OUR MISSION

We create learning gardens that grow successful students.

REAL School Gardens partners with high-poverty elementary schools to create learning gardens that become an integral part of their teaching culture and community. We support the design and installation of school gardens, train teachers to use them to improve children’s learning and build community around them to nurture support for urban schools. When teachers take learning outdoors, children achieve greater success in school by becoming more engaged learners, more effective team members and also healthier people.

In North Texas alone, we support 81 schools, ensuring that more than 45,000 children and over 2,700 educators have daily access to nature through school gardens.  Our gardens have been shown to improve children’s lives by boosting academic achievement, nurturing healthy lifestyles, cultivating life skills and promoting environmental stewardship.

What makes us different is that our program is grounded in academics and builds community around a child. Parents help children make salsa with their school's chili-pepper harvest. Neighbors lend hands to weeding. Educators discover teachable moments inside a cocoon's silken threads. These collective efforts inspire students to become engaged, active learners, which ultimately develops happier, healthier and smarter children. 

Our inclusive approach embraces a shared belief -- that the best way to embed learning into life is to have real-world experiences outdoors. And, as a third-grader so eloquently said, "I like the garden because it is kindness. Good things happen here."

As we forge new friendships in new states, we remain committed to helping schools and communities grow hearts, minds and spirit. 

Won’t you be part of our growing community?