CHILDREN’S LEARNING GARDEN PROJECT AT EVIE DENNIS CAMPUS

1. Executive Summary The Children’s Learning Garden at The Evie Dennis Campus is a collaborative

project among three partners – SOAR Denver, Families Forward Resource Center (FFRC), and Chil-

dren’s Farms of America (CFA). The purpose of the project is to utilize hands-on learning opportunities

through the implementation of a learning garden on the campus to enhance children’s learning in areas of

science and social justice. Through the project children will learn where their food comes from and will

develop the skills and competencies to be able to grow food for themselves and their families. Addition-

ally, children ages 5 to 14 years will become entrepreneurs as they harvest, market, and sell the produce

they grow.

2. Organization Descriptions Three organizations have formed a partnership for the purposes of creating

and maintaining a Children’s Learning Garden that will serve as a year-round learning environment for

elementary students in k-5th grade and summer camp participants ages 5 – 14 years. Following are brief

descriptions of each of the partners.

Founded in 2010, SOAR is built on the premise that we should “expect more” from our public

schools. SOAR is a public elementary charter school committed to providing exceptional educational

opportunities to students in Far Northeast Denver. The school offers an innovative, holistic approach to

education that includes an extended school day, an academically engaging curriculum, a focus on the

development of social and emotional competencies, and a deep commitment to the arts. In the 2014-

2015 school year SOAR enters its fifth year serving the Far Northeast Denver community and its second

year at full capacity, serving 474 kindergarten through 5th grade students. SOAR empowers children to

become complete people who make informed, deliberate decisions and lead socially responsible,

productive lives.

Families Forward RC (formerly Lowry Family Center) has been strengthening families in northeast

metro Denver since 1995. FFRC is premised on the belief that strong families are the key to strong

communities. To that end family center staff and volunteers provide case management, family advocacy,

counseling services, parenting classes and support groups. In addition, FFRC provides health advocacy

services including health coverage, nutrition and cooking classes, exercise classes, and developmental

screening services. Providing summer enrichment camps for approximately 112 kids, FFRC’s Kathy’s

Kamp is a learning experience that teaches kids valuable life skills in addition to common summer camp

activities like swimming and camping. FFRC engages youth in a leadership development program where

they learn about leadership, civic engagement, and philanthropy.

Children’s Farms of America (CFA) is dedicated to helping communities establish farms and gardens

specifically to serve children and youth. While CFA has only been in existence since November, 2013

the president and members of the board have more than 20 years of experience in working with

community partners and children and youth to develop and maintain a 28 acre farm in the city

(The Urban Farm at Stapleton). CFA was created to ensure that the experiences enjoyed by kids at the

Stapleton farm could be enjoyed by kids from all areas of the city. These small neighborhood and school

-based farms are resources where children and youth can learn about agriculture and where their food

comes from. In addition to learning the science behind gardening, urban children have the chance to tend

farm animals as well. They give back to their community by producing food for their school, the local

food bank and/or for their families.

3. Background What is so important about growing up on a farm? Ask that question of anyone who has

spent time during their childhood working on a farm or ranch of any size in any community and you will

most likely get answers that they learned:

the value of hard work;

pride in a job well-done;

where food comes from;

team work;

self-sufficiency;

interconnectedness of all living things;

value of money and natural resources.

Through years of experience of working with almost 26,000 children and youth through The Urban Farm

at Stapleton, the principals of CFA have documented that students who participated in farm-based

educational activities performed at proficient levels on state student performance assessment in the areas

of scientific method and other science concepts. After graduating from high school, participants were

likely to go into science-related fields of study in college. Youth who had stayed with the farm program

for three or more years demonstrated a strong work ethic – something that translates to their school and

later job performance and they learned very specific organizational and record-keeping skills through

their involvement with farm programs.

The majority of children and youth who live in the city do not enjoy the experiences associated with

growing up on a farm. Those children who may live at lower socioeconomic strata are the least likely to

have access to the farm-type experiences that are associated with positive performance and lifelong

decisions to pursue science or agricultural careers and jobs. The children to be served in this project fit

this category. Of the children attending SOAR, 71% qualify for free and reduced lunch (a standard

measure of low income status). The children who participate in the summer camp program through

Families Forward Resource Center are largely from the student body of SOAR. More than 76% of the

student population is Hispanic or African-American.

The Children’s Garden at the Evie Dennis Campus will provide educational and enrichment experiences

for children who are not likely to otherwise have the farm opportunities that their more privileged coun-

terparts in other parts of the city enjoy.

4. Program Goals, Approach, and Timeline The goals of the project are to:

Engage students, staff, parents, and volunteers in designing, building, and maintaining a Chil-

dren’s Learning Garden on the Evie Dennis Campus.

Pilot a farm-based science curriculum with students in kindergarten and first grade.

Provide a seven week summer enrichment program.

Expand the Children’s Learning Garden curriculum to incorporate science, technology, math,

and social justice elements to be utilized with students in second through fifth grade.

The approach to meeting the goals of the Children’s Learning Garden Project will encompass three

phases. Phase 1 will focus on building out the garden and piloting the farm curriculum with kinder-

garten and first grade classes during April and May. Phase 2 will include the implementation of the

summer enrichment camp program and Phase 3 will be the development of a curriculum and plan of

utilization of the Children’s Learning Garden by second through fifth grade students in the Fall.

In Phase 1, Children’s Farms of America will take the lead in developing the Children’s Garden as a

learning environment and will work with the SOAR science teacher for kindergarten and first grade to

develop and deliver the farm-based science curriculum. CFA’s Farm Consultant will coordinate with

the Evie Dennis Campus Facilities Manager to ensure that all elements to be built into the Children’s

Garden are consistent with both Denver Public Schools requirements and those specific to the Campus.

CFA’s Farm Consultant will work with a variety of youth groups such as Mile High Youth Corps and

Teenworks, Inc. to enlist their services in building and maintaining the Children’s Garden. CFA will

also provide educational consulting services in the form of curriculum development and delivery dur-

ing the pilot phase of the project. All 165 kindergarten and first grade students will participate in the

Children’s Garden during the last five weeks of the spring semester.

During Phase 2, CFA will work in conjunction with the FFRC Kathy’s Kamp to provide an enrich-

ment program twice per week during the seven week summer enrichment camp. CFA will develop the

camp curriculum and will provide an instructor to teach/facilitate the twice weekly program. The CFA

instructor and Farm Consultant will develop a schedule and work plan with parents and volunteers to

ensure that the Children’s Garden is tended during the one month between the summer camp ending

and the academic year starting up.

Finally in Phase 3, CFA staff will work with staff from SOAR to develop and/or identify integrated

curricula for second, third, fourth, and fifth grade students. The focus of the curriculum will be on sci-

ence, technology, math, and social justice (i.e. sustainable agriculture and food security issues). Also,

during this phase, CFA will work with SOAR and FFRC staff to delineate a utilization plan such that

all students and families involved with the two organizations may participate in the learning opportuni-

ties available thru the Children’s Garden. The culmination of the project will include “putting the gar-

den to bed” for the winter in October.

5. Evaluation Several approaches to determining the success of the project will be utilized. From a pro-

cess and qualitative standpoint, each Phase of the project will be captured through a photographic jour-

nal. Students will also be given writing assignments regarding their experiences in the Children’s Gar-

den and a sample of those will be reviewed to ascertain both more academic performance (such as use

of farm-related vocabulary and application of scientific concepts) as well as inter and intrapersonal

experiences ( what the students liked or didn’t like). During the summer camps, participants will keep

journals of their experiences that may include illustrating what they did and learned and quantifying

the yield (number, weight, variety of vegetables and fruits) of the garden. SOAR classroom teachers

will be asked to articulate the types of reactions they saw in their students.

6. Budget

Materials/Supplies/Construction List (Many of these items might be donated from various sources).

Garden soil

Lumber for raised beds

Tool shed

Plants (two fruit trees, fruit bushes and vines, perennials)

Garden hoses and sprayers

Pergola (shade structure)

Fencing for animals

Chicken coop 8’ x 12’ Hoophouse

EXAMPLES OF A PERGOLA SHADE STRUCTURE

EXPENSE CATEGORIES PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 TOTAL PROJECT

COSTS

Children’s Garden Consultants

Planning, building, maintaining ( 5 hrs/day x 2 days /week x 5 weeks x $20/hour)

$1,000

$1,000

Educational Consultation with K-1st Science Teacher (16 hrs x $30/hour)

$ 480

$ 480

Building/maintaining/supervising work groups (3 hrs/week x 7 weeks x $20/hour

$ 420

$ 420

Preparation of enrichment environment before summer camp (25 hrs x $20/hour)

$ 500

$ 500

Instruction with camp participants (4.5 hours per week x 7 weeks x $30/hour)

$ 945

$ 945

Garden Maintenance (4 hrs/week x 8 weeks x $20/hour

$ 640

$ 640

Development of 2nd – 5th grade Children’s Garden curriculum (50 hours x $30/hour)

$1,500

$1,500

PROJECT TOTAL $1,480 $1,865 $2,140 $5,485