A look back… in the summer of 2016, I wrote a grant for our school garden and secured $2000 to support its growth—such exciting news! Over the summer, we were focused on transforming our garden into a certified wildlife habitat.
The JWE school garden received $2000 to enhance our space! Cathy Boles and April Grant attended a luncheon to accept the award on behalf of the garden. With the funds, we plan to build a retaining wall on the garden’s “hill” to support native Texas plants. This new feature will create a comfortable ledge for students to sit and provide additional space for educational garden beds. We also worked to create a certified wildlife habitat for our school garden.
We were truly inspired by the presentation and the speaker at the event. We can’t wait to see what next year holds for the garden!
To learn more about the award, visit TWAF (Texas Wildlife Association Foundation).
April Grant
4th Grade Teacher
General Education- All subjects
Number of years teaching: 2
Professional or Leadership Activities:
2010-2013 Executive Director and President of a non-profit, Arts From the Heart
2014-2016 School Garden/Outdoor Learning Center Sponsor
2015 created Outdoor Learning Center website: http://www.jweschoolgarden.org/
How do you integrate natural resources into the classroom?
With the help of a few other teachers, we have created the JWE Outdoor Learning Center. We have a 6,600 square foot natural school garden that serves as an interactive science lab and outdoor classroom for students at our Elementary School in Wimberley, Texas.
At this time the garden beds are maintained by the after school Garden Club. The school garden has a rainwater tank, a compost bin, fruit trees, herb gardens, a butterfly garden, and various vegetable garden beds, for example a “3 Sisters Garden” and a “Pizza Garden”.
We use the garden as a tool for education in the following ways: math (weights and measurements), science , social studies (3 sisters garden – a Native American garden), language arts, reading and even writing (student created information pages for garden tours). Our garden has improved life skills such as teamwork and responsibility. It has fostered a deeper understanding of the benefits of eating healthy and increased environmental awareness. Positive attitudes are cultivated by getting students involved with nature with a hands on approach. This natural environment creates a place for students to “wind down”.
I have been working with a few of our garden club students and GT students to create information sheets and QR code sheets linked to them. I am hoping to create a QR code garden tour. The students and I have been creating scavenger hunt activity pages that teachers can use to tour the garden. These scavenger hunt pages have questions that are linked directly to the TEKS and skills we are working on in each grade level.
I believe we are creating leaders through our garden. We notified our garden club members of a student grant that they could participate in. One of our garden club members decided to go for it. We assisted her in writing a grant to create a garden to feed those less fortunate. That student received the grant and built 4 new beds to grow vegetables. She will maintain those garden beds for 2 seasons and donate what she grows to Crisis Bread Basket, a non-profit, in our area.
Another student (at the Junior High level) is earning her black belt in karate. She needed a community service project to earn her belt. She chose to help our elementary school garden for her community service project. We brainstormed what she could help us with. We have been wanting to add a keyhole garden to our area. Her mother had done a mission trip to Africa and built keyhole gardens there, when we mentioned we’d like one, they made up their mind. She loved this idea and is currently building a keyhole garden for us. We currently give produce we are growing to Wimberley Fig Tree, an outreach program that aids in nutritional support for children in need in Wimberley, Texas. They loved this idea and would like their keyhole garden produce to go to this organization as well.
I created a website and blog to document our progress in the garden. We have worked hard to keep our garden student created and maintained.
What pathways or mechanisms would you recommend to get more young Texans involved and interested in outdoor activities? I believe that gardens and agricultural areas in schools are a great start to this goal. We have found that money is tight when trying to start a school garden. There are so many other programs to compete with to find the money. We have had to be very creative to get started. Once the garden area began, we had an overwhelming response to students wanting to join. We had to split the grade levels as there were so many students interested in gardening. Students are always eager to join us and very hard working. They leave us dirty, sweaty and happy! I believe these students will leave elementary school with a natural curiosity and appreciation for the outside world.
Another pathway to get more young Texans involved outdoors it to create more local/public fishing holes. We live in Wimberley on a river and its difficult to find a public place to take our kids fishing nearby. It would be great if there were more public fishing spots in each small town and city.
If selected, what will your school do with the award money? If selected for the grant, we could use the money in so many ways. The first thing on our list is a large raised bed that has Native Texas plants and wildflowers. We are currently working on creating a path through our garden so it is easier to walk through and creates a more inviting area. This award money would help us finish this pathway. Another large item we would like to purchase is an aquaponics system. We’d like to show students how to grow plants without placing them in the dirt. It’s an interesting concept that the fish, bacteria and plants are all helping each other .This money would help us purchase this project and the supplies to get it started.
I hereby certify that all information is true and complete to the best of my knowledge. I hereby give permission to the TWAF committee to share this information for the purpose of review, recruitment and public relations. I also authorize the Texas Wildlife Association and Foundation to publish my short essays as desired.
April Grant
