Hello from the Garden Committee,
Just a little note to guide your
attention to our new Lincoln Garden Boxes being built and installed
behind the swings on the Lincoln Playground. This project started like
most plants do, as a 'seed,' an idea. That 'seed' was that Lincoln
should have a garden and so the Garden Initiative was born.It was last
school year's third graders who took this project from an idea to a
reality. The third graders were inspired through the science of growing seeds and the many books that we read with them about gardens as well as our conversations about how to be a healthy population. They thought that it was time to have a vegetable garden.
The children chose a spot on the playground that receives
nearly full day sun and then they measured the area and designed and
drew six garden boxes, one for each grade level. Some of the students
worked on the math trying to figure out how much this endeavor would
cost. The third grade students wrote persuasive letters to promote the
garden idea and presented these and their drawings to Ms. Hamilton. Ms.
Hamilton asked the students to present their findings to the PTO to gain
approval and support for the Lincoln School Garden.
After some grant writing, Mr. Kuntz and the third grade team were interviewed by some very lovely
students from the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation of Young
Philanthropist Program and were awarded $1000.00 to get the garden
underway.
The garden has been supported through the Girl Scouts as
well, who bestowed $650.00 for supplies for the garden. The Wellness
Committee has also generously supported these efforts with a donation of
$400.00. . We have been given a donation of funds to purchase the soil
and a donation of time by the person building our garden beds. We are
grateful for all of the help. We will be looking for volunteers to help
keep the garden strong over the summer months so that when we all come
back to school for the 2013-14 school year, it will be to a bountiful
garden.
Now 4th graders, these students are the Garden Club, and
it is through them that this project moves forward. The 33 students who
have signed on as Club members (and we suspect that even more will
join) will meet monthly and more often later on in the year. They will
be working to fill the new boxes with soil during the week of
October10th.
In the early spring the Garden Club and
student ambassadors will help the grade levels select what they would
like to plant. Each grade level will be able to research the
nutritional benefits of possible crops, taste them and cook with them. those plants will be started indoors with our new equipment.Once warm enough, we will plant outdoors.
The opportunities for education in nutrition and a healthy lifestyle
are endless. The Garden Club will provide the structure to make sure
this is happening in all classrooms so that all children feel connected
to the garden.
We are very excited to introduce our
garden to the students and to our Lincoln Community. It is in this kind
of initiative that we believe we are supporting our students to be
actively involved and to be the positive force in change.
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