Do you remember middle school when science was still an adventure? Observing a caterpillar's metamorphosis, planting a seed and watching it grow, making circuits and electric motors? My students look forward to these investigations, too!
All students today face many challenges.
My students in particular are struggling to overcome poverty, family addiction, mental illness, homelessness, and language barriers. Our school community is where they feel safe and loved. Often, we see behavior issues around vacations that indicate to us that our students would much rather be in school. And as they get to the upper grades, they will tell you that being home is boring and "no fun." Oftentimes, they can't go outside to play because of the instability of their neighborhood or they have no supervision and are left to fend for themselves.
As a science teacher, the thought of my students not going outside is unacceptable. Our school garden, garden coordinator, and garden families provide them with a purpose and supervision during the summer months, and the garden is essential as an outside classroom for almost half the school year.
My Project
Our garden beds were the first to be installed in our school district. That was six years ago! In the last six years, over 600 students have experienced the pride in growing, maintaining, preparing, and eating their own non-GMO produce.
However, this year upon spring inspection, we found that our garden beds are no longer safe for our students to be working with.
All six beds need to be rebuilt with new lumber.
We have volunteers ready to rebuild, and our seedlings are sprouting! We just need a few supplies to make the garden area safe for our students once again.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Theberge and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
