Growing Minds

School:: Dune Lakes Elementary School
Subject:: STEM Education
Teacher:: Niki Page
Students Impacted:: 19
Grade:: 1
Date:: October 6, 2021

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

CHELCO - Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative - $945.93

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 18

Once the bookeeper processed the orders, my students were able to get their hands dirty and explore some nature. We watched chrysalis turn into butterflies and cared for them until time for their release. This was such a fun experience to share with my students as they learned about and created a habitat for butterflies. Due to the delay in orders, we were not able to plant any food to grow so we just focused on building a butterfly garden. The kiddos learned so much and had so much fun with all the hands-on learning activities. The students took grade pride in their work!

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

A healthy mind for learning gets its nourishment from a healthy body! Because I strongly believe in this, my class is seeking to develop a classroom garden program. The goal of this project is tend and work in the garden throughout the 2021-2022 school year as a living classroom to drive lessons from earth science, ecosystems, mathematics and weather patterns, as well as to build community and social skill sets, and at the end of the day (harvest time!), to embrace the power of a healthy lifestyle.

What will be done with my students

Student engagement will be key to the success of the program – I will benchmark 60% student involvement (active in the upkeep/maintenance throughout the school year) as the first-year target. Keeping the parents regularly informed and excited about the progress will also be key to helping drive student engagement. Exhibited success (a producing garden) should lead to a rise in involvement year-to-year. If less than 30%, I plan to reassess the program to make necessary tweaks.

Benefits to my students

Research shows that students who participate in garden-based science curriculum, in addition to traditional classroom learning, score significantly higher on science achievement tests than students in a traditional classroom-based control group. This garden-enhanced achievement benefits both boy and girls equally (Klemmer, C.D., Waliczek, T.M. and Zajicek. J.M., “Growing Minds: The Effect of a School Gardening Program on the Science Achievement of Elementary Students," HortTechnology, July-September 2005, pgs. 448-452). Students will benefit from actively engaged in hands-on learning experiences as they develop a greater concern and awareness of resource conservation and express more positive outlooks on nature, gardening and environmental issues while cultivating a healthier eating lifestyle.

Budget Narrative

My plan is to produce two raised gardens that will attract and home butterflies as well as provide a source of healthy food choices. The grant budget needs are for the garden beds (2 @ $79.99 ea.) soil, plants, seed and butterfly kits ($393.83), garden tools, mobile greenhouse and nature walk tool set ($192.21), and classroom hands-on support-Science STEM centers ($199.91).

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	8 ft. x 2 ft. Wood Raised Garden Bed	$79.99
2	8 ft. x 2 ft. Wood Raised Garden Bed	$79.99
3	15-20 bags Kellogg Garden Organics 2 cu. ft. All Natural Raised Bed and Potting Mix Premium Outdoor Container Mix	$200.00
4	Gardening Hand Tool Set and Tote (8-Piece)	$21.95
5	Variety of Bonnie Plants 6pks	$50.00
6	Live Butterfly Kit (set of 25)	$69.99
7	Excellerations® Mobile Greenhouse for Outdoor Learning	$50.55
8	Complete Nature Walk Set	$119.71
9	Growing Flowers Classroom Kit	$36.92
10	Growing Vegetables Classroom Kit	$36.92
11	Science STEM Centers: Grades K-2	$199.91
	Total:	$945.93

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