LEARNER’S ALMANAC FALL 2011 A handy reference for how your gift has grown this season Autumn means not only “back to school” but also “back to the garden” for our students! Because of your generous support, thousands of students returned to their outdoor classrooms this fall ready and able to learn from nature. Read on to see how our school partners kicked off the year with trowels in hand... THE BOUNTY OF THE SE ASON We accepted 7 new schools into partnership this year, growing our reach to 45,000 students and 2,700 educators at 81 elementary school partners. We are proud to partner with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas to bring our program to 5 new Dallas ISD schools. We were honored to be named one of Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders. This prestigious award provides $200,000 to help us grow!
GARDEN SPOTLIGHT: BA RBARA BUSH E.S. The outdoor learning program at Barbara Bush Elementary is a model of sustainability. With outdoor compost piles AND worm bins in every indoor classroom, the school is sustaining their soil while captivating students with lessons about the biological and chemical processes at work among their food scraps. One of the school’s composting advocates is a parent volunteer, pointing to their belief that community participation is as vital for garden sustainability as healthy soil. Whether by volunteering in the outdoor classroom or cultivating a plot in the fullscale community garden recently established on campus, the school community is actively engaged in tending to land as well as young minds.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: F UTURE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS This fall we launched “Design and Dine” events, a new version of our community garden design workshops. To prepare for the event, students take part in a garden design competition, with the winners chosen by their peers and invited to present their designs during the community workshop. The students have exhibited great creativity and skill, and one school proudly displayed a gallery of designs as the work of “future landscape architects.” These contests have jump-started the learning process around the outdoor classroom as students research plant types, learn new vocabulary, develop skills for drawing and measuring to scale, and practice public speaking (left). Seeing the students’ imaginative ideas has helped the adult designers stay grounded and see the project through a child’s eyes.