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Discovery Garden Community Partnerships. Shadow Lake Elementary School Tahoma School District. 9 Outdoor Teaching Stations. Discover Food Plants Garden. Discover Sensory Plants Garden. Discover Plants from Around the World Garden. Outdoor Teaching Stations. Discover Butterflies Garden. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Discovery GardenCommunity Partnerships
Shadow Lake Elementary School
Tahoma School District
9 Outdoor Teaching Stations
Discover Sensory Plants Garden
Discover Plants from Around the World Garden
Discover Food Plants Garden
Outdoor Teaching Stations
Discover Washington
Garden
Discover Butterflies Garden
Discover Pollinators Garden
Discover Forests & Meadows Trail
Discover Plants with Animal Names Garden
Discover Early Earth Garden
Outdoor Teaching Stations
Keys to Success1. A PRINCIPAL that is 100% committed to the project.
Our principal did an outstanding job gathering community support. * Garnered support from district & through-out the community * Solicited Volunteer Hours (Volunteers may not have shown- up if not for letters from the principal)* Solicited Financial Support
2. Community Support and Involvement
3. Stable Funding Source (Funds & in-kind donations)
4. Coordinator to manage projects
Creative Funding & Supportive PartnersVolunteer Contribution
Environmental Education Coordinator
Collaborates with school, businesses, agencies, organizations, families and individuals to provide gardens, outdoor programs and events
Master Gardener Builds & maintains gardens, provides information to students and community
Nature Nut Leader Weekly program for students at recess
Native Plant Steward Shares value of Native PlantsLocal Professional Artists Cycles SculptureNon-Profit Expert Provides organizational
direction and writes grantsMaple Trails Garden Club Labor and materials
Links with Organizations
ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONSMaster Gardener Foundation Master Gardener
Teaching KitsYouth Education Program Funding
Washington Native Plant Society Native Plant StewardGrant for engraved self-guided tour signs; Teaching kit; Earth Day Fair
National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat Certification & Support
Audubon Society Earth Day FairShadow Lake Bog Earth Day FairBurke Museum of Natural History Earth Day FairUS Forest Service Smokey BearPacific Education Institute (PEI) Training for teachers &
coordinatorEnvironmental Educators Association of Washington
TrainingProgram Resources
E3 WashingtonEducation, Environment, Economy
TrainingProgram Resources
Americorps Volunteer labor
School District SupportsShadow Lake Administration
*PrincipalFull support of programsCorrelations to state academic standards
Shadow Lake Educators Bring students to outdoor classroomsDevelop curriculum connectionsEncourage participation with Nature Nuts
Shadow Lake Administration Personnel
Support coordination of programs and events
District Department ofTeaching & Learning
Support development of curriculum connections, provides training & support from PEI
District School Board & Administration
Full support of programs
Parent Teacher Assoc. (PTA) Financial support
Tahoma District Grounds crew
Maintenance of gardens
Shadow Lake Maintenance crew
Support programs and events
District Technology & Print Shop
Communication
Local Professional Artists
Fine Art Cycles Sculpture
Landscape Designer Discover Washington DesignConsultant
Cedar Grove Compost Soil for garden beds
Fred Meyer Community grants
Tulalip Indian Tribe Funded Cycles sculpture
Boeing Corporate Matching funds
Starbucks Work parties & financial grants
Hardware stores Building Materials
Community Partnerships
School Families & Work PartiesShadow Lake families:
From infants to teens to grandparents, contribute many hours of labor at seasonal work parties.
Families donate materials of their own or from employers.
Teenagers!?!(former Shadow Lake students)
Starbucks “Make Your Mark Day” (hours = $$)
School Families Contribute• Plants• Materials• Tools• Supplies• Birdhouses• Bird baths• Labor• Garden
enhancements
• Services• Equipment• Financial
Contributions
• Volunteer at booths for Earth Day Fair
Boy Scouts of America
(work parties, benches)
Girl Scouts of America (work parties, birdhouses)
Service Organizations
• They provide helping hands for our work parties.
• We provide food from our garden harvest to share with needy families.
School wide: Every student, Every class
plants a tulip or daffodil bulb in the fallThe gardens are spectacular when they
bloom!
Students as Community Contributors
A study at Georgetown University found that
even if students, teachers, and
educational approach remained the same, improving a school’s
physical environment could increase test
scores by as much as 11%.
A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink
NATURE NUTS Volunteer Led Program
NO CHILD LEFT INSIDE!
• planting • hiking • unstructured
play • weeding • filling
birdfeeders• observing • harvesting• looking for
wildlife Pride & Spirit Award: Recognition each time
they engage with nature
Earth Day Week
CELEBRATION• Students, educators, parents, staff and environmentally
conscious community members celebrated the week’s endeavors with a festival celebrating the weeklong activities.
• Informational games and booths were sponsored by : Washington Native Plant Society, Burke Museum of Natural
History, Shadow Lake Bog, Rainier Chapter of Audubon Society, Smokey Bear from National Forest Service
• Week long educational activities focus on the importance of healthy habitat for all living things.
• Students and teachers explore different aspects of the 4 critical habitat elements and our connection with them: Food Water Shelter Space
• Kindergarten and first graders participate in Habitat Safari, a fun and engaging learning opportunity where students identify the four elements right on the school site and seek out evidence of local wildlife and the natural habitats in which they live.
• Second graders enjoy becoming paleontologists, digging in the “Early Earth Garden” only to unearth botanical imprints, fossilized bones, and ancient dinosaur tracks. They get to take home a lump of coal!
• Third, fourth and fifth grade students study riparian and forest habitats as well as the impact of global warming on habitats around the world.
Benefits for Students & StaffDiscovery Gardens of Shadow Lake…• Provide opportunities for enhanced learning • Binds students together as peer partners and
offers real life inclusion experiences for all persons with different-abilities.
• Educators utilize outdoor teaching stations for lessons directly linked to the environmental educational standards set by Washington State Legislators (EALRS/GLEs)
• Garden participants experience pride, responsibility, ownership, curiosity, and environmental accountability
• Students and staff provide frequent garden tours to our Shadow Lake guests
• Staff appreciate the unique educational experiences it offers their students.
• A beautiful sensory garden experience awaits students, staff and visitors upon arrival to school each day.
• Everyone is welcome to join in the fun.
Community BenefitsShadow Lake Discovery gardens:
• Provide an opportunity for full participation eliminating age, gender, socio economic class, physical and developmental disability issues.
• All persons are invited and welcomed into the Garden.• Establish community partnerships for support of
Tahoma School district schools• Offers sensory experiences to local seniors residential
care• Provides outreach and fellowship with home schooled
students• Religious affiliations and schools team together to
help the local food banks• Patrons of the arts have a creative welcoming outlet • Garden club members share expertise and enlighten
our youth in the area of botanical studies• Tahoma School District is noted for its enhanced
environmental learning projects and this educational model is shared with neighboring school districts
Lifelong learners
Discovery Gardens Project Perspective: Lessons Learned
• Communities come together when they focus on projects that make a difference not only in our immediate surroundings, but also have a larger impact on our world in which we live.
• The Discovery Gardens provide continual opportunities for hands-on learning experiences.
• Discovery Garden participants come away with an increased sense of awareness and accountability to the preservation of the earth, protection of our wildlife and an understanding of how their participation contributes to the environment.
Growing PainsWith all projects comes the accountability factor of funding and
people power. The school staff, teachers, administrators, community members, parents and the students themselves desire more opportunities for enhancement of the Discovery Garden program. With reliance on donations and pure people power passionate about the project, we have made great strides.
Areas where we could “grow” the program could include:• Support and grow funding (i.e., locate willing grant writers,
community donations, personal trusts and corporate endowments/sponsors)
• Develop a staff project coordinator position for someone who has the time and background knowledge to bring Environmental Education curriculum elements into the classroom.
• Support educational outreach through training classroom educators and school volunteers willing to attend workshops and courses designed to address the environmental education standards
• Integrate fresh environmental educational lessons that support the EALRS and GLEs guidelines
• Continue exploration of the world around us and peak student interest in the sciences.
Growing DreamsThings we’d like to do if time and money were no object:
Directly for kids• More plants for kids to plant• More time outside—
Class lessons Unstructured
exploring time• Earth steward mentors
program• Wildlife encounter
assemblies• Environmental field trips• More curriculum connections
with in-class lessons• Nature docent program• Expanded Earth Day Event
More booths More volunteers for
the booths
For the Program• Print field guides for
teachers to use• More help maintaining
gardens• More support for teachers
to bring classes outside
• More benches at meadow• New shed for supplies• New wheelbarrows• Encourage other schools
and groups to use our outdoor classrooms
• More cool plants and trees to get them hooked on NATURE!
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: FOR KIDS’ SAKES!