TMA Garden: The TMA Garden Story

AFTER: May 2009

BEFORE: May 2008

The TMA Can You Dig It Consortium has accomplished in one short year what takes most organizations several. A team of enthusiastic students, dedicated parents, generous local businesses, engaged community members, and supportive TMA teachers and staff have created a one-third acre Organic Garden and Nature Center that’s teeming with life and possibilities.

The Benefits

TMA’s garden offers an experiential curriculum tailored to teachers’ needs and students' abilities. Math, science, social studies, language arts, nutrition, health and fitness are all taught in our garden. The garden provides a fun environment in which learning becomes so much more than books and quizzes. Learning becomes an adventure.

According to the California Department of Education, over 77 percent of students in environment-based education programs, such as school gardens, scored higher than their peers across all standardized tests with higher grade point averages. Students are reported to have greater self-confidence, leadership and social skills, and also exhibit higher interest in volunteerism and community spirit.

It turns out that students who participate in programs like TMA’s discover fresh food, make healthier food choices, and are more physically active. Children who plant and harvest their own fruits and vegetables are more likely to eat them. The first step in developing healthier eating patterns is to increase students' desire to taste vegetables in the first place.

What We've Accomplished

· In the past year, the center has raised $9,000 in monetary donations, including $500 of funding from the PTO, and received more than $20,000 in material donations. With these funds and materials, the Can You Dig It Consortium brought to life a 1/3 acre garden from a vacant, forgotten plot of land. The area was cleared, irrigation placed, soil tilled, paths laid, planter beds built and set, a barn erected and finally seeds put down. The result is a remarkable “living classroom” in which every TMA student will learn and play.

· The center was awarded $4000 from three grants. Funds were used to provide a 2^nd grade science-based lifecycles program. One hundred and twenty 2^nd grade students visited the garden on six different occasions to explore the lifecycle of insects, birds and plants. This program reinforced seven different academic science standards.

Funds were also used to buy and build compost tumblers. In the fall of 2009 the compost bins will be put to good use when TMA students and staff undertake a lunchtime recycling program. Participants will learn to separate food and paper scraps for composting. With the help of parent volunteers, students will turn and maintain the compost piles until they are ready to be used as organic fertilizer in the garden.

How We're Unique

· Standards-based Learning in the Garden - TMA has created something no other school in the district and quite possibly in the County area has…this is not just a garden for growing vegetables, this is a center for growing minds. Every concept taught in the garden directly relates to California Academic Standards. Students acquire knowledge in a variety of ways; bringing students outside gives them the experience of learning in a multi-sensory way. What the Outdoor Education School program does in four days, we will achieve on a continuing basis.

· Health and Nutrition in the Garden - In 2008, TUSD adopted a new Wellness Policy. Included in this program is nutrition education. The garden is the ideal place to provide nutrition education to students and families. Introducing the students to a variety of produce will inspire them to eat for better health and make the best nutrition choices for life. Two times a year, students, teachers, parents and community volunteers will turn over the TMA Organic Garden. They will plant, maintain, harvest, journal about, consume and ultimately sell hundreds of varieties of produce.

· Building Community in the Garden - The conversion of this vacant area into the TMA Organic Garden and Nature Center has added a new space on campus for students, staff, teachers and the community to gather. We welcome teachers and staff to use this area throughout the year for classroom activities, reading groups, meetings, parties, lunch breaks and any other needs they may have. In the future, we hope to extend this invitation to other groups within the community. For a small donation to the PTO, this area can be used for small groups and events.

Once established, the Center will become another means of raising PTO funds for the school. In addition to renting the space for events, the center is the perfect forum for holding educational programs. Entrance fees can be added to the PTO budget. The center will eventually provide a bounty of produce that can be sold to TMA families and the community. Also, it is hoped that by developing a recycling program on campus, the PTO can gain funds from recycled cans and bottles.

A review of 2008-2009 programs

· Fall 2008 Seeds of Change program – 200 parents and students participated in our first family event to help plant seedlings for the Second Harvest Food Bank Program

· Spring 2009 Lifecycles in the Garden – All second grade students participated in nearly 10 hours of planting, exploring and learning in the garden. This program was tied to the second grade lifecycles science curriculum.

· Spring 2009 Earth Day Celebration – All students planted seeds, cared for seedlings and replanted their plants into the garden during a two-month period.

What’s coming up for 2009 – 2010

· TMA’s first ever Pumpkin Patch sale – In fall, TMA’s 5^th grade students will harvest and sell a variety of pumpkins from small to gigantic. They will sharpen their math, communications, networking and creative skills during the process.

· Ongoing Produce Stand Sales – students will sell the fruits and vegetables that they harvest throughout the year at a produce stand set up in the STAR Terrace.

· Spring 2010 Lifecycles in the Garden – A continuation of the successful second grade lifecycles science program from 2009.

· Fifth grade curriculum in the garden – A new standards-based curriculum program for our fifth graders. We are looking at doing a social studies or language arts program based on the core literature selection “Sign of the Beaver.” Timing TBD dependent on final program.

· Three Community Days (fall, winter and spring) in the garden – These events will take place on the weekend to encourage parents, students and staff to enjoy the garden for a relaxed day of learning important ecological lessons from professional educational groups.

· Two School-Wide Crop Rotations (fall and winter) – Each grade level will plant, maintain and harvest a different variety of fruit and vegetable. During their K-5 experience at TMA, students will have an opportunity to grow six different types of edibles.

· A new after school enrichment program – The Ecology Club will be another option for students during after school hours. The program will be designed and run by EarthRoots Field School.

· Lunchtime waste management program – In cooperation with the Ecology Club, we will provide receptacles for trash, recycling and food scrap/composting collection at the lunch tables.