Edible School Garden
The purpose of the Center Montessori Edible School Garden is to create an environment where students of all ages can immerse themselves in the natural cycles of life by nurturing seedlings, cultivating vegetables, harvesting food, and preparing meals.
We know from resources like The Last Child in the Woods that children who regularly experience nature are more highly motivated and creative. We live in a digital world that can be exciting, however it can also be desensitizing. It can narrow our creative vision. An action figure can only be an action figure, whereas children experiencing a garden can create anything. A tree branch, a flower, a broccoli can be something that serves to support and expand imagination.
We also know that students who have an edible school garden experience have 94% better attitude toward nutrition, their leadership qualities are enriched by 80%, and their academic achievement can improve dramatically as well. The experience of gardening is so profound it deeply affects learning. (Data compiled from educator observations of 2010-2011 National Gardening Associationgarden grant programs.) According to Richard Louv of The Last Child in the Woods, nature is a potent therapy for depression and ADD. It dramatically improves test scores, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.
The garden is also fertile ground for the study of botany, math, biology and chemistry. Students can also use the garden as inspiration for writing: stories, journaling, and poetry.
Today edible school gardens are gaining popularity across the country because of the many studies which support the idea that such gardens are the solution to childhood obesity. One statistic posits that 1 of 3 children born after 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. We also know that children born in this generation are expected to live shorter lives than their parents. Because children who are raised with a garden are more likely to make healthy food choices, an edible education can do much to inspire life long health and well being.
Part of the Montessori curriculum is to have an edible garden experience for every child. This was a place where each child would gain essential knowledge through direct experience with the natural rhythms of life.
We know from resources like The Last Child in the Woods that children who regularly experience nature are more highly motivated and creative. We live in a digital world that can be exciting, however it can also be desensitizing. It can narrow our creative vision. An action figure can only be an action figure, whereas children experiencing a garden can create anything. A tree branch, a flower, a broccoli can be something that serves to support and expand imagination.
We also know that students who have an edible school garden experience have 94% better attitude toward nutrition, their leadership qualities are enriched by 80%, and their academic achievement can improve dramatically as well. The experience of gardening is so profound it deeply affects learning. (Data compiled from educator observations of 2010-2011 National Gardening Associationgarden grant programs.) According to Richard Louv of The Last Child in the Woods, nature is a potent therapy for depression and ADD. It dramatically improves test scores, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.
The garden is also fertile ground for the study of botany, math, biology and chemistry. Students can also use the garden as inspiration for writing: stories, journaling, and poetry.
Today edible school gardens are gaining popularity across the country because of the many studies which support the idea that such gardens are the solution to childhood obesity. One statistic posits that 1 of 3 children born after 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. We also know that children born in this generation are expected to live shorter lives than their parents. Because children who are raised with a garden are more likely to make healthy food choices, an edible education can do much to inspire life long health and well being.
Part of the Montessori curriculum is to have an edible garden experience for every child. This was a place where each child would gain essential knowledge through direct experience with the natural rhythms of life.