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What do kids do during their recess?

Children are full of curiosity.. .

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There isso

muchto

learn

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The environment surrounds them and there is so much to learn...

kids donÜt seem to mind asphalt playgrounds...and they are easier to maintain

4kids don’t seem to mind asphalt playgrounds...and they are easier to maintain

hopscotchhasbeen

aroundforever...

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Sometimes you just have to work with what you have. Hopscotch has been around forever.

how aboutsomechalkart

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Kids are very resourceful

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they find things to do together8

butkidsspend a lot

of timeon the

playground...

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But after months of being on the same playground, a place that doesn’t change much with the seasons...

Aftera whilethey get

bored...

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kids get bored.

whatÜs under this stuff...

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probably something like this

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Consider removing some of that asphalt

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How do we raise our kids’ awareness of their environment?

school gardens nationwide14

When I started to research other programs, I was so surprised to see how many schools have their own school garden program...

school gardens nationwide15

there was page after page of school garden programs

school gardens nationwide16

sustainableschoolyardseattleGrowing a Healthy Future

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Sustainable Schoolyard Seattle will enhance students’ awareness and appreciation of health, nutrition and community by teaching children to grow, prepare, share, and eat nourishing food.

This non profit will enhance student's local and regional environmental awareness. It will give them an understanding of responsible stewardship. What does that mean in this case? One example is to have SandPoint Elementary keep some of their natural resources on-site by harvesting rainwater to support native plantings and treating storm water runoff in rain gardens.

Growing a healthy future

for people and the planet,

one school garden at a time

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Our vision is growing ---

Our goal is...

Education

19Seattle actually has less rain than a lot of other major US cities.Did you know in just one teaspoon of soil, there are as many bacteria as there are people on the planet, somewhere in the neighborhood of five billion bacteria!Our goal is education

Our goal is...

Stewardship

20Demonstrating Stewardship

Urban agriculture

Rain gardens

Native plantings

Our goal is...

Health

21Growing Health

Health education

Nutrition education

Providing organic produce to students, their families, and their community

Teaching basic food preparation skills and last but not least

Reducing summer hunger

Our goal is...

Community

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Nurturing Community

Community building - garden events

Volunteer opportunities

Partnerships – businesses, non-profits, families

Fundraising and outreach - community supported agriculture (CSA) program and farmers markets. Wouldn’t that be neat if the students could sell some of their produce at the local farmer’s market?!!

Service - donations to food banks and charitable food organizations

Our goal is...

Community

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Volunteer opportunities

Partnerships – businesses, non-profits, families

Fundraising and outreach - community supported agriculture (CSA) program and farmers markets. Wouldn’t that be neat if the students could sell some of their produce at the local farmer’s market?!!

Service - donations to food banks and charitable food organizations

Sand Point ElementarySocial Responsibility, Global Perspective & Academic Excellence

...ThatÜs 4000 square feet of garden area!

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Here is a diagram showing how a school garden program might work at SandPt Elem.- The program can affect many different areas of the school. - Children can learn about water run off on property and how to make a rain garden- The children learn to take care of garden supplies. They could even keep an inventory of supplies.- They put on their own garden gloves and learn the difference between right and left. - Children can learn about food preparation- After getting involved in the garden planting they will probably enjoy learning more about nutrition- The raised bed for Sandpt could be as large as 4000 sq feet of garden area.

Rain Garden

Keep the water on-site.

Native Plantings

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Rain gardens can demonstrate to the children and their parents the value of stewardship. Even in a city you can make a difference.So here is how a rain garden works...(Julie goes in to detail)

Environmental EducationCultivating Education

earthworms keep soil loose and fertile, which makes it easy for plants to grow.

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Cultivating Education

Integrated curriculum that meets state educational standards and academic expectations of school

Hands-on, experiential, environmental education for students

Training and support for teachers

Curriculum materials and tools for the garden and classroom

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Raised beds

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Here is an example of a raised bed. This is probably the most efficient way to set up and teach children about gardening.

or largecontainer pots

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but you could also do large container pots

School entrance, side yard or playground

Let the kids get their hands dirty!

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The location of the garden is pretty flexible. It could be very visible at the school entrance or in a side yard or the play ground. Let the kids get their hands dirty and have fun.

gloves keep the hands clean

and they learn which hand to put the glove on!30

Here the kids are wearing gloves, which keeps their hands relatively clean

Next Steps

� Form non-profit 501(c)3 organization.� Secure grant funding for:

� Garden design and installation� Garden tools� Classroom tools� Teacher training� Lead gardener for each school

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The next steps are to form a

Form non-profit 501(c)3 organization

Secure grant funding for: Garden design and installation Garden tools Classroom tools Teacher training Lead gardener for each school

Funding: Seattle Foundation, Bullit Foundation, others

Curriculum: WSU-King County Extension CHANGE (Cultivating Health and Nutrition through Garden Education)http://king.wsu.edu/nutrition/CHANGEintheschools.html

Supplemental Curriculum: Life Lab

resources

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Here is a list of some of our possible resources

sustainableschoolyardseattleGrowing a Healthy Future

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sustainableschoolyardseattleGrowing a Healthy Future

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