Hot Springs third graders take field trip across county to learn about native plants

MARSHALL - With the state end-of-grade tests nearing, Hot Springs Elementary students were eager to be outside April 11 and take a break from the test crunch.

On that day, third grade students took a field trip to Marshall Native Gardens to learn about the importance of native plants.

The field trip saw the students tour the 11 themed gardens, including a rain garden, medicinal garden, butterfly garden and bird garden, at Marshall Native Gardens, located at the Madison County Public Library's Marshall campus.

Founded in 2011, the native garden was envisioned, designed, constructed, and is maintained by Marshall Native Gardens Initiative in cooperation with the county and Madison County Library Director Kim Bellofatto.

The field trip was a collaboration between the Marshall Native Gardens Initiative, Madison County Garden Club, Hot Springs Elementary School and the Madison County Public Library.

Natalie Hesed is the coordinator of Hot Springs Elementary Garden Club, an auxiliary program that features a garden at the school and allows students to work outdoors.

More: Thinking outside the classroom: Hot Springs Elementary Garden Club holds outdoors classes

Students from Hot Springs Elementary School's two third grade classrooms, taught by Earl Lynn Allison and Olivia Keener, embarked on the Marshall field trip.

According to Allison, who has taught at Hot Springs Elementary for 21 years, the program has been gaining momentum recently.

"This is like a whole new level, and she's doing a great job," Allison said. "She's doing really awesome. The kids really love it. They love getting in the garden when Friday comes. They're excited about it.

"Everything we did today built on that 4H cooperation that we have also, where we learned about plants back in the fall. I feel like they were able to remember the types of pollinators because of that. So, we've got the gardening in Hot Springs and here at the library, and at 4H. I think it's really good. Everybody's tying things together with the community."

According to Hesed, Hot Springs students also worked with Madison County 4H this past winter, as the organization's winter cooking unit came to the elementary school to conduct cooking classes.

The Marshall Native Gardens field trip was carried out as an educational excursion portion of a grant written by Hesed and others.

"The thing I love about it, too, is that it's at the library, so it's valuable for the native plants, the native pollinators and bird knowledge, but then you can also bring the kids in to the library space and learn about library stuff," Hesed said.

Scott Moore is president of the Madison County Garden Club, which was founded in 2019 to oversee the maintenance and design of the Marshall Native Gardens and now has 35 members.

Moore said part of the tour's mission is to continue to spread the message of the importance of native plants.

"The concept of planting native is like the base of any ecological plan that you're going to develop. If you're going to tackle climate change or invasives, which have now become one of the primary threats to ecology because they're outcompeting native plants, everything is built on native plants," Moore said. "If we can convince them of the importance of natives, ecology and the whole bit at this age, then I think we've got a better chance of succeeding."

Moore said he is particularly excited about the Marshall Native Gardens' EcoExplore component. The Native Gardens offer six EcoExplore "hot spots," making the venue a "mega hot spot" where increased citizen science activity takes place.

EcoExplore is a community science program for children in grades K-8 that was developed by the North Carolina Arboretum that combines science exploration with kid-friendly technology to foster a fun learning environment for children while encouraging them to explore the outdoors and participate in community science.

"I think merging the Gardens and the educational system here in Madison County and EcoExplore is just such a great thing to do. We're looking to bring in more diverse age groups," Moore said. "I think it will only increase."

The interactive EcoExplore program allows students to upload and submit pictures of scientific information to real life scientists, which will assist in their research and data analysis.

Pat Kean also served as a tour guide for the students during their April 11 trip to Marshall Native Gardens. Kean volunteers at the gardens and serves as the "champion" for the shrub garden.

"Especially for this age group, they're just sucking up the knowledge like crazy," Kean said. "We're starting them young. When we were growing up, the big thing was 'Don't litter.' There's a whole big trend toward using native plants and trying to explain why they're so important."

Marshall Native Gardens coordinator Ed McNally and Rita Pelczar, the organization's education and outreach committee chair, joined Kean and Moore as the tour guides.

Pelczar said Hesed designed the curriculum for the students and sent additional curriculum ideas for each grade level to her and McNally.

"It allows us to focus on different age groups and to show that we have a package that teaches a particular part of the curriculum," McNally said. "We could tie it to, perhaps, a day, like Earth Day, where we actually have something where it becomes a celebration at the same time you're teaching and you're introducing them to the gardens and using it as a venue. Those are all tied together, and it becomes much more meaningful."

McNally said the field trip was also the product of a $3,000 Madison County TDA grant. That grant also helped promote and carry out the first inaugural Native Plant Festival in the fall.

More: Marshall Native Gardens to host inaugural Native Plant Festival

According to McNally and Pelczar, Marshall Native Gardens is seeking collaborations with youths throughout the region.

"We're trying to find other ways to reach other schools. That's really where the majority of our focus should be," McNally said.

Pelczar added that clubs such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, as well as home school students are also encouraged to reach out to Marshall Native Gardens.

"Any group that would like a field trip," Pelczar said.

Students' reactions

While eating lunch April 11, the Hot Springs third grade students reflected on their favorite parts of the tour.

"The kids seem to really enjoy it. I think they like getting outside," Hesed said of the third grade students' excursion.

Many of the students chimed in with their favorite parts of the field trip.

"I liked how we got to work in groups and got to color in flowers," Isaac said. "My flower was pinkish-purpleish. It was a wild pink" Silene caroliniana.

"I liked learning about the plants that could make tea," Grace said.

"My favorite part about today was the pollinator garden and how there were bees and flowers," Sophie said.

"I learned about a lot of new flowers and butterflies and caterpillars and stuff," Elijah said. "I learned native plants are like the building blocks of the ecosystem."

For more information on Marshall Native Gardens Initiative, visit the organization's website.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 3rd graders take field trip across county to learn about native plants