LAMONT, Calif. (KERO) — Alicante Elementary School is celebrating its newest addition on campus and it's a lesson plan that includes growing cabbage, kale and berries.
- Video shows how Alicante Elementary School is highlighting the importance of agricultural work in the community.
- Through their new garden, educators are teaching students how to grow and maintain a garden.
- Through hand-on learning activities, students are being taught how to be collaborative, empathetic, perseverant and resilient.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It's not your typical classroom, but it's a subject that educators feel is important to students and the community. Alicante Elementary School is celebrating its newest addition on campus and it's a lesson plan that includes growing cabbage, kale and berries.
When ready, students are able to wash the food with their garden sink and they also have the opportunity to try new healthy foods.
James Blackwell is a 4th grade teacher at Alicante Middle School whose class has been involved in the building of the garden.
"The kids have learned from the ground up what it takes and how to clear a lot for a garden, how to build the planters, how to make sure to keep things clean and weeds out," said Blackwell.
But it's not just teaching students how to build and maintain a garden. According to Project Director of Lamont Elementary School District Jennifer Wood-Slayton, the garden is meant to highlight the importance of agricultural work in the community.
"One of the other things that we love about these gardens is that a lot of our families work in agriculture and so our kids learn the skills that their parents bring home, their skills that they can really look up to and that they see in their classroom as well," explained Wood-Slayton.
In addition to learning inside the classroom, Superintendent Lori Gonzalez said the garden allows students to learn outside the classroom through hands-on activities.
"Our profile for our learner is about learning authentically, learning competency-based, learning in a way that is personalized and that's what this is," said Gonzalez. "This is a vision of re-imagining what learning looks like and how learning is taught."
According to Gonzalez the vision of having a garden is an innovative way of teaching students to be collaborative, empathetic, perseverant and resilient.
So far, Blackwell said that his student have enjoyed participating in the project.
"They absolutely love doing this," said Blackwell. "They love to get their hands dirty and they like to feel the earth. They've read about it but now they kind of understand it because they've held it in their hands."
In the coming months, the district is working to install gardens in other schools including Mountain View Middle School.
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