TOUR A REAL SCHOOL GARDEN Welcome REAL School Gardens creates learning gardens in low-income elementary schools and trains teachers how to use them to improve student engagement and academic achievement. Our learning gardens are outdoor classrooms that contain a variety of features - including earth science stations, perennial beds, and butterfly gardens - and are designed for ease of maintenance. A diverse range of features helps enrich academic lessons for all elementary grade levels and subject areas.
Entrance Our learning gardens are centrally located on the school grounds to make it easy for teachers to transition from indoor to outdoor lessons.
Gathering Areas A space for classes to gather around the teacher is a key part of our learning garden design. Seating is varied to allow students to sit individually or gather together in one location.
Water Feature In addition to being attractive focal points, water features provide opportunities for students to learn about the living and non-living components of a water habitat. They also teach students about concepts such as states of matter like solids, liquids and gases.
Rain Barrels Rain barrels are not only a great tool for teaching volume and capacity but also provide an opportunity for discussion about the conservation of natural resources and the engineering applications of water transfer.
Earth Science Station Earth Science stations provide a space for digging and building so upper-grade students can experiment with erosion and younger students can explore the different properties of rocks and soil.
Perennials Perennials attract birds and butterflies to the garden, allowing students to study them in their natural habitats. Our learning gardens are planted with enough milkweed to be certified “Monarch Waystations,� attracting these butterflies on their way south in the fall and north in the spring.
Composting Composting systems provide lessons on decomposition, recycling, volume, temperature, data collection, nutrient cycles and much more. Students are also rewarded with healthier plants.
Veggie Beds Vegetable beds provide opportunities for measuring area, perimeter and volume as students have to determine how much fertilizer to apply to a bed or how much space they have available for planting. They also teach children about plant life cycles and healthy foods.
Drip Irrigation By designing and building drip irrigation systems, older students learn about engineering, the water cycle, and conservation, while younger students apply basic measurement skills and identify patterns.
ADA Accessible Walkways We want every child’s education to be enriched by a learning garden. We build walkways that are ADA accessible, allowing easy access for everyone.
Animal Habitats Students get hands-on experience with the animals and insects that are attracted to our learning gardens. These encounters take students’ understanding of life cycles, metamorphosis, and a host of other processes to a level not possible by a textbook alone.
Lizard Lair Students observe and study lizards in the garden by constructing a shelter to attract and protect them.
Monarch Waystation With a Monarch Waystation, students learn about the importance of wildlife conservation. These stations provide nectar sources and shelter needed to sustain Monarch butterflies as they migrate through North America. The area also serves as a food source for caterpillar larvae. Students study migration patterns to better understand geography and regional climates.
Bird Houses Students learn about animal traits and the ecosystem from the various types of birds that visit our learning garden.
We create learning gardens that grow successful students.
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