For many children growing up in urban communities, connecting with nature
means looking out a window. They’re missing out on what research tells
us -- that active, outdoor learning can help them be smarter, happier and healthier.
Introducing communities to REAL School Gardens requires our continued hard
work, but we’re proud of the profound differences we’re seeing
in children’s lives. They’re learning science and math and everything
else. They’re feeding their families and neighbors with vegetables they
planted. They’re growing into more environmentally conscious citizens.
Most of all, their enthusiastic response to outdoor learning is transforming
the way teachers teach. Entire communities are taking notice, getting involved.
Our Goals
REAL School Gardens and our partners are increasing children’s access
to wild, natural green spaces.
- To date, we’ve installed gardens in 36 schools in North Texas.
- Through our partners, we are supporting an additional 52 school gardens.
- More than 36,000 children now have daily access to nature through school
gardens.
Children are interacting with safe, outdoor spaces and developing a sense
of connectedness with nature.
With our partners, we’re making teaching outside second nature. By
removing barriers, we’ve:
- Ensured that more than 1,300 educators in North Texas, and at least an
additional 450 educators through our national partners, have daily access
to the school gardens we support;
- Presented approximately 1,950 contact hours of professional development
to educators in North Texas—all focused on teaching and learning
in the garden; and
- Provided at least 170 hours of direct, hands-on learning in the garden
to about 4,500 students while modeling lessons for over 200 educators in
North Texas.
As a result of these efforts, teachers and schools have demonstrated that
the model works.
- A clear-cut majority of educators attending our professional development
days in Texas report a strong increase in both their knowledge of outdoor-classroom
topics and their likelihood of using the outdoors to teach.
- Parents say they see visible improvement in their children’s academic,
personal and social development.
- Every day we are moved by stories from parents, teachers and children.
We see firsthand how children are transformed by watching life cycles of
ladybugs and tasting fresh peas from the garden. If you have an inspirational
story, we invite you to share it with us.
Once a school decides to create a garden, they invite the entire community
to participate in its design, installation, maintenance and use.
- Parents and community members bring much-needed skills and expertise
during the design and installation phases.
- Master gardeners, neighbors and others come to celebrate a new garden
installation and continue
to volunteer throughout the year.
- Youth engaged in service learning ensure stewardship of the gardens
throughout the summer. Click here to read
how.
- Schools report increases in the number of parents who volunteer at their
children’s schools.
- With the school garden as a gathering place, schools are becoming the
center of the community again and inspiring neighborhood pride.
- REAL People meetings in Fort Worth, TX, alone draw 150-200 school garden
supporters from throughout the city.
- 88% of participating schools are engaging at least one community partner.
- Schools are growing more environmentally aware in all of their practices,
using rainwater catchment, solar features and recycled materials.
For the children we serve — those who are growing up in urban communities
with less access to the natural world–school gardens raise hope, spark
imagination and connect them to nature. Children are learning to be smarter,
happier and healthier — in the outdoors.
