Growing space - Monarch Elementary students have dream outdoor classroom
When asked last year what their dream garden would be, Monarch Elementary School fifth graders wanted an outdoor learning space. What now exists on the grounds of the Five Forks area school exceeds even the grandest hopes.
The dream became reality thanks to a committed team of volunteers, parents and staff and – in no small measure – a $20,000 grant from Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.
Brittany Willis, a K4 teacher and parent at the school, helped bring the project to fruition, along with a team that included PTA President Mimi Williams, Monarch parent and landscape architect Jamie Patterson, Lauren Couchois, a Culinary Specialist for Greenville County Schools Food and Nutrition Services (and also a Monarch parent), the school’s principal, Mark Loach, and more.
The school’s focus is health science. Willis said it is incorporated in lessons whenever possible, and that is one aspect of the new outdoor space. The volunteer team created their wish list for a dream garden and blended that with what fifth graders wanted as well.
But as any homeowner can attest, gardens can be expensive.
“We knew that we were probably going to have to do phases for it, because this is a huge project,” Willis said. “The PTA approved $20,000 to go towards it, which is a huge amount.”
That initial investment laid the groundwork quite literally to ensure that the outdoor spaces were accessible to all students by installing concrete paths that wind throughout the space. With that framework in place, the team worked toward getting a grant to make the rest of the dream happen. That came in the form of a $20,000 grant from the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation to create a comprehensive, hands-on, interactive learning garden and classroom space. Monarch was one of only 24 schools in the country and the only one in South Carolina to receive the grant.
In late September, volunteers from the school, the community and team members from the Simpsonville Sprouts store planted, created beds, built storage, installed mulch and more. The day was part of a nationwide effort to build 24 school gardens in 24 cities in 24 hours.
An empty canvas of red clay now includes an organic gardening space so students can grow food that will be served at the school. Raised beds make portions of the garden accessible to wheelchair users. Each grade level will receive a special curriculum to incorporate into their class and care for their garden box, and the school’s art department will work on a garden piece for display each year. Kids Gardening, a national nonprofit, provides mentoring to ensure the project’s sustainability, and the budget is in place to provide professional development for teachers as they learn to incorporate the outdoors in their lesson plans.
Hardscape and plant materials work together here. Benches fold into desks and picnic tables, outdoor whiteboards are available, sanded logs have new life as seats in the outdoor classroom, and a quiet space – a Zen or sensory space, according to Willis – is available for teachers, students and counselors who need an area outdoors to care for themselves and reflect.
The result is a thoughtful addition to the school that gives students time outdoors. The hope is that children carry the lessons with them long after they leave.
“At least once a week, every single child will be able to go out and be a part of the garden,” Willis said.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Growing space - Monarch Elementary students have dream outdoor classroom
