Join the School Garden Community

Join the School Garden Community

Co-hosted by edWeb.net, the Edible Schoolyard Project, the National Farm to School Network, and Life Lab

Welcome to the Growing School Gardens Community!

School gardens are a growing initiative to help children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment, and their communities at large.

A school garden can have an impact on the entire life and educational program of school and the surrounding community.  Gardening activities can be incorporated into nearly every curriculum subject to enhance the appreciation of the natural world, and to provide hands-on learning activities for students.

This online learning community is a place for educators, gardeners, parents, and community volunteers to come together to share information and resources on how to start and maintain a school garden, and integrate it into the curriculum, the life of a school, and the local community.

The community hosts free monthly webinars and live chats with leaders in the field that are highly engaging and interactive. Online discussions provide an easy way to continue the conversation and share ideas and experiences with peers across the country, and around the world.

Upcoming Webinars

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 - 4pm / Eastern Time
Common Core in the Garden
Presenter: Whitney Cohen, Education Director at Life Lab
Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - 4pm / Eastern Time

Regional Support Models for Sustaining School Gardens
Presenter: John Fisher, Director of Programs and Partnerships at Life Lab, with Park Guthrie, Garden Education Specialist for the Oakland Unified School District in California

Pre-registration is not required for Growing School Gardens community members.
(But you must register as a COMMUNITY MEMBER!)

Join the webinar at the scheduled time with this link:  www.instantpresenter.com/edwebnet11

You'll be automatically emailed a CE certificate for attending a live session.

Be sure to join the Growing School Gardens community:

• Receive invites and reminders to free webinars
• Access the recordings for past webinars
• CE quizzes (to earn your certificate for viewing a past webinar)
• Additional resources and discussions

Preview the webinar "Garden to Plate" presented by Jessica Cuevas, teacher and coordinator of the Margate Schools Garden, and winner of the inaugural New Jersey School Garden of the Year Award.  After viewing, take the CE quiz to earn a certificate for this session.

Join the Growing School Gardens community for invitations to the free webinars, to view the archives and get a CE Certificate for previous programs, and to access the discussions and resources.

One of the pioneers of the school gardening movement is Dorothy Mullen, who is an organic gardener who lives in Princeton NJ.  After the tragedy of 9/11, she wanted to do something positive for the community, so she started a school garden for Riverside Elementary School in Princeton.  The photos in this community are of the garden she created.  Dorothy worked with the teachers at the school to create a garden-based curriculum for grades K-5, correlated to NJ state standards.

Dorothy's Guide to Starting a School Garden  and her Checklist for Starting a School Garden are very helpful guides for anyone who would like to begin.  A copy of these guides and many other very useful articles and lesson plans can be found by visiting the community Resource Library.

Please feel free to join and start discussions on topics related to school gardens.