Garden program renewed

The district approved the renewal of the garden program contract in order to provide hands-on environmental education to Oak Park students Sept. 27, 2017. The program began three years ago, mainly for the elementary schools that had gardens which weren’t being used.

“The teachers were finding it difficult, because they aren’t gardeners, to actually use the gardens to teach,” Oak Park Unified School District school garden specialist Debra Leith said.

Leith is the author of the garden program curriculum, which was established with the intent of utilizing the unused gardens and giving elementary school students a variety of skills.

The gardens provide students with an interactive way of experiencing the material that they are learning.

“It’s actually putting what everyone’s learning on paper into a format where they can see it in practice,” Leith said. “We are making some big links now into the Next Generation Science Standards. We can also do social studies, we can do math, we can do all different things through the garden [program].”

The program is a way to tap into the children’s kinesthetic learning power and provide them with a gardening experience that is interesting and educational.

“We get hands-on experience with compost piles and … showing the topography of the land,” said Red Oak Elementary student Will Nicks.

Additionally, the new program incorporates technology to teach the students about various other topics.

“We’re going to be using smartphones and iPads and we’re going to talk about [taking] photographs,” Leith said. “So, we’re also doing that, we’re bringing that technology in; it’s very multi-faceted.”

The program also supplements the material that the kids are learning in their other classes. Leith hopes these connections will help students better understand their school subjects and how gardening or environmental awareness relates to what they are learning.

“It shows very close chemistry to what we are doing in science class,” said Nicks.

The gardening club at Medea Creek, a voluntary club for seventh and eighth graders, is also under the umbrella of this program. They plant their own crops and even work on recycling projects. This club is meant to build on the experience students gained in elementary school classes.

“They get to see that it’s not just about digging holes. They start to develop an understanding and an interest earlier on,” Leith said.

Additionally, there are some long-term plans to bring the garden program to the high school.

“At the high school, the district has been trying to get off the ground an environmental agriculture course,” Leith said. “There is a longer-term plan to actually have an urban farm at the high school.”

Leith hopes that in educating the elementary school students, students will carry that knowledge with them throughout the rest of their education.

“One of the reasons also for trying to get the students to take an interest in gardening and agriculture and environmental science, is that if we start the students early with that interest, they then bring [that] into high school,” Leith said.

The program’s creators also believe that the program may help students have a successful career.

“I really do believe that the future is very bright for this kind of subject,” Leith said. “Especially as [environmentally-based] jobs are dramatically on the increase. I mean, they’re exploding!”

Leith said that she believes that it is important to teach students about gardening, so that they may be able to fill in high-demand job slots in the future, and learn to enjoy them.

“What you might learn when you’re in second grade could actually [lead to] a career path for the future,” Leith said. “Like I said, people just think it’s growing plants. It’s not, it’s a science.”