My students need beneficial insects, habitat for native bees, and a guide to permaculture, to help build a school garden to sustainably support our school and community.
My students are urban youth who deserve a chance to see the application of science class ecology to real-life benefits for themselves and their planet. This is why our "Teach for the Planet" project is to work to harness ecological relationships to make our school garden more sustainable.
My students are hard working 7th graders at an urban, high-poverty middle school in Everett, WA.
Much of our school receives free or reduced lunch and participates in our food-backpack program (sending home food for the weekends). Many of our families live in dense housing areas with little to no opportunity nor space to grow their own food.
In our science classes, 7th graders study Ecology and Human Body systems. Both of these classes are working hard to develop the science practices important in the Next Generation Science Standards, especially application and engineering design.
Our school has a garden space that has been in development over the past year. We use a small greenhouse to start seeds of nutritious vegetables, and then plant them in a tiny plot of land that was reclaimed from a weed-filled area alongside our building. We are striving to turn this tiny garden into a learning space for our students as well as a resource for the nutrition of our students' families.
My Project
These materials will help us learn about the ecological relationships between organisms and their environment. My students currently learn about these interactions through study of model ecosystems. With these supplies my students will test the value of these interactions on sustainable crop production.
The permaculture practices that my students will be working with are: pest control using predator prey relationships between pests and beneficial insects (building "insect hotels" out of reclaimed materials such as bottles, straws, wood, etc, to attract and maintain populations of ladybugs, lacewings, praying mantis), attracting native pollinators (examining the design of a simple nest for solitary orchard bees, and then redesigning and creating habitat for these bees), and learning about and implementing "companion planting" pairings to maximize yields of crops and study the nitrogen cycle, the role of different plant types, ecological competition, and other concepts.
This project will allow my students to apply principles of community ecology to the practice of growing food in a sustainable way.
In addition, their success will yield nutritious food that they will be able to share with their families or donate to our local food bank.
This is just the first phase of our learning garden. In the future, we will be adding 6th grade explorations into soil quality and water conservation, and 8th grade will work on passive solar energy to extend the growing season.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Phippard and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
