Community Garden

By: RMCA

At Rainbow, our 4th grade students plant seeds that grow into vegetables in our gardens. They participate in a long botany unit in which they create botany journals, and conduct measurements of the plants as they grow, integrating mathematics into their lessons.

As part of the botany unit, students create botany journals. They write about their experiences growing the plants and incorporate a whole language arts unit. 

All the classes benefit from these gardens. Fifth graders integrate a science unit on organic vs. inorganic gardening along with the benefits and consequences. They then help the fourth grade with their planting practices as they approach their botany unit - and do so with an organic approach. Kindergarten students also study the gardens to learn about healthy eating. First grade students study the balance of nutrients in plant foods. 

At the end of the fourth grade botany unit, they plan a meal around all the vegetables and fruits they have grown. 

Extra food is sold to the public as a fundraiser for end-of-year nature trips.

In addition, the preschool also plants gardens for the benefit of not only their classes, but other classes can partake of some of their vegetables, too: 

Though the wood used to make the garden beds wasn't from the same source of dead locust this time, the wood itself was purchased through Blue Ridge Salvage in keeping with our aim to reduce, reuse or recycle.