Rhode Island Healthy Schools Coalition
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  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Resources
    • Resources - START HERE!
    • General School Wellness
    • Laws & Regulations
    • RI District Wellness Policies
    • Wellness Policy Guidance >
      • Wellness Policy Guidance - START HERE!
      • 10 Steps to a Wellness Policy
      • Communicate & Educate
      • Monitor, Assess, Document & Report
    • Wellness Policy in Action >
      • Wellness Policy in Action - START HERE!
      • Physical Education & Physical Activity
      • Nutrition & Healthy Eating
      • School Gardens
      • Healthy Fundraising
      • Healthy School Celebrations
      • ASH Workshop for RIASC
  • eNews
    • Subscribe and Archives
    • School Wellness Spotlight
  • Programs
    • Programs Overview >
      • Recess Rocks in RI >
        • RRIRI Overview
        • RRIRI Training
        • RRIRI Application
      • Local Food Ambassador
      • PowerUp PE
  • Get Involved
    • Get Involved - Start Here!
    • Partner With Us
    • Breakfast for School Wellness Leaders >
      • Breakfast 2018 RESOURCES
      • Breakfast 2019 RESOURCES
    • Donate

School Gardens

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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!
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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

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!
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