LEARNER’S ALMANAC SUMMER 2011 A handy reference for how your gift has grown this season As a REAL School Gardens supporter, you planted seeds of learning that have burst into bloom over the past school year. Our work would not be possible without your support—thank you for joining with us to engage students in learning that is real, relevant and right outside their classroom walls. THE BOUNTY OF THE SEASON
NEW GARDEN SPOTLIGHT: HOLIDAY H EIGHTS Along with 5 other
♦ 6 new school gardens installed with the
♦
schools, Holiday
participation of 1,368 people, including
Heights Elementary
many parents and community members.
went from a blank,
21,542 students and 923 teachers spent more than 5,600 hours using their outdoor classrooms.
♦ Our educators trained 177 teachers and
grassy canvas to a state-of-the-art outdoor classroom this year. This Birdville ISD school was the
reached 3,725 students through 62
first garden project of the Suzy Peacock Friendship Circle, a
individualized sessions that model
giving circle established in memory of RSG’s founder. Nearly 350
outdoor instruction.
people attended the community design charrette and another 200 lent a hand for the installation. The garden includes a
♦ 1,110 additional volunteers supported
bamboo trellis, row-cropping area, perennial beds and an earth
our schools by donating over 2,000
science station as well as a stage and a tree house. RSG is proud
hours of their time.
to partner with Holiday Heights—a school that is truly taking outdoor learning to new heights!
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: A FRUITFU L SPRING
“I’d been coming to this school since kindergarten, and I’d never seen that area as anything more than learn outside was ever-present in our work this year, and our a field of grass, now I can hardly remember what it students have been using their outdoor classrooms to learn looked like before we had our garden. This garden everything under has definitely changed my outlook on learning...” the sun. More than —5th Grader at Holiday Heights Elementary 1,000 students participated in design and installation events for our six new gardens, and our staff educators directly connected with 3,725 students during teaching visits in their outdoor classrooms. Even as our reach expands, we are reminded of the individual experiences that fuel our passion for outdoor learning as captured by one student’s words of gratitude (see above). The energy emanating from eager young minds ready to
EDUCATORS ARE NOT LAYING DOWN ON THE JOB This year we unveiled full-day, faculty-wide trainings for our new school partners after the installation of their outdoor classrooms, and we continued with our version of “on-the-job” training through ongoing model teaching sessions. All of our training makes direct connections to state educational standards and engages teachers in
“This training took learning from the inside [with] books to the outside in nature.” “Outdoor learning can create engaging lessons across all subjects and help achieve the mission of the school.” -Educators at Holiday Heights E.S.
the same kind of experiential learning that we encourage them to practice with students. Our trainings are designed to increase both competence and confidence in using the outdoor classroom across all subject areas, and we cover everything from math in a fertilizer bag to garden-inspired poetry and essays. Post-Training Reflections from Educators at Holiday Heights Elementary ♦
97% believe there are academic benefits for students engaged in outdoor learning.
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86% agree that the training is connected “directly and explicitly” with the state curriculum standards to which they are accountable.
COMMUNIT Y PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: NFL P LAYERS LIVE! IN THE COMMUNIT Y REAL School Gardens partnered with the NFL Players and NIKE for an action-packed Health & Wellness Clinic at Ronald E. McNair Elementary in Dallas on May 4th. McNair’s 850 students teamed up with some of their favorite NFL heroes to participate in a day of activities to motivate students to go beyond the classroom and experience how outdoor learning can help them grow into healthier people. Read more about this exciting event on the First Lady’s Let’s Move! blog at www.letsmove.gov.
Educators at Holiday Heights learn to create a “people graph,” a full-body experience that helps children understand relative frequency, categorization and graphical representation.
H ARV ES T S P O T L IG H T : P O T AT O S CH O L AR S As part of the Potato Scholars project, students at eight of our partner schools harvested 400
pounds of potatoes to donate to eight food pantries in Tarrant County! In the process, they learned about life cycles, measurement, graphing, parts of plants, change over time, and community service while experiencing the joy of helping others. Learn more in our Potato Scholars blog post at: www.REALschoolgardens.org/REALstories. There’s still time to get your own garden growing this summer—grow the following veggies along with us!
Isaiah Stanback of the Seattle Seahawks cheers on a McNair student in the compost orb relay race!
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Sweet corn
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Eggplant
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Beans
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Gourds
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Squash
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Pumpkins
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Peppers
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Okra
REAL School Gardens ● 503 Bryan Ave. Fort Worth, TX 76104 ● 817-348-8102 ● www.realschoolgardens.org ● www.facebook.com/REALSchoolGardens