Schools

Grant to Help Fund Outdoor Classroom, Garden at Wheaton Elementary School

Members of the parent teacher association's beautification committee at Whittier Elementary School have raised almost enough funds to create an outdoor classroom in the courtyard of the school, according to the Daily Herald. 

Whittier created a vegetable garden in the area after receiving a $2,000 Whole Foods Kids Foundation grant, according to Whittier PTA "Go Green" website. Whittier has been donating vegetables to the People's Resource Center while the vegetable garden is worked into Whittier's curriculum, according to the website. 

Upgrades to the courtyard area are expected to be completed by June and the outdoor garden will include more than 100 plants, including five planters of vegetables; rain collection barrels; an arbor and trellis; butterfly garden; picnic tables; and "a dozen benches arranged in a semi-circle for teaching," according to the Daily Herald. 

The goal of the garden project was to transform wasted courtyard space into a vegetable garden and native plant nursery for curriculum-based education and extracurricular enrichment, according to the Whittier Elementary Edible Schoolyard Project.  

"In addition to hands-on gardening skills, nutrition and sustainability, students will learn the importance of native-habitat restoration, ecology and resource management," according to the website. 

Read more on the Daily Herald


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