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Growing School Gardens

Boys holding some veggies they picked from the ground.Kids holding bags of vegetables.

 

Boys holding some veggies they picked from the ground.Kids holding bags of vegetables.

 

Growing School Gardens is a new program dedicated to helping schools develop and sustain gardens. School gardens serve as outdoor classrooms that provide children with a direct connection to their food and to nature. Growing School Gardens is part of our Youth Grow Local initiative dedicated to cultivating healthy communities through youth gardening. You can watch a video about this new project.

Through this initiative we are:

  • Providing professional development opportunities for teachers and other school staff
  • Collaborating with other organizations to identify innovative ways to support school gardens
  • Creating a high school based agriculture education program at East High School
  • Establishing a forum for networking and information sharing
  • Developing garden-based curricula tied to district standards
  • Working to build capacity to connect schools to resources
  • Working with MMSD to enact changes in policy and practice
  • Conducting research

Professional Development Opportunities

Growing Minds: Garden-Based Learning from the Ground Up

Kids in a group, some holding vegetables.Dates: July 26-30, 2010, 8am-noon
Cost: TBA
Credit: 1 credit will be available from UW-Madison.
Place: The Kids' Garden at Troy Gardens (500 block of Troy Drive, near Warner Park)
Instructor: Nathan Larson, Education Director, Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens

This 5-day, 20-hour course is designed for K-12 teachers and community educators who are interested in building skills in the areas of youth garden education, development, and management. This course will emphasize an inquiry-based, hands-on approach to garden-based learning. Course topics will include youth garden design and construction, funding and resources, recommended tools and equipment, organic gardening methods, cooking in an outdoor garden kitchen, garden-based nutrition, nature study and games, earth art, chickens in the garden, program evaluation, and the role of youth gardening in the sustainable agriculture movement. Course instruction will take place outdoors in the award-winning Kids' Garden at Troy Gardens. Please bring sunscreen, drinking water, and appropriate clothing for the weather (e.g., hats, sunglasses, rain jacket). This course will give registration priority to Madison-based educators and has a maximum enrollment of 15 teachers.

Garden-Based Education Workshops

We provide workshops on a variety of garden-based education topics for schools upon request.

Contact Nathan Larson, Education Director, for more information (240-0409, education@troygardens.org).