community into school activities, and also provide a perfect opportunity for community service projects.
- A garden promotes family awareness of and involvement in school activities.
- Gardens beautify the school and instill pride in students, teachers and school staff.
- Gardening provides opportunity and meaningful activity for working with "at risk" students.
- Working in and studying a garden exposes children to career paths in agriculture.
- School gardens can provide the basis for an income-producing business for students.
- Most importantly, learning in a school garden teaches children the fundamentals of three critically important issues:
- Nutrition- healthful food, the importance of fresh vegetables and fruit, opening to new food experiences, learning to cook;
- Agriculture- understanding where our food comes from, the knowledge to grow their own, the importance of local farms, agricultural and cultural history;
- Outdoor activity- fresh air and physical work, exposure to the natural habitat of a garden, environmental awareness and appreciation.
Visit this website for an inspiring story about one of the oldest educational gardening projects in the country.