A. Project Title: From Black Rock to Eden: Transformations through gardening and growing

Applicant: Black Rock School District

B. Statement of Need:

1. Target Audience: The approximately 50 third grade and 50 fourth grade students at Gneiss School.

2. Need: Students need to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to demonstrate mastery of the items detailed within the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for EE. Third and fourth grade students at Gneiss specifically need remediation with the “Questioning and Analysis” standards.

3. Priority Addressed: The GSA staff will work to address WEEB priority C by implementing a gardening/greening school grounds curriculum initially at the third and fourth grade levels.
This curriculum will be interdisciplinary and standards based.  Implementation of this curriculum, as opposed to some other EE curriculum, was chosen for several reasons including: 

• Available reference materials (e.g., Buds in Sprouts: Gardening with Kids and Greening School Grounds) & supportive partners (e.g., Master Gardeners, nursery owners & parents)
• Provides an opportunity for students to participate in an action project
  • Can enhance habitat for wildlife. Currently the Gneiss school site is 75% blacktop.
  • Can study the relationships between human built (blacktopped playground), human altered (newly planted gardens), and natural areas (trip to school forest).
  • Improving aesthetics around the school incorporates art curriculum (color choice, design decisions, perspective, etc) into yet another medium---the biotic world.
• Incorporates hands-on, inquiry based learning that utilizes and emphasizes more advanced mathematical and scientific concepts and techniques including mechanical drawing, geometry, estimation, entomology, chemistry, and of course botany.
• Enriching students’ outdoor learning environment reduces anti-social behavior such as violence, bullying, vandalism and littering. Increasing vegetation complexity and structural diversity reduces aggression and violence and appears to promote positive human values. (Journal of EE 21:2 (1999), pp 9-15). The number of “knock and bump” accidents on paved playgrounds was reduced by 80% after “greening” (Greening School Grounds, 2001).
• Thirty five percent of our students are considered “economically disadvantaged.” Gardening skills gained at school may enable students to grow food resources at home.
• Multiple measures for determining proficiencies (e.g., individual journals, hands-on-projects) are incorporated and can be used to demonstrate/document enhanced environmental literacy.

4. Evidence of Need: Perhaps not surprisingly many GSA students believe enrollment in a “School for the Arts” means math and science are not important or relevant. The GSA staff has worked to refute this misperception. For example, music instruction contains overt reference to fractions and wave energy and art instruction refers to proportion and scale. Despite staff efforts, 29% of the 2004 fourth grade class did not achieve at least a “proficient” rating on the mathematics portion of the WKCE. Although students performed better on the science portion of the exam, they did not do as well as other students within the district. While EE is certainly more than science and math, we believe infusion of EE concepts will enhance students’ performance in these areas. In addition, infusing EE into the curricula will enable our students to experience enriched learning opportunities. The knowledge and skills students acquire will help them to problem solve long into the future.

5. Previous Effort: A committee consisting of parents, staff, and community members (master gardeners) was formed. The committee has begun the steps outlined in Greening the School Grounds and is now seeking implementation funds.

C. Project Goal: Utilize an existing interdisciplinary EE gardening curriculum, developed by another WEEB project (Buds and Sprouts program), at GSA in an effort to enhance the environmental literacy of GSA third and fourth grade students and also improve science and math WKCE scores. (Relates to EE Goals: Awareness, Knowledge, & Environmental Ethic)

Objective 1: Provide students with opportunities to investigate the natural world through use of instruments that facilitate observation, recording, analyzing, and reporting of data related to the cultivation, growth, and use of plants. (EE standards: A.4.1 - 4.4, B.4.6, B.4.8, D.4.6, and E.4.2)

Activity 1 Students will take and record daily weather readings. (Schooldays September 2006 to December 2007.) Student science portfolios (completed by December 2007) will illustrate each student’s understanding of how each weather variable may effect plant growth.

Activity 2 Third and fourth grade teachers will conduct at least 1 lesson within each Buds & Sprouts theme area. The four curriculum themes are: “Discover Plants” (botany), “Explore Nature” (ecology), “Grow Together” (personal and social growth) and “Eat Smart” (nutrition). (Between September 2006 and June 2007.)

Activity 3 Utilizing a variety of plant materials third and fourth grade students, under the direction of teachers and Master Gardeners, will conduct hands-on activities that enhance the GSA site for both wildlife and humans. These hands-on gardening activities will begin on a small scale (within a grow lab and outdoor border beds (40ft x 8ft)). These beds already contain landscaping fabric and wood chips which will help to reduce the amount of maintenance (weeding and watering) needed for a successful student garden. (March 2006-September 2006) (Note: Summer Club members provide care during summer months.)

Activity 4  Students will each create (September 2006-December 2007) a nature journal following the principles outlined in Kate Hoffman’s “Nature Journaling: A Creative Path to Environmental Literacy” (WEEB grant 2003-0029). Journals will 1) contain entries associated with each Buds & Sprouts lesson and hands-on activity; 2) provide evidence of enhanced observation and recording skills via more sophisticated descriptions and/or drawings as journal entries proceed; and 3) document students’ level of performance regarding the previously identified EE standards (see objective 1).

D. Dissemination: A press release about the project will be submitted to the Black Rock Journal.

E. Project Evaluation: Student journal entries will document enhanced mastery. The percentage of 4th grade students scoring “proficient” or “advanced” on the science and the math portions of the WKCE will increase.

F. Staff Qualifications: Faith Jardiner has taught at GSA for 13 years and currently serves as the third/fourth grade unit leader. Hope Hepatica has completed the Master Gardener program offered through UW Extension and will oversee and coordinate other Master Gardener and parent volunteers with the aide of Brooke Waters and Reginald Gateway.

G. Continuation: The intent is to increase the variety of planted areas and the grade levels involved. For example, planting of the shady “gathering area” would enable students to compare growing conditions and the adaptations of plants suited for high and low light areas. Planting the “tree lawn” (the area between the sidewalk and the street) would allow for multi-cultural gardens, vegetable gardens, rainbow gardens, and perhaps even a rose garden. Funding for new initiatives will come from donations, volunteer efforts and the district. For example a $3,500 proposal to the Arts Council would provide the resources for a more in depth study of “Gardens in the Arts” (landscape and specimen paintings; musical scores; and plants in the movies) by fifth and sixth grade students. The school also hopes to enroll in the Green and Healthy School program.