We were so excited to receive the news that we have been awarded $500 by the Council of Intown Neighborhoods and Schools to expand our composting program! Thank you so much to parents, Teresa Groshans and Nadia Aziz, for writing the Excellence in Education Grant for our program! Here is an excerpt from our grant application describing our project:
Springdale Park Elementary is a national Green Ribbon School housed in a LEED Gold certified building. One of our core beliefs is that students will become “environmental leaders” when they engage in eco-friendly practices that protect and sustain the environment for themselves and future generations. When Springdale Park was built, a rooftop garden was added. This garden, plus additional raised beds on the ground level, were and continue to be supported by Schoolyard Sprouts, a non-profit organization run by a wonderful parent. This year we have a dedicated teacher who uses this incredible rooftop garden at the school as an outdoor classroom. Lessons are taught about gardening, nutrition and environmental science and core standards learned in the traditional classroom are reinforced.
Our rooftop organic garden allows the children to get their hands dirty and plant seasonal vegetables and edible flowers. In the garden, students witness and nurture tiny seeds until they become food and get to taste what is grown. They learn that anything that is not eaten as well as the non-edible parts of the plants can eventually become new fertilizer. We are currently not able to demonstrate this decomposition to our students in a meaningful way. We would like to add composters to the garden which will allow all our organic waste from the garden as well as food scraps from the cafeteria to be transformed into rich soil which can be added back to our planting beds. This program will serve the school in so many ways. In addition to helping our garden, we can teach lessons, reduce landfill waste and cut future garden costs.
Tending Our Common Ground 