Green Thumbs Growing Greatness

School:: Sabal Palm Elementary
Subject:: School-wide program
Teacher:: Susannah Burghardt
Students Impacted:: 735
Grade:: Pre K - 5
Date:: September 9, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

A Champion for Learning - $460.74

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 782

The school garden at SPE has been refurbished and there are plants growing in all the six raised beds. Students have been working with their classroom teachers and a Garden Club is starting next year. Each of the raised beds needed some TLC, including pulling weeds, new concrete corner blocks and soil added in each bed. Third grade students and staff helped with this process.

In January, five teachers, one parent and her daughter (which is a second grader at SPE) went to a class at the Naples Botanical Gardens. Each attendee was able to take up to 30 seedings for free. These were planted by the third graders and staff. First, second and third graders have been caring for the garden by watering with the Fireman style hose nozzle that was purchased with the grant and by pulling weeds. The students have also been able to harvest Bok Choy, Kale, Greens, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Okra, Green Pepper, and herbs.

Pre-K used one of the garden beds to plant flowers during their “plant unit”. A nursery donated flowers for each child to plant. They visit the garden at least once a week.

This refurbishing project will expand next year throughout the whole school beginning with a gardening club which will be encouraged to attend the two classes offered by the Naples Botanical Garden. This will allow the garden to expand with seedlings and not just seeds (which were bought with grant money).

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Cabbages growing.

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Okra growing.

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Harvest time.

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Flowers for pollination.

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A bed of cabbages!

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A bed of greens.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

The goal of Green Thumbs Growing Greatness is to refurbish the 6 existing raised planter gardens at Sabal Palm Elementary. Then use the planters to grow native plants, fruits and vegetables with all grade levels.

What will be done with my students

After the gardens are refurbished and more soil is added to the six beds, the students will have opportunities to plant and care for many types of native plants, fruits and vegetables. They will learn from a local gardener who has donated his time and okra, pea and mustard green seedlings for this project. He will offer his expertise every step of the way. Every grade level can use the gardens in some way teaching different science standards. In first grade, students will learn about plant parts and more. In second grade, students will learn about the life cycle of plants. In third grade, the students will build upon the basic knowledge and study the plant structures and how plants respond to stimuli.

Benefits to my students

There will be a school wide benefit because the students will have opportunities to care for plants (while learning with hands-on experiences) and learn many new life long skills. Students will build character traits such as hard work and perseverance. The students will also build the school community through teamwork. Some will even develop a life-long love for gardening.

Budget Narrative

The pre-existing garden needs ten of the concrete corner posts replaced and six bags of soil added to each bed. The tools and cart will be a place to store the gardening materials and transport them. The seeds can be grown in classrooms and transplanted or directly in the gardens.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	5.5 cu. ft. Heaped Poly Smart Plastic Garden Cart	$49.00
2	Garden Soil All Purpose for In-Ground Use, 0.75 cu. ft. (24 bags)	$109.68
3	ContractorPlus 3/4 in. x 100 ft. Heavy Duty Contractor Water Hose	$66.26
4	4-Pattern 360° Turbo Drive Sprinkler	$26.23
5	5.3 in. Garden Trowel with Wood Handle (10 Trowels)	$79.40
6	Indestructible Fireman's Hose Nozzle	$24.00
7	7.5 in. x 7.5 in. x 5.5 in. Tan Brown Concrete Planter Wall Block (10 Blocks)	$33.80
8	Organic Herbs and Veggie Seeds Variety (20-Pack)	$42.49
9	5.3 in. 3-Tine Wood Handle (5 Rakes)	$29.88
	Total:	$460.74

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Green Thumbs Growing Greatness

Investor

Impact to My Classroom

Original Grant Overview

Goal

What will be done with my students

Benefits to my students

Budget Narrative

Items

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