My students need a lesson on intensive gardening given by the great Back Yard Gardener, Kyle Wensel. They also need the seeds and plants to start this year's garden.
Imagine ten and eleven year-olds willingly wrapping cherry tomatoes in sweet basil leaves and popping them in their mouth during recess or eating peas and beans right off the vine. Believe it or not I witnessed it over and over again in our tiny school garden this fall.
My students come from a close knit community that has struggled greatly for the past fifteen years.
Jobs are scarce since all of the industry has packed up and moved to Mexico. The town has been deemed distressed since 2001. The kids, however, are happy and optimistic for the future.
My Project
Last year's fifth graders had the amazing opportunity to learn from Kyle Wensel, the amazing Back Yard Gardener about intensive gardening (growing a thriving productive garden in a small area.) Last year he built a few raised beds for the school, and we transformed a portion of our schoolyard habitat into a vegetable garden. The upkeep on the garden was so simple. Rarely a weed grew, and families in the area reaped the benefits of the crops over the summer. Once school started, students ate the food as fast as it grew. The best benefit of the garden was the number of students who went home and started their own vegetable garden in their small backyards. I would like to provide this experience again for this year's fifth graders by bringing Kyle back to teach his unique lesson to the students while we replant this year's garden.
We have a schoolyard habitat at our school and students are invited to work in it during recess.
Many times students who struggle with friendships will wander to the garden. Before long they will make friends with other gardeners. I have watched children blossom in the garden and that's just with trees, shrubs and flowers. Growing food brings a whole new dynamic and purpose to the garden. What the students learn from this project will change their lives. Plant a seed and watch it grow...
Kyle Wensel
(Intensive gardening lesson will be presented to 110 fifth grade students. During the lesson, the visitor and students will plant seeds and plants for the existing garden created last year.)
$235.00
Visitor cost
$235.00
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$0.00
3rd party payment processing fee
$3.52
Fulfillment labor & materials
$30.00
Total project cost
$268.52
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$47.39
Total project goal
$315.91
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$315.91
6 Donors
-$285.91
Donations toward project cost
-$243.02
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
-$42.89
match offer
-$30.00
Match offer toward project cost
-$25.50
Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
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 Mrs. Abernethy and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.