2009-2010 1st Quarter Report

Quarterly Report-1st Quarter July 1, 2009 to October 3, 2009 This year, as our gardens have grown, so too has the reach and impact of our REAL School Gardens programming. We have grown from a local program of 40 schools to a regional program serving 66 schools in five different school districts. We are now creating and nurturing outdoor classrooms not only in Fort Worth schools, but also in the Grand Prairie and Dallas school districts. Our program staff has expanded from a team of three to a team of six, and we are moving forward with an Operational Plan, which outlines our four organizational goals, six key initiatives to support these goals and measures of success to track our progress. During the first quarter of the 2009-2010 school/fiscal year, we made remarkable progress on our plan, and we’re excited to share it!

HIGHLIGHTS: Six new school partners scheduled to break ground on gardens in 2010 Eleven “Dig In” school garden enhancements Record attendance at Professional Development Day event A blossoming cooperative spirit in our REAL School Gardens community Four-hundred-sixty volunteer hours contributed to our programs

GOAL 1: Help elementary schools create, support and sustain school gardens so children connect with nature in engaging, nurturing and inspirational ways Key Initiative: Collaborate with schools to implement Essential Features of learning gardens Measure: Percentage of school gardens that contain Essential Features for learning Expansion Schools With six brand-new school gardens and seven new “Dig In” school gardens, we are ushering more and more children into learning gardens every day. Both our new-school Retreat and our introductory “Dig In” events were hugely successful, with principals, teachers, and parents attending to represent their schools. Event participants not only engaged in intensive training and planning but also had some fun – which included staff serenades and high-quality food!

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“I am very excited and ready to get down and dirty. Loved every aspect of this training/meeting.” – Retreat Participant

Existing Schools In addition to events for new school partners, we provided a heavy dose of garden design support for two long-standing school partners in Fort Worth: Alice Contreras and South Hills Elementary Schools. The purpose of these cooperative efforts was to establish Essential Features of learning in the gardens – and the results have been spectacular. School staff members have reported that, due to the new design, garden usage has increased remarkably.

The principal at Contreras shared the story of a teacher whom she never thought would use the garden, but who has facilitated outdoor inquiry with her students now that the garden is so inviting.

GOAL 2: Encourage the use of school gardens to support children’s learning of skills, processes and content while immersing them in the natural world Key Initiative: Promote teaching and learning in the gardens Measures: o Number of children using the garden o Number of educators/individuals participating in learning events o Effectiveness of RSG Professional Development (based on participant evaluations) Teaching Visits Two of our Garden Coordinators made five “garden integration visits” to our school partners, working directly with 63 educators. A highlight of the visits was a 5th-grade lesson on 3-digitby-2-digit multiplication, which illustrated the concept by using Dallas grass seed heads – an innovative, experiential teaching approach, which provides students with a practical and local application for their math skills. Modeling teaching expands educators’ perceptions of what is possible in school gardens and promotes garden use for all academic subjects.

Student Use Last year’s our partner schools’ garden usage reports showed that almost 9,000 students used their school garden. This year, we have challenged schools to log a collective 20,000 hours of garden use. We will receive our first round of usage reports from school garden coordinators at the beginning of the third quarter.

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Professional Development Day Our August Professional Development (PD) Day brought together a record 190 educators to learn from a panel of experts, which included REAL School Gardens staff, representatives from the Sid Richardson Museum and the City of Fort Worth. One notable PD session was “Exploring Alternative Energy in the Outdoor Classroom,” which was facilitated by KidWind and funded by Motorola. Participation, as well as participant satisfaction, rose from our last PD event: Seventy-seven percent of participant respondents said they had acquired new knowledge and skills, which would help them teach outdoors.

Ninety-seven percent of participant respondents said their likelihood to teach outdoors was above average or excellent, as a result of the event.

“I will use everything I have seen [at this event] – the water stations, the field guides, everything.” – PD Day Participant

GOAL 3: Foster a cooperative spirit among schools, families and the surrounding community through involvement with school gardens Key Initiative: Community build & increase grassroots involvement Measures: Cooperative spirit We fine-tuned plans for next quarter to begin Design Charrettes for new schools installations and for “Dig In” schools. These events will make it possible for schools, families and the surrounding community to participate in our Community Design process. Once we receive the first set of feedback forms from school garden coordinators at the beginning of the third quarter, we will report on volunteer activities at schools, such as family gardening days.

Goal 4: Create a vibrant, sharing network of educators and partners who commit to putting school gardens at the heart of urban neighborhoods Key Initiative: Community build & increase grassroots involvement Measures: o Number of educators/individuals participating in networking events o Total number of volunteer hours o Total number of volunteers o Beneficial results of volunteerism o Number of website hits, contacts and members from Texas 3

Garden Coordinator Meeting Our Garden Coordinator meeting in September was a huge success, as representatives from 44 of our 48 local schools were in attendance. The event brought together 60 garden coordinators, 53 school representatives, two community members and five REAL School Gardens’ staff members to share information, resources, best practices and successes.

Volunteers As a result of proactive volunteer recruitment, we benefited from 460 volunteer hours from 115 volunteers. In November, Motorola employees pitched in to help maintain one of our school gardens, and in August, youth from Tarrant County Juvenile Services pitched in to clean up two other school gardens. In a calming outdoor setting, the youth contributed to their community while learning about gardening and native plants. Our outreach efforts also led to new partnerships with Texas Christian University and Master Gardeners.

Website Our nationally award-winning website experienced increased traffic increased due to a Motorola Grant press release, Professional Development Day and coverage in Fort Worth, Converge and Jack and Jill magazines. Currently, our website benefits our programs through: 5,757 visits 3,919 unique visitors An average of 59.6 percent new visitors each month “Growing your own vegetables is a no-brainer for going green: you’ll enjoy the delicious results of your efforts, you’ll save some trips to the store, and you’ll be eating organically for a lot less. Need help? Just ask a local elementary school student—here in Fort Worth, a lot of them already know how it’s done, thanks to Real School Gardens. The grassroots organization partners with urban elementary schools to design, install and sustain school gardens that serve as hands-on outdoor classrooms to students all over the Metroplex.” – Fort Worth, Texas Magazine, September 2009.

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