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The
purpose of the network is to support the development and sustainability
of hands-on learning experiences for children through schoolyard
based garden and nature focused programs. The network will support the
people who are developing the programs.
The idea for the network came from
the more than 20 years of combined experiences of Roberta Paolo, founder
of Granny's Garden School and Susan VonderHaar and
Kyra McKinney developers and
coordinators of the Dater
Montessori Nature Center as well as
the many educators who have toured
their gardens and sought their support in
developing their own programs.
When we started our individual
programs there were virtually no lesson plans available where students
actually planted in a garden rather than a cup. What information was
there often came with a large price tag and were geared toward milder
climates then ours. Like most school garden programs, we had a lot of
passion but little money. Since that time we have nurtured the growth
of many individual program and events at our schools that range from
classroom, to extra-curricular clubs, to day camp, to family programs,
to at-large community gatherings, all of which have empowered us to move
forward into a realm of offering support to others.
In the last few years, we have
networked with, visited and researched many school grounds based nature
programs across the county. One thing they all have in common is the
struggle to find a way to sustain their program. Most everyone sees the
intrinsic and tangible value in providing an outdoor, nature and garden
centered program for students of all ages, but formal classroom teachers
have little to no time to provide such a program independently. Program
organization, scheduling (and rescheduling!) outdoor events, procurement
of supplies, additional work efforts for establishing the learning
areas, and volunteer coordination are just a few of the tasks necessary
for on-going success which requires knowledge, experience, and a
commitment of many hours.
Many teachers, parents,
administrators have toured our gardens and "picked our brains" but lack
of time prevents offering more than advice, tools, plants and seeds. We
have
mentored a couple of the programs in our area in their efforts to
create school yard based learning programs. In addition to networking
with schools in other parts of the world via the internet, we are
visiting
other school based environmental programs whenever possible.
We do not have all of the answers but we do know a lot of the
questions.
Let us hear about what you are doing. |
