Developing a Sustainable Garden Program: Lessons Learned from Growing Minds

Table of Contents 

Acknowledgements

 Chapter 1: Introduction, overview and philosophy of Growing Minds Program

 Chapter 2: Planning First to Make Gardens Last

 Chapter 3: Implementing a program

 Chapter 4: fundraising

 Chapter 5: Volunteers

 Chapter 6: Curriculum connections – integrating garden activities into standards

 Chapter 7: Resources

 Thank you

Acknowledgements

 This manual was compiled by Molly Nicholie, as a result of lessons learned and information gathered as part of the Growing Minds with Seniors Program at Hazelwood Elementary. All writing and lessons were created by Molly unless otherwise noted. This project was funded through a grant from the National Recreation Foundation and implemented by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.

Many thanks to: Hazelwood Elementary and Community Care of Haywood

Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview of Growing Minds Program

 The mission of the Growing Minds program is to “promote dynamic garden environments that support the mastery of educational standards while helping children develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for healthy foods and lifestyles, their environment, their community, and one another.”

An educational program of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), the Growing Minds program links gardening, agriculture, and healthy eating with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for grades K-5.

Growing Minds uses the garden to offer a dynamic and beautiful setting in which to integrate the disciplines of science, math, reading, writing, environmental studies, nutrition, and health. An interdisciplinary approach cultivates the talents and skills of all students while enriching the students' capabilities for observation and critical thinking.

Growing Minds also provides a reconnection to the agricultural roots of western North Carolina and builds an appreciation of our unique mountain setting. It will provide an opportunity for elementary students and teachers to reap the benefits of direct contact with area farmers and growing food.

The Growing Minds with Seniors Project was a unique opportunity for ASAP to hire a full time project assistant to work with a rural elementary school for a year to help them develop a garden program that engaged seniors from their community. This project strives to reconnect students with their agricultural heritage through gardening and working with elder members of the community. The goals and objectives of this project were to: 1) demonstrate a productive model for healthy eating and exercise for children and seniors, 2) reconnect children to their agricultural heritage—most rural children today are one generation removed from the farm—while building appreciation for their special environment, 3) enrich the educational process by providing hands-on/minds-on experiences that connect to classroom studies, 4) provide resources and training to teachers to motivate them in becoming active participants in the garden program, and 5) bring children and seniors together in a mutually beneficial manner.

This manual is a result of the lessons learned from the Growing Minds with Seniors Project and it is hoped that it will provide teachers, schools and volunteers with the information needed to help sustain a school-based garden program.

Philosophy

Many teachers become overwhelmed with the idea of incorporating the garden across their whole curriculum. With the huge demands and requirements already piled on teachers they don’t want to think about trying to garden with students on a weekly basis, especially if they have little or no experience in gardening themselves. Designed by teachers, this program is meant to be flexible, based on the needs and interests of teachers and their students. The main purpose is to offer teachers resources to engage students, and this can be as simple as planting lettuce in a flower box. This manual contains activities that could fill your whole year, yet each of these activities can stand alone. This is not an “all or nothing” program. Begin small, allowing children to experiment and explore the experience of growing food. As your interest expands, add dimension through other activities. One of the biggest mistakes comes in trying to do everything at once. Ease yourself into a gardening program, starting small and add pieces as the program develops.

Chapter 2: Planning First to Make Gardens Last

This chapter is a summary of a report written and complied by Amanda Kail, the Education Program Coordinator for the Georgia Wildlife Federation (GFW). Based on research and teacher/educator experience, this guide (Planning First to Make Your Outdoor Classroom Last) was designed to help avoid common pitfalls and promote outdoor classrooms that are both long term effective teaching tools and sustainable. Although this chapter might be overwhelming, planning is an important step in implementing a school wide program. Building strong relationships and involving a wide range of stakeholders will be what sustains your program over time. Don’t let the planning stage get hinder a program ever beginning, but once you have started with something small and successful, this guide can be an important tool for expanding into a strong, adaptable, and sustainable program.

Teachers, parents, administrators, volunteers and students become very excited at the prospect of a school garden or outdoor classroom. Unfortunately, sustaining a program requires a lot more commitment than may be first realized. Research conducted by the GWF compiled this list of the top 5 reasons outdoor classrooms failed or succeeded. In planning a garden project it is important to keep these in mind.

Top 5 reasons listed by schools on why outdoor classrooms fail

1. Continued maintenance and upkeep
2. Teachers unsure or unable to incorporate usage into lessons
3. Inadequate funding
4. Vandalism (especially at high school level)
5. School expansion or relocation

Top 5 reasons Listed by schools on why outdoor Classrooms Succeed

1. Community support
2. Student involvement
3. Funding
4. Teacher training
5. Administrative support

Source: GWF survey, 2004

The first step

Enthusiasm should be high when you are first beginning a garden program, but make sure to put some of this energy into planning to help your program last. The first step in beginning this planning process is forming a garden committee. This committee should include teachers, school administration, parents, volunteers and community organizations. Engaging these players in the initial planning stages will ensure that they are informed about the program, needs from all of the players are addressed, buy in is built in every stage and that one person alone is not trying to make the program happen. The task this committee will take on is the initial assessment of needs, interests and the site. This initial assessment is vital and will save a lot of time and frustration when implementing a program. Only after completing this step do we suggest moving on to steps to implementing the program in the next chapter.

 Assessment of needs, interests, and the site

 In the preliminary assessment, make sure to assess the needs of all potential outdoor classroom users, including teachers, students, school administration, after-school coordinators, parents, volunteers, and community members. Surveys are an important tool at this stage in planning.

• Survey teachers to determine their needs and levels of interest. What are the obstacles that may prevent them from using the garden as a teaching tool? What do teachers need to feel confident in using this space? What features or training would be most useful for the teacher?

• Students should be included in this initial surveying. This garden should not only be a garden for students, but a garden created at every stage by students. Include their concerns, such as maintenance, liability, or school appearance, and have their support throughout the life of your garden.

• It is worth your time to extend your inquiries into the local community. There may be existing or developing projects that could complement your program, zoning issues or opportunities to connect with elderly population or universities. Before starting something new, conduct an inventory of resources such as knowledgeable members of the community or community resources such as agricultural extension, garden programs, etc.

• Enlisting the help and support of administration is a good place to start with any program at a school. Set up a meeting with the principal and other key players to explain the plan, purpose and vision of your program. Come prepared with information regarding integration into standard course of study requirements, maintenance, and funding. Administrators often want to be reassured that they will not have to spend a lot of time and energy in dealing with a new program. If you have an organized plan outlined you are much more likely to gain the support of administration.

Teachers

Once a garden program is established, sustainability = use. Involving teachers is the key to making sure the garden is used on a regular basis. If the garden is to be integrated into the school day, you need to make sure that the site is easily accessible to teachers and that it fits their needs and interests. Although you may not be able to get a wide variety of teachers on a committee, you can still assess needs and interests through a teacher survey. The goal is to determine what would be most useful for teachers and build from there.

Site

When considering a site for your garden conduct an inventory of existing resources, such as flower or garden beds that are not in use or open space that is underused and convenient to classrooms. Take into consideration qualities that are needed for a usable site including, light, water sources, soil and location. Make sure your site gets plenty of sun and is easily accessible with a hose. Involve a landscaper or experienced gardener to evaluate if the soil could be amended or if raised beds need to be built. You may also want to include equipment in your inventory, such as tools that teachers or the school may have to use for maintenance or study in the garden (hose, wheelbarrow, clipboards, hand lenses?).

When a complete preliminary asssment is compiled, the next stop is to share findings with the garden committee and set up a plan of how to move forward.

Getting Buy-In BEFORE You Build

Creating an outdoor classroom is often an exciting prospect to teachers, students and volunteers alike and many want to leap directly to the point of construction as soon as possible. However, because you want the time, money and effort you will invest in creating an outdoor classroom to be well spent, it is important to generate support from the many users of the outdoor classroom from the very beginning of the project. Listed below are key groups to consider, as well as some hints on how to win their support.

Administrators

• Ask your school’s administration about their specific concerns for having an outdoor classroom at their school. Keep them informed on how you will address these concerns.

• Create a safety protocol for using the outdoor classroom in order to minimize liability concerns. Animal bites and stings, diseases such as West Nile virus and rabies and safety issues around water are common school liability concerns. Learn the facts about these concerns and inform administrators how you will address them.

• Show your principal that an outdoor classroom is not just an extra. Provide examples of research showing how an outdoor classroom can improve academic performance across disciplines. The State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER) provides one of the most comprehensive studies to this effect. Summaries of the study, Closing the Achievement Gap; Using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning (EIC) can be downloaded at www.seer.org.

• If possible, try to get outdoor classroom plans incorporated into your School Improvement Plan.

• Invite your principal or other school administrators to observe a lesson taught outdoors. In this way, he or she can be assured that academic requirements are being met and that you are confident in your abilities to teach outside. Even if they are unable to observe, principals will still be impressed that you are confident enough to invite them to observe.

• Consult your school’s already established protocols for student safety. Also, other organizations that conduct outdoor youth programs may have good examples of protocols to draw from. For example, Girl Scouts offers Safety-Wise and Boy Scouts offers the online guide to Safe Scouting . Also, contact your local Department of Natural Resources (DNR) non-game office to find more information about venomous animals found in your area and the actual level of risk they pose.

• Show the potential for overall school improvement that an outdoor classroom can bring. For example, outdoor classrooms can offer beautification, bring in community support in the form of volunteers, and make the school a more attractive place for parents to send their children.

Teachers

• Survey teachers to find out their needs and obstacles in regards to outdoor classroom use. Remember, an outdoor classroom is no good if it is not being used!

• Incorporate environmental education training into the Teachers Professional Learning Plan offered at your school.

• Invite a local environmental education provider to lead a lesson or activity in the outdoor classroom so that teachers can see a first hand example of how exciting and successful teaching outdoors can be. Many environmental education providers can provide customized activities that correlate to cross-curricular state academic requirements.

• Recruit parent or community volunteers who are willing to help chaperone students outside.

• Provide teachers with a clearly written safety protocol for the outdoor classroom. See the safety protocol listed for administrators earlier in this chapter.

• Offer pre-made, tried and true lesson plans that correlate to state academic standards for teachers to easily access and use. Some schools have centrally-located backpacks that have all materials ready for leading an outdoor excursion.

Parents

• Conduct an annual survey of parents to assess resources and skills that they are willing to donate to the outdoor classroom project.

• Inform parents about the educational benefits of an outdoor classroom.

Groundskeepers

• Design your outdoor classroom with minimal maintenance needs in mind.

• Survey groundskeepers to assess their interest and the skills and resources they are willing to share for the success of your outdoor classroom.

• Discuss your outdoor classroom plans with your school’s groundskeepers to negotiate and clarify any responsibilities they are willing to assume in regards to the outdoor classroom.

• Assist your groundskeepers by scheduling regular workdays for volunteers to do maintenance on the outdoor classroom.

Students

• Recruiting students to help with the initial site assessment can be an excellent way to build interest in creating an outdoor classroom. The site assessment can be easily adapted to meet academic standards across a variety of disciplines. It is also an excellent way to start the experience of teaching outdoors before the actual outdoor classroom has been built.

• Make sure students have some input in the design of the outdoor classroom and that they participate in its construction. This will foster feelings of ownership, which will in turn help prevent possible vandalism in the future.

Community Members and Volunteers

• Make it easy to volunteer by keeping a centrally located and easily accessible maintenance calendar and scheduling regular workdays for your outdoor classroom. Include evening or Saturday workdays for volunteers with full-time jobs.

• Keep the local community informed about your project through regular press releases about donations needed and volunteer opportunities.

• Make volunteering for the outdoor classroom fun! Provide refreshments and good places to rest. Use themes, such as seasons, planting and harvesting to make working in the outdoor classroom feel more like a festival than a chore. Sometimes just phrasing it right can make all the difference.

• One school has declared that they never weed; instead they feed the chickens. Volunteers and students love pulling up weeds out of the habitat gardens to feed to their school’s small flock of domestic birds. If your school can’t have domesticated animals, consider feeding a compost bin of earthworms and keeping track of how fast it takes for your weed pile to be composted.

Hold an annual festival in your school’s outdoor classroom. This will help institutionalize the use, maintenance and recognition of your outdoor classroom. The festival can involve all or part of the school, as well as the community.

Chapter 3: Implementing a program

 The steps to implementing a program will differ, depending on what needs, interests and resources were determined in the planning stages. The temptation at this stage is to jump in and do everything. Breaking up an action plan into stages will help make implementing a program more manageable. Start small. Starting small may be moving forward with one class working on revitalizing an old bed, or a grade level creating container gardens. One of the main mistakes at this stage is feeling that it is all or nothing with a program. You don’t have to till up half the school yard or create a pizza garden as your first project. Remember the basic goals of the program and let students and teachers be a part of creating that. Some teachers and volunteers get so wrapped up in the idea of a garden that the key elements of discovery, experimentation and children get lost in the process. Your garden may not produce enough pumpkins for every child to have their own, or it may get overgrown with weeds or munched on by critters, but in the end it is not about the final product, but about the process.

Step 1 – Form a Garden Committee

In the process of forming this committee, make sure you have administrative, teacher, student, parent community and facilities, staff support, and involvement. This committee can distribute the work of finding funds, scheduling activities, planning events, finding and training volunteers, researching and disseminating information and maintaining the garden site.

Step 2- Survey

Surveying the needs and interests of all player involved is a key step to direct your program. This step should also include surveying your school site so that you can plant and construct your garden area properly. Inform your school and school district about your plans to help prevent future land-use conflicts.

Step 3 – Define the purpose and objectives of your garden

Building on the needs and interests gathered in step two, defining the purpose and objective for your program will make it unique to your school. This step will help to ensure that everyone involved clearly understands the garden program and how to guide its development.

Step 4- Create a year round garden plan

Creating a plan should include an actual plan for the layout and composition of the garden and how it will be used throughout the school year.

Determining how the garden will be used throughout the year may help guide some of your decisions in planning your garden. Make sure to include indoor and outdoor activities and a summer plan for the garden (see summer garden care for ideas).

Step 5 – Create your garden plan

The GWF guide to creating an outdoor classroom describes an ideal outdoor classroom plan as one that includes:

• Easy and minimal maintenance
• Integration into academic use with ties to stated standards for all grades
• Maximum accessibility for people with various abilities
• Limited funding needs
• Putting “the right plants in the right Places” to provide habitat for wildlife
• A flexible timeline for building

In creating a plan it may help to determine what some of the garden activities may be for each grade level. For example if your objective includes fulfilling science standards you may want to include a site for soil exploration, a weather station, insect observation area or a sensory plot. Creating a plan will also help you determine how bed space will be allocated and what should be planted. Planning to involve as many students, at an age-appropriate level, as possible in developing the plan for the garden, its actual construction and maintenance will help to build ownership.

The plan for your garden program should be broken up into reasonable stages and time frames. The first year might include each classroom having a container garden. The second year you may designate a permanent site and begin with one crop, such as a pumpkin patch. It is up to you to find that balance of getting the school excited about the program and not taking on more than is manageable.

Step 6 - Create an event

Whether you are beginning your program with container gardens or plowing up a section of the school yard, an all school and community event does wonders to raise awareness of your program, build support and increase participation. This event may include students offering a guided tour of their plants/gardens, making healthy garden snacks, inviting a farmer to bring in a small animal or farm equipment, storytelling, a group work project, creating garden art, a performance of a song or play, games, music or any combination of these things. Depending on the interest and involvement of the school and committee your event may kick off your program, or it may be an annual event each spring and or fall.

Step 7 – Check in

Checking in with the committee and school community is important to the sustainability of the program. After the first year you may want to re-survey or evaluate your program. Successful programs are adaptable, changing and growing with the needs of the school and community. Being flexible and constantly building involvement will help your program succeed.

One example of a barrier we ran into when “checking in” on the garden at Hazelwood Elementary was summer garden care. Because most schools are not year round, this is an issue that programs need to address. Most visions of vegetable gardens include vine ripe tomatoes, crisp green beans and sweet peppers. In planning your garden it is important to plant crops that will grow while students are in school, but also have a summer plan. Many schools let their gardens go over the summer and students come back to discover a weed adventure to explore. Although this is one of the options, teachers at Hazelwood found it daunting to enter a new school year with a huge clean up project to tackle. Then following are a couple options for maintenance and use of your school garden over the summer:

Summer Program

If your school has a summer program, this is a great opportunity to expand your growing season and your children’s gardening experience. To make this a workable option there must be a commitment and interest of those involved in the program to make weeding, watering, harvesting and time to explore part of the summer schedule. This takes some planning and effort, but it can be a valuable addition to any program. Take this opportunity to cook what was harvested with children in the program or send it home with recipes to encourage healthy family eating.

Family Garden Care

If you can get organized, families caring for the garden throughout the summer can be a meaningful option for maintaining your school garden through summer vacation. This works best if you can identify several families that have been involved in the garden and would have the time and energy to care for the garden for a week over the summer. How this can work is to have families adopt the garden for a specific week or weeks though out summer. That family will be responsible for weeding and watering during this time, but also has the opportunity to harvest whatever is ripe in the garden. It is important to establish a system or form of communication for these families, such as a garden journal that is kept in a location with a water key or a rotation from one family to the next. The garden journal can be a chance for families to communicate and share their experiences, lessons learned, reminders and other notes about the garden. It may be a family was able to water, but did not have time to thin the carrots. A family might want to share a garden game, activity or recipe that their children enjoyed. This journal emphasizes the garden is a community experience.

Community Support

It may be there is not enough parent involvement or time to make family garden care a realistic option. This may be a good opportunity to call on the school’s extended community to chip in. It may be that a local garden club or group of master gardeners would be willing to take on the summer maintenance of the garden. This option is most feasible when a relationship with these groups has been established early on in the year and they feel a sense of connection to the school community.

Chapter 4: Fundraising

 One of the first questions asked about starting a garden program is often “where did you get the funding?” Although funding is an important aspect of maintaining and building a program, there is little funding needed to begin a program. The key to this is starting small and utilizing your resources. A garden program can be as simple as a couple of container gardens in a classroom. One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to take too much on too fast. In the beginning of a garden program the focus should be on integrating activities in standards and planning. “Do more with less” is a good mantra to begin with. Requesting donations of seeds or garden tools from parents and staff is a good place to start. Grant writing is one avenue in which to find funds, and there are often small seed grants available to schools and teachers. Other options might include having a seeds or bulb sale. Some programs have made garden cook books to sell or put out donation requests to local businesses. Remember that your program is about the experience for children and that can be offered with minimal gear.

Get students involved

Involving students in the fundraising process helps develop ownership and responsibility. Present a funding issue to students and let them work though the problem solving and be part of the solution. Involving kids also involves parents indirectly. A persistent child wanting to sell seeds to their family and friends is much more effective then a “seeds for sale” sign on a classroom door. The greater community is also much more likely to donate or get involved if the call is from children.

Some fundraising ideas for programs include:

• Student prepared garden dinners
• Kids writing grants – letters requesting funds from local organizations or businesses
• picket fence project – families or individuals purchase a Pickett on a garden fence
• Selling plants, seeds, bulbs, etc. Fedco Seed Company has a great seed program for schools in hich you can purchase seeds in bulk. Students then take part in the packaging and marketing of the seeds for individual sale. This is a great way to tie a fundraising project into math, social studies, art and writing.
• Contact local businesses about donations or funding opportunities. Plant nurseries, lawn and garden centers and hardware stores in your area are often willing to donate to a good cause in their community, especially if they are acknowledged publicly for it.
• Create a simple brochure and standard solicitation letter on school letterhead that can be used by anyone to easily explain your project and ask for donations.
• Check with local construction companies to see if they have extra building materials they can donate.
• Run a regularly updated wish list for your outdoor classrooms in your school newsletter, website or community paper.

*Important* Keep copies or a record of fundraising efforts for others to reference later. This will help you keep track of who you have asked for what, and will make it easier for new outdoor classroom champions to find the resources they need.

 Chapter 5: Working with Volunteers

Defining roles and Responsibilities

Communication between schools, teachers, parents, community groups and volunteers is a key element of a successful program. The following two sections are examples of clear ways to communicate to volunteers and teachers what their role and responsibilities are in a program. Knowing what is expected, defining levels of involvement, and knowing the roles of other players involved in a program make a volunteer experience more rewarding for everyone involved.

The Role of Volunteers

Volunteers play a key role in the sustainability of any outdoor classroom or school garden. Having a garden program work within the school day, rather than be an after school or summer project, it must be integrated into standard course of study and be teacher driven. However, volunteers are the key to the garden not being an extra load on teachers. Parent, grandparent and community volunteers can have a wide range of roles within a program such as Growing Minds at Hazelwood. Volunteers need to consider what type of time and commitment they are willing to make to the program and find the role that matches their interests. It may be helpful for volunteers to read the section on “Working with Volunteers – a Teacher’s Guide” to understand how to develop a good relationship with teachers. When approached about volunteering with a garden program, most volunteers think about weeding and turning soil. Although this is one aspect of the work that needs to be done to sustain a program, there are a wide variety of options to fit every type of interest and volunteer. The following are a few choices I have offered to volunteers at Hazelwood and a brief description of each.

One shot deal – It may be that you begin your volunteer experience with a one time event to determine if this is where you would like to dedicate your time. It is easy to over-commit your time when you first get involved in a program. You may want to help more, but be realistic with what fits into your schedule. A one shot deal can include events, presenting to a class, creating a garden art project, or participating in a work day.

Events - Garden events from Plow Day to Fall Harvest Festival always run more smoothly with more adult hands to help. If you can spare part of a day to help coordinate or attend a school event, it makes them more fun and educational for students, staff and volunteers alike!

Presenting to a class - If you have a craft or skill you think would be fun to share with a class, this is a great opportunity to volunteer your time to a class . For example you may want to lead a group of students in a lesson involving storytelling, weaving, bee keeping, farming or traditional music. You may not think that quilting or cooking would be fun for an elementary class, but you would be surprised how removed many children are from family traditions like these. Offering to come in for a one time class activity can be a great break for teachers and students. Make sure to communicate with the teacher that you will bring any supplies you may need or check ahead of time that there will be general classroom supplies available. This type of volunteering should lift a load from teachers, rather than creating more work. If you are planning on presenting to a class, remember that most of these students have been sitting and listening most of the day. Making your visit as interactive as possible can make the experience more fun and educational for everyone involved.

Garden Art - Could you help a class create signs for the garden, or clay garden creatures? Expanding the garden into art and science is an easy connection to curriculum. Working with a class on a garden art project could be a one commitment or you may be inspired by students to expand into extended project.

Work Day - Having a school garden can be a powerful learning tool, but it also takes some work! If you can only come once during the year, your help may be best used turning soil or pulling weeds. Planning a day working with your child or just coming in to weed can lift some of the maintenance load. Make sure to check in with the teacher and school ahead of time so your time can be well spent.

Cooking with students – As a one time cooking demo, seasonal cooking projects or an going cooking series, cooking with students is a great way to encourage healthy eating and reconnect them with traditions.

Literacy – The garden can be easily integrated into literacy through the sharing of garden stories and expanding stories into experience. This may include spending time with a class reading or expanding the ideas from a book into a hands-on experience in the garden.

Fundraising or materials donation - This is one on-going programmatic necessity that creates a lot of stress for teachers. Helping to organize a fundraising project – compiling pictures for a school garden calendar or helping students design advertising for a seed sale, fundraising efforts are always greatly appreciated. A garden program does not require high dollar fundraising, and sometimes a well placed call for seeds and tools can be very effective.

 General Garden Maintenance – 9 Nine months out of the year there is work that needs to be done in the garden. Your help once a week, once a month or just once seasonally can be a great help to maintaining the garden as a beautiful productive place to learn.

Carpentry – This role would typically be an occasional project that may include such projects as fixing a wheelbarrow handle or placing posts for a sign. Some larger projects could include building or maintenance of picnic tables, garden shed or compost bins.

Coordinating volunteers – Recruiting speakers, organizing events and helping to link new volunteers with appropriate roles/classes can be time consuming. Communicating with teachers to identify needs and finding a good match to help can be a vital role in sustaining a garden program.

 Adopt a class- If you have the time and energy to dedicate to working with a particular class or grade level throughout the year, adopting a class would be a valuable way to help. Classes and grade levels have adopted plots within the school garden. The key to sustaining the involvement of these teachers is to provide support in maintaining the garden plot, organizing volunteers or speakers, and helping teachers integrate the garden into their classroom through books, art projects, cooking, etc. Adopting a class would be a special relationship that would help allow teachers to stay involved in the garden program.

Working as a group - Some volunteers find it more fun or less of a commitment to take on a role as a group. Haywood Community College students volunteered to help with general garden maintenance and would come periodically as a small group. This allows people to be involved on an on-going basis without the pressure of feeling they have to participate every time. An important key to working as a group is that there needs to be a defined leader that can help organize and coordinate group trips and projects.

Teachers have too much on their plate to be asked to take on the role of implementing and sustaining a garden program. Community volunteers are the support and energy behind a program, encouraging teachers and offering them the help they need. As a volunteer it is also your responsibility to understand the complexities of a classroom schedule and that your priorities may not always fit in nicely. Be flexible with teachers, offering them choices, but not pushing requirements or schedules on them. The more a teacher can see you as a support and resource the more valuable you will be to the program.

Volunteering with a garden program can be a very special experience for students and volunteers alike. Making a connection across generations and watching students grow and change through experiences is a very gratifying and powerful experience. This should be a fun and positive experience for all. Choose a role that you are excited or passionate about, knowing that this experience is what you make it and has the potential to be a new learning experiences for the young and old alike.

 Working with Volunteers – Guide for teachers

 Teachers have a wide range of experiences working with volunteers. It can sometimes feel like certain volunteers take more time than they are worth, and others can lift a load. As a teacher it is important to know the role of volunteers and communicate clear expectations, as well as being open to new ideas.

Please read “The Role of Volunteers” section.

We all know that there are volunteers that enter a program with good intentions and don’t follow through. The constant energy teachers have to put into a rotating stream of new volunteers can be frustrating and draining. In this section few guidelines are laid out that may help you deal with the wide range of volunteers that may come into your classroom, including those that may only show up once and those who can be an ongoing valuable resource.

 Define how the volunteer can help.

In your first contact with a potential volunteer ask them how they would like to be involved in the class and what type of schedule they have. Initially a volunteer may want to “help” in whatever way they can. Be prepared to offer specific assignments by keep an on-going list of ideas, projects or tasks that a volunteer could help with. Offer suggestions from this list to communicate what would be most helpful to you. Starting with a realistic project and clarifying what the person has agreed to sets the stage for a good teacher-volunteer relationship.

1. Scheduling

In scheduling volunteer time, make sure it is something that works well for both of you. Forcing schedules to meld does not create a meaningful volunteer experience for anyone. Beware of over commitment, suggest that volunteers start with one project and build as time goes on. Start with a one time visit or project so that you can both gauge how well you may work together and where skills, interests or needs may lie. After you have established a working relationship you may want to try laying out a schedule a month ahead of time.

2. Taking initiative

Encourage volunteers through communication. If a volunteer contacts you or expresses interest in getting involved, show that you want community support by responding promptly. “If they really wanted to volunteer they would have called me again” is not a good philosophy. Prompt follow up is respectful and shows that you appreciate their offer of help. Notes of thanks or follow up after their first time volunteering can give people the warm feeling they desire from helping and will help develop a personal connection with your class.

 3. Focus on what volunteers can do, rather than what won’t work.

Communicate what your priorities are for the class. Try to come to a consensus on a project or task that interests them and is helpful to you. If a volunteer wants to focus on a particular project that is not in line with what you are currently doing, offer another opportunity in which they could help or a later time when that project would work better for you. Some volunteers may loose interest if they are put off until later, but you need to make sure you are using their time in a beneficial manner rather than creating busy work. If you feel a volunteer has more to offer encourage them to “step out” and take on something they have not tried before. At the same time don’t try to talk a volunteer into something that you sense they really don’t want to do.

4. Volunteers should not create more work for you

If a volunteer enjoys visiting on a regular basis, but you feel like you have to create work for them – stop. A volunteer may encourage you to broaden your goals for the class or project, but they should also be lifting a load rather than creating one. It is important to communicate your needs to the volunteer. This will not only help you from adding to your work load, but volunteers want to helpful and deserve meaningful work. If the volunteer arrives expecting you to have a project laid out for them, suggest how rewarding it can be for them to build their own project, planning and implementing it as their own. Discuss your needs and time limitations with them. Don’t be afraid to relinquish a little control for a little sanity. If a volunteer does not want to work on the planning and material preparation for a project, you may suggest they seek out other volunteer opportunities that would fit better for them.

5. Thank You, Thank You!

Make sure you are appreciative of a volunteer’s offer of help. Time is a generous gift and volunteers should feel valued. A well matched volunteer can be a powerful resource. Remember to praise good work and acknowledge contributions and participation through student thank you notes, a line in a community bulletin, or a hug at the end of the day.  

Recruiting senior volunteers

This section was drawn from out experience implementing the Growing Minds with Seniors program at Hazelwood Elementary. Although not all programs with have as strong a focus on senior volunteers, they are a valuable resource in all communities and should not be neglected when recruiting volunteers for any program.

Recruiting grandparent volunteers is a powerful way to create an intergenerational experience in the garden, and a wonderful place to begin is recruiting senior volunteers. It is challenging to engage parent volunteers, and there are often fewer grandparents who live near by and want to be involved. The positive aspect is that grandparents often have more time, and when engaged, are often very steady and reliable volunteers. You might have very little success in recruiting volunteers through fliers sent home with children, but it is important to get the word out about your program and ways in which people can get involved. School open houses, events or performances are a good spot to set up a table or speak about the program. Meeting and talking with people is probably the best way to engage them in your program. Grandparents often will show up for student performances and events, so a school play or holiday performance may be a good opportunity. Hosting program events can seem intimidating, but they are a great way to build enthusiasm for your program and recruit volunteers. Creating a “Plow Day Celebration” and a “Fall Harvest Festival” were two events that were very popular in the Growing Minds program. Each class signed up for time slots throughout the school day and parents/grandparents were invited to participate throughout the day. These events were talked about throughout the year, publicizing the program and were a great way to identifying community resources. Other sources of senior volunteers may include local garden clubs, churches, quilting or craft guilds, or programs such as Foster Grandparents, the Council on Aging, or the Rotary Club.

Growing Minds with Seniors – experiences working with retirement facilities

Making a connection with a retirement facility can be a powerful experience for everyone involved. This component of the program is difficult to work out logistically, but is worth every minute of the time spent. For students that don’t have an elder in their lives, this experience is possibly the only chance they may have to hear stories of butter churning or jam making. For seniors in these facilities, visits with students may be the only time they have to tell these stories. Seniors can be included in any piece of the garden program, including planting, harvesting, cooking projects, speakers and events. In approaching the senior facilities you may want to include in your program, consider their location and any possible connections to the students or group you are working with. Contact facility managers by phone, and for those that may be interested, make a trip to the facility to establish a face to face contact. Pitching your program as a service you would like to offer, without commitments of staff time, will make it more appealing to facility managers. Often times there may be someone on staff in change of activities for residents, which may be a good contact that could also help you with logistics. The logistics for working with retirement facilities can be complicated by transportation and supervision issues. Typically these seniors are in retirement facilities because they need constant care or supervision. This group requires assistance in mobility and sometimes judgment, so make sure to have extra hands to help. Residential facilities are often minimally staffed, and if residents are coming to the school they are not usually accompanied. Volunteers may be needed to help with these visits, depending on the size of the group. Students are usually very willing to help, and assigning two students to a senior makes sure no one is left out. Depending on the facility and public transportation, transportation may be your limiting factor. Other possibilities for transpiration may include a local senior council or center, churches or pubic services. Field trips to a facility should consist of a small group of students, and have a structured activity for students to participate in with seniors. Activities you may consider include a reading or play preformed by students, a cooking activity or students planting in established beds or creating container gardens for residents. A group of 4-6 students per teacher is doable, depending on the size of the facility you are visiting. Remember that you are entering people’s home, and there are seniors that may want a quiet place to escape from a group. If you do bring a group in, make sure that you are not dominating all of the public space and communicate well with facility managers and staff. Be aware that students and residents have fabulous memories, no matter how old or young they may be. Be respectful and follow through on field trips, activities or other commitments. Show your appreciation by printing pictures for the retirement facility’s bulletin board or having students make thank you cards.

Chapter 6: Curriculum connections – integrating garden activities into standards

 In starting any new program, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the breadth of possibilities and directions you could take. Teachers are besieged with so many requirements and projects, that anything that is an addition to what they already have to do is too much. In working with teachers, we have found that if a program is going to be used it has to fit in with what is already being done as part of the standard course of study curriculum. There are a wide variety of garden based curriculums available, and starting with a few activities that fit with grade level requirements is a good strategy for drawing in teachers. Appendix A contains garden activities, kindergarten-5 th grade, developed by Molly Nicholie while working with classes at Hazelwood Elementary. Correlated with NC standard course of study goals and objectives, these activities allow teachers to participate in the garden program, while fulfilling their requirements for the year.

The following is a brief collection of ideas illustrating how the garden can be integrated into NC science standards using an inquiry approach. For those of you who have not had much experience working with the standard course of study, the numbers refer to specific goals and skills.

Kindergarten Inquiry science

Science Goals

1.01, 1.02, 1.03 1.04, 1.05

Students observe and study animals that live in the garden or soil, comparing and contrasting worms, turtles, rabbits, humans and any others that may present themselves in the garden environment.

 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05

Kindergarten students assist students in 2 nd and/or 5 th grade in setting up a weather station in the garden. Students make up and test their own ideas on how one might measure precipitation, wind, temperature, and cloud cover. Students post the daily weather information using both standard measurements (rainfall, wind direction, temperature and cloud cover) and their own measurements (shoes muddy or dry, hair blows or does not blow in the wind, how many shirts cold, inside or outside day and fluffy or stormy clouds).

 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 3.04, 3.05

Students participate in a garden scavenger hunt, sorting their discoveries by color, size, shape and texture, using their senses. The class discusses and or reads books about how different things in the garden are used as natural resources, or were made from other resources.

 Students create garden art from natural materials, focusing in on crating a sensory experience – something that kids can see, touch, smell, taste and hear.

 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.05

Students measure plants or other things in the garden using hands (how horses are measured) and feet (compare a child’s foot to a ruler). These measurements are compared to measurements taken with other tools (pencils, crayons, etc.). These non-standard units are compared with standard units of measurement.

First Grade Inquiry science

Science Goals

1.01, 1.03, 1.05

Garden planning - What do students want to grow in the garden and what do we need to give those plants in order for them to grow?

 Planting seeds- Students read the book What’s This? by Caroline Mockford – in which a little girl finds an unknown seed that she plants and cares for (illustrating basic needs of the plant). Students then in tern plant a mystery seed that they care for to discover what it is. Students compare the basic needs of plants with those of humans.

 1.02, 1.03, 1.05

Students study worms and observe a composting worm bin. Students learn the basic needs of worms are the same as other animals, including humans.

 What lives in the garden - Students read or are read stories about common NC animals that may live in the garden. Students create a “garden house” that includes air, water, food, shelter for particular animals

 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

Soil sort – students examine a cup of soil from the garden and sort out different components of soil, recording descriptive words in their garden journal to describe what they found.

 Soil comparison –students each bring a sample of soil from their yard or garden and work with another student to compare and contrast the two soil samples.

 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 3.04, 3.05

Cooking – students learn about the different properties of solids, liquids and gases through cooking projects, sorting out ingredients, and discussing how they were changed by heat.

 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.05

Students explore different ways to move mulch in the garden – is it easier to push a bucket, pull a bucket, or maneuver a wheel barrow? Are buckets or wheel barrows easier to balance? How are balance and movement effected by the amount of mulch in the wheel barrow? How is balance and movement effected by where the mulch is piled in the wheelbarrow?

Second Grade Inquiry Science

Science Goals  

Students help maintain a worm bin, while researching the lifecycle of worms and comparing them to other animals.

 Growing up in a garden – students explore what lives in a garden and how different animals use the garden from birth through death.

 1.02, 1.03, 1.04

Raising and observing beneficial insects (praying mantis, butterflies and ladybugs).

 Students help to create a butterfly/beneficial insect garden -building an understanding of what insects need throughout their life stages Students research and write questions, then play a game of Insect Jeopardy.

 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05

Students help design and construct a weather station, measuring, recording and graphing changes in temperature, wind, and precipitation over time.

 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 3.04, 3.05, 3.06

Students observe and explore changes in properties through cooking activities and building/using a solar dehydrator.

Third Grade Inquiry Science

 Science Goals

1.01, 1.02, 1.04

Students design a plant growth experiment in which variables such as nutrients, light and water are altered. Changes in the plants are recorded over time.

 1.02, 1.03

Garden planning - What do students want to grow in the garden and what do we need to give the plants for them to grow.

 1.02, 1.03, 1.06, 2.03

Planting starts - Students plant seeds, making predictions about their growth and observing growth over time.

1.04, 1.05

Students spend time in the garden, observing how insects move through the garden. They then write a story about a bee’s conversation with the flower.

 Students participate in a pollination game in which they kinesthetically learn how and why bees pollinate flowers.

 A bee keeper will come and talk with students about their work and the importance of pollinators.

 2.01, 2.04

Soil Sort – This activity from the Grow Lab curriculum has students dissecting soil, sorting its components and discovering its properties.

 2.02, 2.04

Water race – Students have the opportunity to tactilely feel the difference between sand, silt and clay. A percolation demonstration will be set up and soil particle size will be discussed. Students will try to predict which soil the water will race through the fastest and the slowest.

 2.01, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05, 2.06

Soil Jeopardy – students work to create game show questions about soil, using resources from the internet, books and the area Soil and Water Conservation District. Students’ questions are used as they play Soil Jeopardy.

 2.05, 2.06

Students observe and maintain a composting worm bin and a compost pile.

 4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.05

Students help construct a scarecrow for the garden, learning about the human skeleton as they build it. Compare and contrast the skeleton, joints and muscles of a scarecrow with those of students.

Fourth Grade Inquiry Science

Science Goals

1.01

What lives in a garden – students observe and examine animals that live in the garden (worms, birds, turtles, etc.) and describe how their lives are influenced by other animals, plants, weather and climate. Students then write a creative fictional story about the life of the animal they observed, including the things they learned and observed in the garden.

 1.02, 1.03, 1.04, 1.05

Students read or listen to the book How to Hide a Butterfly, by Ruth Heller, and discuss camouflage and other adaptations that may be an advantage or disadvantage for animals. Students then look for animals in the garden that use camouflage, and write a creation story about how that adaptation came to be.

 4.01, 4.03, 4.04, 4.05, 4.07

Student help to prepare two different recipes using things grown in the garden, categorizing all ingredients as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, water, vitamins and minerals.

Fifth Grade Inquiry Science

Science Goals

1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.04, 1.05

Students help to plan and plant a butterfly/habitat garden.

 1.02, 1.07

Students study decomposition through the maintenance of a compost pile.

 1.01, 1.04, 1.06

Students plan and plant an experimental garden, altering variables such as light, water, and nutrients.

 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05, 2.06, 2.07

Students build several different types of landforms with soil in or near the garden. Watching how water moves over their creations, students note what type of canyons, valleys, meanders and tributaries are created. Erosion is discussed as a soil forming factor and students write about where the soil started and where it ended, comparing their created land forms with real life situations.

 2.05, 2.07

Students plant trees and plants along the riparian zone of the school creek, discussing how vegetation can influence erosion.  

 3.02, 3.04, 3.05

Students design and create their own weather station, possibly acting as mentors for 2 nd or kindergarten students that are also studying weather. Students graph changes in temperature, wind, precipitation, cloud cover and air pressure over time. Students may participate in the GLOBE program, reporting their data to a nationwide database of information.

 3.01, 3.03, 3.06

Thirsty plants, a project WET activity will be used to illustrate the role of the garden and plants in the water cycle.

Garden based programming across subjects

The sciences are an easy connection to the garden, but don’t be limited by this. Literacy, art, math, social studies, PE, and music can be wonderful complements to a garden program. To get the biggest bang for your buck, there are many activities that cross subject boundaries in the garden. Here are a few suggestions on how to tie the garden in across curriculum.

Reading/Language Arts

• Write, compile and illustrate a collection of garden poems and stories.
• Keep a garden journal with observations, ideas, feelings, experiments, drawings, etc.
• Study agricultural terms and use them for spelling words
• Put together a class newspaper or newsletter about the garden
• Study and learn to use seed catalogs
• Learn to use field guides to identify plants, birds, insects, etc.
• Design and illustrate a garden calendar
• Write and compile a class gardening book with gardening skills and advice
• Contact and write to a pen pal in another school garden program
• Write a report on a gardening topic and present to the class
• Compile a log of daily weather patterns and put together a garden weather log for a reference tool
• Write articles about the school garden project and submit to local newspapers
• Read the daily newspaper and bring in any articles relating to gardening, food, farming, nutrition, hunger, etc.
• Write to an environmental or agricultural organization for information about their work and how you can help
• Design and print a flyer to advertise your garden program
• Write letters to businesses to ask them for tools/other donations

Math

• Measure and draw up garden site plans
• Design a sun dial
• Keep growth charts of plants, records of size comparisons, and design bar graphs to illustrate your findings
• Tally cricket chirps to estimate temperature
• Keep charts and records of seed germination data
• Measure ingredients for recipes
• Measure and keep charts and graphs of wind speed, rainfall and humidity
• Keep records of the weights of garden harvest
• Chart temperatures in Fahrenheit and centigrade
• Plot a compass course through the garden
• Determine weight and volume of wet and dry soil samples
• Interpret and graph charts of planting requirements, harvest estimates
• Make “seed tapes” using paper towels, glue made from corn starch and seeds – use rulers to measure space between seeds and then plant the whole thing!

Social Studies

• Study your state’s agriculture
• Invite a farmer to the classroom and interview him/her about their lives, training and experiences
• Establish a recycling center at the school for paper, glass and cans
• Contact, report on or volunteer services at a local food bank, gleaning project and food cooperatives
• Study and report on planting and harvesting rituals and folklore
• Interview seniors about their gardening/farming experiences
• Plan a field trip to a farm or orchard
• Report on the background of specific ethnic foods – where they come from, how they are grown, and how they are used
• Trace the histories of familiar plants – where they originated, who brought them to this country, the impact they have had on our diets and how the original plants have been altered
• Study the contributions of Native American foods to American history and diet
• Research and report on how other cultures use and control insects

Music/Drama

• Put together a garden puppet show illustrating gardening techniques or a story about a garden
• Take a garden-themed piece of children’s literature and do reader’s theater with it
• Write parodies of well known songs, turning them into gardening songs
• Write a class garden theme song
• Write garden poems and set them to music
• Hold a harvest festival square dance
• Listen to the music of composers inspired by nature

Science/Nutrition/Health  

• set up and study a hydroponic garden or terrarium
• experiment with “planting by the moon” to observe its effects on plant germination and growth
• study local geology and put together a display of the soil and rock types found in your area
• raise and then release beneficial insects into the garden
• study an undeveloped section of the school yard and make notes of seasonal changes, inventory the plants, animals and insects that live there
• choose an item of food, research and report on its path from production through processing to consumption
• grow herbs and research their historical, medicinal and culinary uses
• study local agricultural problems (loss of farmland, development pressures, etc.) and find out what is being done about them
• research what is grown locally today and what used to be grown
• figure out how far your food travels by examining a school lunch meal
• find out if any of the food served in the cafeteria is locally grown and if not, why
• ask a local chef to come in for a cooking class
• start a cooking club

Crafts

• make drawings, sketches and paintings of garden flowers, vegetables or fruits
• design labels for plants and to mark plantings
• design t-shirts for your garden program
• design a logo for your garden
• paint rocks to use as borders
• do leaf “poundings” – gather leaves and pound their color and shapes onto fabric
• mount a seed collection or make a seed mosaic
• design and create a permanent sign for your garden
• make leaf, vegetable and fruit prints
• design and create a scarecrow
• make rubbings using plant leaves and bark
• use your native clay for modeling sculptures
• paint a garden mural or farm life mural
• make a color wheel with objects from the garden
• put together a photo essay of the garden
• create and use natural dyes made from garden plants
• design and build a garden project: birdhouse, birdbath, birdfeeder, solar oven, garden sculpture, cold frame, weather station, trellis, etc.
• shellac gourds to make decorations or to use for birdhouses

Chapter 7: Resources

 Garden Basics

• General questions about gardening basics can often be answered in your community through a knowledgeable parent or volunteer or local farmer. Asking community members to share their knowledge and experience is a great way to create buy in.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment. You do not have to be a garden expert to create a meaningful experience with students. Learning with students as you go along sets a great example. Most seeds have details about when and how to plant on the package. When buying plants, don’t be afraid to ask the salesperson about the needs of that specific plant. Remember that a school garden is not all about production, but the experience and wonder connected to planting and growing.
• Your local Cooperative Extension agent can answer most any garden related question from soil preparation to planting.

 Local Food and Farms

• Reconnecting students with their food how it is grown is a vital part of any garden program. Visiting a local farm to see how food is grown in the community can be a powerful and educational experience for students of any age.

THANK YOU!

On behalf of the children you teach or the school where you volunteer, thank you. You are helping the next generation of children learn about their natural environment and to grow up to become stewards of our land.

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life…”

-Rachel Carson,

The Sense of Wonder