Free Garden Classes for Sonoma & Marin Schools!

 

By Terese Chalmers

WellKind has had a busy spring, awarding our 2022 WellKind Garden Mini-Grants to 16 schools and 6 organizations working to fight hunger in Sonoma County and Marin. 

In addition, we have rolled out our “Science in the Garden” program. We’re offering free assistance to teachers to get kids learning in school gardens, featuring our science-based curriculum that meets Common Core standards. 

If your school in Marin or Sonoma County would like free garden classes from WellKind, please email info@wellkind.org. 

Our goal in creating a “Science in the Garden” curriculum is to provide a science-based program that is innovative, relevant to present-day environmental issues, and of course fun!  The curriculum focuses on living things and what they need to survive and succeed. We include lessons about plants, soil, insects, birds, and other animals. We give your students the tools to empower them to face the environmental challenges that are here now and looming in the near future. Students learn about the fast-changing world today and how to thrive in a better tomorrow they can help build.

We help teachers make the garden a hub of their school, offering benefits for students’ learning and emotional development. The following  quote is from one of our partner schools: 

“As many as 20 teachers and support staff utilize the garden with students to gain hands-on science and social-emotional learning. We use parent volunteers, para-educators, counselors, and teachers to work with small groups and whole classes out in the garden. Students develop an understanding and love of plants, a knowledge of where their food comes from, and opportunities to explore hands-on science in the garden classroom.”

We are pROUD to support the following  schoolS — YOU COULD BE ONE OF THEM:  

  • Brook Haven Middle School (Sebastopol)

  • Santa Rosa Middle School (Santa Rosa)

  • Guerneville Elementary School (Guerneville)

  • Park Side Elementary School (Sebastopol)

  • Alexander Valley School (Healdsburg)

  • University Elementary at La Fiesta (Rohnert Park)

  • Cloverdale High School (Cloverdale)

  • Healdsburg Elementary School (Healdsburg)

  • Gravenstein Elementary School (Sebastopol)

  • Bayside MLK Academy Elementary School (Sausalito)

  • Bayside MLK: Phillips Dr. Campus (Sausalito)

  • Brooks Elementary School (Windsor)

  • Sequoia Elementary School (Santa Rosa)

  • McDowell Elementary School (Petaluma)

  • Archie Williams High School (San Anselmo)

  • Harmony and Salmon Creek School (Occidental)

Why Outdoor Education?

99% of students from a study across 14 K-12 schools showed outdoor education increased knowledge and understanding of science content, concepts, processes, and principles (compared to traditional framework). The hands-on, minds-on approach of outdoor education enables students of all ability levels to gain a better understanding and appreciation of science. 

As explored here, because nature changes rapidly, it attracts and stimulates a child's attention, increasing the capacity to retain information and ideas, a first step in cognitive development, as outlined in Bloom's taxonomy. Unlike a classroom, the experience of nature’s detail, inspires and encourages children’s need to make sense of and comprehend what they are seeing and experiencing. WellKind is honored to have a positive impact on the teachers, students, and parents through our garden program. 

join us!

Would you like more information about our free “Science in the Garden” classes?
Send an email to info@wellkind.org.

 
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