LEARNER’S ALMANAC Spring 2012 A handy reference for how your gift has grown this season
Thanks to volunteers, community partners, and donors like you, over 45,000 students and 2,700 educators have access to vibrant outdoor learning environments. We currently support 81 REAL school gardens that are growing successful students across North Texas. Read on to see how your support is helping to grow strong learners.
THE BOUNTY OF THE SEASON
1,574 community volunteers helped
GARDEN SPOTLIGHT: SAGAMORE HILL E.S. Thanks to the hard work of over 100
build and install 7 new learning
Mercedes Benz Financial Services
gardens this school year
team members, Sagamore Hill
41 Wells Fargo employees worked alongside students to enhance learning gardens at 2 elementary schools 24 Alcon employees created new
Elementary School’s learning garden came to life on April 4. Mercedes Benz associates joined the school community to design and bring to life a unique outdoor learning environment. In addition
garden features at North Hi Mount
to more common learning
Elementary School as part of their
features, the space they
global Community Partnership Day
created includes vibrant
30 partner schools are participating in Smart Potatoes, a service-learning initiative focused around the experience of growing healthy food
art work and our first stone arroyo, which will utilize the slope of the land to collect rainwater.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: STUDENTS DIG LEARNING THROUGH SMART POTATOES PROGRAM Through the experience of growing potatoes in their learning gardens and then donating them to local food pantries, Smart Potatoes provides students with engaging lessons in math, science, and social studies while helping them address hunger in their communities. A collaboration between REAL School Gardens and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, this year’s Smart Potatoes initiative includes 30 participating partner schools. Teachers tell us that Smart Potatoes is "a learning experience that was priceless and very rewarding," and one astute student writes that "I learned that it feels good to help somebody out every once in a while.” Last year 14 schools in Tarrant County participated in Smart Potatoes and donated over 430 pounds of potatoes to local food pantries. We are looking forward to an even bigger harvest of spuds and service-oriented students this June.