School Gardens Ripen The Minds Of Young Students
WARSAW — Protected from the sun by the shade of overhead trees, students bound in the garden in search of ripe vegetables to pick or rotten ones to toss. Tucked into their own corner of the world, surrounded by a barrier of luscious greenery, students find themselves tucked into their own corner of the world as they count frogs at the pond, weed the garden and work alongside friends.
The garden at Harrison Elementary School in Warsaw has become an outlet for children to connect with nature that also helps develop a sense of community. Vegetables from the garden are then used to make salsa or are given to the cafeteria staff to experiment with, providing students an opportunity to eat vegetables in uniquely delicious ways.
The Environment Club, consisting of about 25 fourth- to sixth-graders, ripples with excitement to get outside for hands-on learning. It may get hot, it may be dirty and there will definitely be bugs but E Club’s enthusiasm can be heard through laughter and exclamations of their discoveries.
“I wanted to do something to provide for the entire school and make it available to everybody. Because we’re partnered with the cafeteria, the whole school gets a taste of the garden,” explained second grade teacher Deb McClintock. “Students get to try things they wouldn’t try otherwise, or that they didn’t even know that they could eat. We wanted to do something to make kids more aware of healthy eating and lifestyles.”
Everything in the garden is nurtured naturally with no pesticides or chemicals. An herb and flower garden, separate from the vegetable garden, creates biodiversity in the area. While it is a challenge to maintain during the summer, McClintock utilizes an automatic watering system and weed barrier to minimize some of the work.
The garden has continued to grow successfully thanks to the support of the school and local community. This year McClintock received a $1,5000 Red Apple Grant to expand the garden and minds of the students.
“It’s provided lots of fun. We go out there and make observations. My class and E Club go out there and observe by sneaking up and counting how many frogs are in the pond,” McClintock chuckled. “We’ve found Monarch caterpillars. We see tree frogs and little rabbits that surprise us when we’re weeding. It’s about being in nature. Some of those kids don’t have the opportunity, so it’s all new to them. It’s real life learning.”
Students are a part of E Club for a variety of reasons but the common ones are it’s fun, they want to help the environment or they enjoy gardening. Hustling out to the garden is something they look forward to every week, though teachers are always welcome to host their classes under the pavilion next to the garden and explore.
“I wanted to see what E Club was about,” commented Tyrus Ouimet. “It’s fun, you get to play games and grow stuff. I’ve been in it for two years and it’s cool to see the plants I planted a couple years ago grow and change.”
Litzy Ramos added, “I’ve been looking forward to joining E Club since second grade when Mrs. McClintock told us about it. I couldn’t wait to join and I’m happy I did.”