FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Rhode Island Healthy Schools Coalition
  • About Us
    • About Our Organization
    • Contact Us
    • Get Involved >
      • Partner With Us
      • Donate
  • What We Do
    • Services, Programs & Initiatives >
      • Services, Programs & Initiatives Overview
      • Recess Rocks in RI >
        • RRIRI Overview
        • Get Engaged with RRIRI
        • Become a Trained RRIRI School
        • Ongoing Support for RRIRI Schools
        • RRIRI Champions
        • Active Indoor Recess
      • Local Food Ambassador
      • PowerUp PE
    • Breakfast for School Wellness Leaders >
      • Breakfast 2022
      • Breakfast 2021
      • MARC BRACKETT WEBINAR 2020
      • Breakfast 2019
  • Wellness Policy
    • RI Wellness Policies by District
    • Wellness Policy Guidance Overview
    • What is a Wellness Policy?
    • 10 Steps to a Wellness Policy
    • Communicate & Educate
    • Monitor, Assess, Document & Report
  • Wellness Topics
    • Physical Education & Physical Activity
    • Health Education
    • Nutrition & Healthy Eating
    • Mental & Social Emotional Health
    • Adolescent Sexual Health
    • School Gardens
    • Healthy School Celebrations
    • Healthy Fundraising
  • Laws & Regs
  • eNews
    • Subscribe and Archives
    • School Wellness Spotlight
  • Resources
  • About Us
    • About Our Organization
    • Contact Us
    • Get Involved >
      • Partner With Us
      • Donate
  • What We Do
    • Services, Programs & Initiatives >
      • Services, Programs & Initiatives Overview
      • Recess Rocks in RI >
        • RRIRI Overview
        • Get Engaged with RRIRI
        • Become a Trained RRIRI School
        • Ongoing Support for RRIRI Schools
        • RRIRI Champions
        • Active Indoor Recess
      • Local Food Ambassador
      • PowerUp PE
    • Breakfast for School Wellness Leaders >
      • Breakfast 2022
      • Breakfast 2021
      • MARC BRACKETT WEBINAR 2020
      • Breakfast 2019
  • Wellness Policy
    • RI Wellness Policies by District
    • Wellness Policy Guidance Overview
    • What is a Wellness Policy?
    • 10 Steps to a Wellness Policy
    • Communicate & Educate
    • Monitor, Assess, Document & Report
  • Wellness Topics
    • Physical Education & Physical Activity
    • Health Education
    • Nutrition & Healthy Eating
    • Mental & Social Emotional Health
    • Adolescent Sexual Health
    • School Gardens
    • Healthy School Celebrations
    • Healthy Fundraising
  • Laws & Regs
  • eNews
    • Subscribe and Archives
    • School Wellness Spotlight
  • Resources

School Gardens

Picture
Picture
Picture
Visit the RI Farm to School website HERE!
Picture

A school garden can provide a multitude of experiential learning opportunities for students across many academic content areas, such as science, math, reading and art.  School gardens allow students to have a hands-on approach to learning and make a classroom curriculum come alive and become more relevant. 

Nutrition & Lifestyle
Garden programs bring students into an outdoor classroom where broader lessons about nutrition, physical activity, and the environment take place.  Whether growing vegetables, fruits or a variety of herbs, edible gardens are a valuable tool that schools can use to promote healthier eating and active living while sharing with students an appreciation of locally grown food and environmental stewardship.  Kids are more likely to eat and enjoy foods they have planted and harvested themselves, and gardening is a great exercise!   

Academic & Social/Emotional Development
Garden programs improve student attitudes towards learning and can increase overall academic performance.  Students who garden develop other skills such as curiosity, flexibility, creativity and critical thinking that help them learn more effectively.  Research suggests gardening in school improves students' social skills and behavior while working together with their teachers and each other.

More
School gardening can take the form of an indoor window garden, planter box, hydroponic system, outdoor raised bed, hoop house, greenhouse, or even a school farm!

The The URI Extension Outreach Center and USDA's Team Nutrition Garden Resources websites are both full of valuable how-to information, tips, funding ideas, and even games - be sure to check them out!
​​
Consider inserting school garden language directly into your school wellness policy, which will integrate nutrition education and promotion into the larger school environment and increase the garden’s sustainability.  If you need more information, a great place to start is with our handout Incorporating School Garden Language into School Wellness Policies. 

​The National Farm to School Network has developed a great step-by-step handout for school garden beginnners:
National Farm to School Network School Gardens Fact Sheet – Starting & Maintaining a School Garden

Youth and the Future of Food
(GENYOUth Insights)

school garden spotlight:  rogers high school in newport

The Newport Project Community Garden at Rogers High School was established in 2016 by teachers and students of The Newport Project, a place-based learning initiative that uses the city of Newport as their English and Science classrooms.  In 2019, the the garden was redesigned with support from community partners and joined the Edible Schoolyard network. It's just beautiful!

school garden spotlight:  slater middle school in pawtucket

Follow the progression of this fantastic urban school garden at Slater Middle School from planning to planting to harvest to cafeteria tables... ​and thanks to a dedicated and hard-working custodial staff, the garden flourishes over the summer!
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
contact us