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.
EDUCATOR SPOTLIGHT: MCNAIR FACULTY EMBRA CE OUTDOOR INSTRUCTION On a Monday in late September, REAL School Gardens conducted a full-day, on-site training for the staff of Ronald McNair Elementary, which installed a new outdoor classroom in Spring 2011. By Friday of the same week, we heard this from the McNair garden coordinator: “The staff development has energized the campus. The outdoor classroom is really getting a workout. Today there were 3 classes out there doing 3 different activities at the same time! More teachers are using the outdoors than in the past. One of the [teachers] who took her class outside...it is out of her comfort zone to take her kids outside but she has anyway and plans to plant something next week.” One of the goals of our training is to support educators who may not feel a natural inclination to use the outdoor classroom. We strive to demonstrate that the knowledge and skills required to teach outdoors are within everyone’s reach. Our on-site trainings provide the first opportunity for educators to experience learning in their own outdoor classroom in the same way their students will, and we use outdoor lessons across the curriculum to engage teachers in mind and body. We applaud the staff at McNair for their enthusiasm and quick application of our training, and Educators at McNair dust off their own descriptive writing skills by describing and identifying rocks in the outdoor classroom.
we look forward to watching their confidence and competence in teaching outdoors grow this year!
COMMUNITY PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: HARVESTING & FEASTING TOGETHER AT GRACE In August, four of our Fort Worth schools planted lettuce, turnips, and green beans with a special purpose: to become the centerpieces of a gourmet meal at one of the DFW area’s top restaurants, GRACE. The students at these schools have been learning about the journey from seed to plate, taking on not only the task of cultivating the vegetables but also grilling GRACE’s co-owners and Executive Chef about the restaurant business during visits to each of the schools. Several students and teachers from each school will have a chance to taste the fruits of their labor at a special dinner hosted by GRACE and followed by a ticketed dinner to benefit REAL School Gardens.
It’s not too late to make your reservation for our Schoolyard Harvest Dinner! Friday, November 11 6:30 cocktails | 7:00 dinner Tickets are $150, including a $60 donation to REAL School Gardens. Reservations can be made by contacting GRACE at 817.877.3388 Students have been busy preparing and tending to their vegetable beds (above) and contemplating careers as future chefs (right) during visits from GRACE’s co-owners, Adam and Caroline Jones, and Executive Chef, Blaine Staniford. REAL School Gardens ● 503 Bryan Ave. Fort Worth, TX 76104 ● 817-348-8102 ● www.realschoolgardens.org ● www.facebook.com/REALSchoolGardens