Is this the only way to learn?

Designing a School Garden Program that increases

student achievement and ensures stakeholder buy-in

Geri Miller, Miller Kamm & Associates, LLC www.millerkamm.com

Assess your school’s will…

• Where is the desire for a school garden coming from?School administration, parents, teachers, the community?

• Where is the support coming from?Parents, grant sources, school district, community businesses…combo or all of these?

Identify the road blocks…• Lack of teacher/administrator buy-in –

no spare time, lack of trust• School has low scores requiring strict

adherence to scripted curriculum (Open Court, etc)

• Little or no volunteer support• No money

The Answer…find a way around the road blocks

• Design your garden lessons around the adopted Language Arts curriculum and Standards.

• Build/sustain a relationship w/ principal, staff and parent leadership.

• A little P.R. goes along way! • Increase volunteerism by working through your

PTO and community.• Work w/ administration/PTO to plan fundraisers,

write grants and seek the support from the business community.

•Design your garden lessons around the adopted language arts curriculum

and the standards• Get “A Child’s Garden of Standards”. Order through CDE Press, PO Box

271, Sacramento, CA 95812. PDF version is downloadable at www.cde.ca.gov/Ls/nu/he/documents/childsgarden.pdf (or just google: a child’s garden of standards)

• If possible, borrow/buy a set of your school district’s adopted LA curriculum• Meet w/ principal and lead grade level faculty members to gather info on

possible connections to curriculum. Your school may have LA and Math coaches. Involve them in your planning

• Build your lesson plan proposals…most standards are repeated somewhat in different grade levels. In these cases, you can use the same activity and either simplify or broaden/deepen the lesson accordingly. No need to completely “reinvent the wheel”

• Let your program grow with you! Remember to START SMALL. It’s most wise to start with grade level or levels where there is the mostinterest/support from teachers. No need to go “live” with a full K-5 program if there isn’t full buy-in from school community or money right away.

Important on grant

apps!

Finding FriendsSchool Shadows The Wind Stick to It

Book A: Look Who’s Reading; Animals Book B: Neighborhood at Work; Machines in our Garden

Book C: Things that Go; Captain Pickney’s Journey Games Folktales Keep Trying Homes

Sharing StoriesGettingStarted Kindness Look Again Fossils Courage Our Country

& its People

Friendship City Wildlife Imagination Storytelling Money

Risks and Consequences Dreams to Jobs Mystery to Medicine Surviving Communication

Cooperation and Competition Back through the Stars Heritage Civil War New Frontier

OCR/Science CorrelationI Bought a Worm:

Worm Composting

- Garden Program

- FOSS, GEMS, AIMS, other

All About MeAnimal Camouflage, Animals 2x2

Animals: Animal Defenses, Penguins, Elephants, Opossums, Terrarium Habitats, Ants

(GEMS)

Spiders in the Garden

Mapping Animal Movements (GEMS)Environmental Detectives (GEMS)

Seasons (GEMS), Earth Moon Starts (GEMS),Jupiter (GEMS), Solar Energy (FOSS), JPL On-line

lesson on telescopes, Field Trip to JPL

Plan: AGRO Business (plant business, marketingplan, etc.), Speakers: Farmers, Bankers

Secret Formulas (GEMS)Ideas & Inventions (FOSS)

Field Trips: LA River, Audubon Tour(Woodley Preserve)

Structures of Life (FOSS)Aquatic Habitats (GEMS)

Simple Machines (FOSS)

Speakers from Local FarmersMachines in our Garden

Demo of Pulleys & Levers

ShadowsMagnets

Penguins (GEMS), Water Cycle (AIMS)

Fabric (FOSS)Air & Weather (FOSS), BubbleFestival (GEMS), Trees (FOSS)Tree Homes (GEMS), Earth Day

Wind- seed dispersal

Experiment: Whether the WeatherAir & Weather (FOSS)

Weather (STC)

Physics of Sound (FOSS)Sound (STC)

Medicinal GardenSpeaker: ONE Generation (RN, Pharm)

Human Body (FOSS)Microscopic Exploration (GEMS)

Multicultural Garden - Ehthnobotany

CamouflageSchool yard wildlife tourAnimal Defenses (GEMS)

Investigating Artifacts (GEMS)

The Garden

Fossil Dig in Garden with lecturePebbles, Sand & Silt (FOSS)

Earth Materials (FOSS)Landforms (FOSS)

Landforms (FOSS)Environments (FOSS)

Physics of Sound (FOSS)Investigating Artifacts (GEMS)

Ideas & Inventions (FOSS)Fingerprinting (GEMS)

Butterfly Habitats/Spider homes/Building a worm binSpeaker: Naturalist/ Friends of LA River

Terrarium Habitats (GEMS)New Plants (FOSS)

Animals Two by Two (FOSS)

3 Sister’s Garden

Success and Failure in the Garden

Beneficial Insects- butterflies, pollinators

Butterflies, beneficial insects

Insects (FOSS)

Building a farm business

Chumash Indians: native plant use Island of the Blue Dolphin

Garden elective

Garden theme based on a story

September October November December January February March April May June

K

1

2

3

4

5

Seed Germination

Sample Lesson Plan Matrix Connecting to Science Standards (also shows connections to

other core standards)

•Build/Sustain a relationship with the principal, staff and parent leadership

• Attend Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) meetings and make presentations as needed

• Meet regularly with principal• Work w/ principal to be included/invited to present or participate in

grade level meetings and/or weekly staff meetings as appropriate• Provide samples of garden produce in the teacher’s lounge at break

and lunch• Ask to participate in events: Back to School, Open House, school

tours, concerts,etc• Offer PTO/school your help in fundraising to support expenses:

design and run garden fundraisers, write grants, approach businesses for donations of $, goods/services

• Offer on campus after-school or weekend “How-to” workshops for teachers, staff and parents

• If you build the garden seamlessly into the “life” of your school, the more support your program will have to survive “lean” times like these.

Important on grant

apps!

A little PR goes a long way…

5th grade teaches lower grades

Worked with chorus teacher to put on a spring concert featuring a slide show of the garden

• Develop “marketing pieces” like this flyer…..

• TAKE PICTURES…they ARE worth a thousand words!

• Write a recurring article in the school newsletter and design a page for your school’s website.

• Take over an empty bulletin board and post updates

• Host frequent garden tours for staff, parents and business leaders

• Increase volunteerism by working through your PTO and community

• Request to include the Garden in the volunteer sign up process that your PTO does

• Connect w/ local volunteer groups. Many have retirees who are eager to help

• If your school utilizes room parents, work with them to reach out to individual classrooms

• Check with local businesses. Many companies have community volunteer programs that they encourage their employees to participate in. (i.e. Home Depot, Lowes, Starbucks)

• Connect w/ your local Farmer’s MarketLAUSD requires that all volunteers who work w/ students complete the required forms and arrange

to be TB tested. Refer them to the school office.

Important on grant

apps!

• Work w/ administration/PTO to plan fundraisers, write grants and seek the support from the business community

• Offer your help in designing/running fundraisers throughout the year to help offset expenses. Examples are:

Do-it-yourself fundraising ideas:Garden tiles – Parents can purchase tiles that their children can paint. After they are sealed, they can be used to decorate the garden beds.Farmers Markets – Don’t stop at selling your veges! Sell kids artwork. You can work w/ teachers on planning simple art projects like garden flags, painted pots, rain gauges and wind socks!Garden Tea Parties – Complete w/ cucumber and watercress (from your garden of course) sandwiches and garden salads, you can raise funds but also make lots of friends for the garden! Who doesn’t love a spring party?

Important for grant

apps!

Companies offering fundraising products:

Botanical Interests Fundraising: sell seeds to raise funds Email: fundraiser@botanicalinterests.comwebsite: www.botanicalinterests.com

Dutch Gardens Fundraising with flower Bulbs: sells bulbs and keeps 50% www.dutchgardens.com

Surf City Growers: Sell organic growing kits earning $5 profit/kit www.myfirstorganics.com

Farm Raisers: Alternative fundraising method that raises funds for school and supports local family farms. Sell fresh, local and healthy foods www.farmtoschool.org

•Work w/ administration/PTO to plan fundraisers, write grants and seek the support from the business community (cont’d)

• Seek out the help of the school’s grant writing committee to identify and apply for appropriate grants. Here are some recent sources of grant awards for our garden at Lanai:

2004 & 06 British Petroleum: A+ for Energy – 2 grants totaling $15,000 to install 3 solar panels which power a water heater to provide hot water to our bank of outdoor sinks, a NOAA weather reporting system and our irrigation system in the school garden. www.aplusforenergy.net

2005 Lowes Charitable & Education Foundation: Toolbox for Education Grant -$5,000 to install a greenhouse and misting system (also powered by solar energy) www.toolboxforeducation.com

2006 LA City Dept. of Public Works Matching Grant: Community Beautification grant of $9,000 to build 2 native plant gardens, outdoor classroom and pergola www.lacity.org/bpw/ocb/cbgrant

2007 CA Dept of Ed Prog A910: Award of $2,500 for school garden program.2009 Nonnie Korten Award (LAUSD): $1,000 for achievement through a garden

program.

For a comprehensive listing of garden grant opportunities go to CA School Garden Network at http://www.csgn.org/page.php?id=30

…and grants we’ll be applying for in 2009/2010 school yearNational Grants:• Lowes Charitable & Education Foundation: Outdoor Classroom Grant - $2,000 -

$20,000 www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=AboutLowes/outdoor/index.html or google lowes foundation outdoor classroom grants

• Hidden Valley Ranch: Love Your Veggies K-6 Grant - $15,000 for school nutrition project (i.e. nutrition education, garden, salad bar)http://loveyourveggies.com/guidelines.php (deadline passed - check website for next app cycle)

• Toyota Tapestry Grant for Science Teachers: Mini grants: $2,500 Grants for 1 year projects: $10,000 (Of the 50 large grant recipients this year, 40% were for plant,environmental, habitat/wildlife preservation and nutrition projects)www.nsta.org/pd/tapestry

Local Grants:• LA City Neighborhood Council Grants: $5,000 - $20,000

http://www.lacityneighborhoods.com/documents/NC_REF_NPG_PACKET.pdf• LA City Dept. of Public Works Matching Grant: Community Beautification grant of $1,500

www.lacity.org/bpw/ocb/cbgrant (the maximum is now $10,000 although they are considering a cap of $5,000 for each grant this year)

•Work w/ administration/PTO to plan fundraisers, write grants and seek the support from the business community

(cont’d)

• Work w/ principal/PTO to identify and reach out to local business community to solicit their support through…

Neighborhood Councils Chamber of CommerceParents who might own local businesses Local RealtorsHomeowner’s Associations Local Small Nurseries• Hold garden tours/events especially for these organizations and

prospective individuals• Make sure you appropriately acknowledge their support in a way

that is visible to the community• Keep in touch with your supporters. Always be on the look-out for

ways to involve them that will bring them face-to-face with the students and parents. When they see the impact of their support,they’ll never forget it….or your program!