School Garden Workshop and Hy-Vee Garden Grant
Michelle Kenyon
PRESS RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Michelle
Kenyon
ICCSD Farm to School Coordinator, Program Director Field to Family
Email: mkbio...@gmail.com
Website: http://fieldtofamily.org/programs/farm-to-school/
Teaching the Next
Generation: The Garden as Your Classroom
Date: April 8, 2017
Time: 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: Robert E. Lee Recreation Center, downtown Iowa City, IA
(Iowa City) March 21, 2017 – As part of the Farm to School program, Field to Family and Backyard Abundance are hosting a school garden workshop, “Teaching the Next Generation: The Garden as Your Classroom” on Saturday, April 8, open to teachers, school district staff, early care and education providers, garden volunteers and all those interested in using school grounds as outdoor classrooms in Johnson and contiguous counties.
Presenters at this free workshop will share school district and community resources available that support learning about the outdoor environment, showcase versatile designs for outdoor classrooms, demonstrate activities that support new science standards and offer hands-on lessons in the garden for PreK-12 students. Representatives from school grounds staff from schools in Johnson County will share resources the schools offer to new and current school gardens. Background Abundance will share their free FOSS garden designs.
Presenters include:
§ Jen Kardos, Co-Director Backyard Abundance, along with Jenni Mettemeyer, Shimek school garden lead, will demonstrate ways to use elementary science curriculum (FOSS) in the garden.
§ Elizabeth Maas, Restoration Ecologist, Kirkwood Community College, will demonstrate an activity following the Next Generation Science Standards
§ Kelly Hanson, Farm to Early Care and Education Program Specialist, Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children, will share pre-K garden learning activities
§ Breanna Shea, Outreach Coordinator and Tony Loeser, Water Resources Engineer from Iowa Flood Center will demonstrate a new community resource to teach about water quality.
§ Michelle Kenyon, Field to Family’s Program Director and ICCSD’s Farm to School Coordinator, will cover general resources available to school gardeners and those creating and maintaining outdoor classroom space.
“This event features a hands-on component that demonstrates how to teach current district science curriculum in the garden,” explains Jen Kardos, Co-Director of Backyard Abundance. “Being thoughtful in the design of our school gardens, they can be used as outdoor classrooms effectively without adding to a teacher’s workload.”
Iowa Flood Center will demonstrate a new, interactive erosion table, highlighting how it can be used in teaching outdoor ecology.
“We are really excited to partner with Iowa Flood Center as we launch our DNR REAP Conservation Education program grant funded water quality educational youth programming,” Nancey Pope City of Iowa City Parks and Recreation.
“This year’s workshop covers Pre-K as well as school-aged learning activities,” said Michelle Kenyon, coordinator of the ICCSD Farm to School Chapter and Program Director for Field to Family. “School grounds and green space at daycare centers can be utilized as additional learning spaces for kids of all ages.”
Elizabeth Maas, Restoration Ecologist and professor at Kirkwood Community College will offer an engaging role-playing activity to help teachers make use of the outdoor learning spaces available to them. It will also serve as a demonstration on how to use the Next Generation Science Standards
“We are excited to bring farm to early care and education resources to educators and parents in the workshop. Outdoor classrooms support learning, teach kids where their food comes from and get them excited about tasting new foods,” said Kelly Hanson.
Registration and other information can be found at http://www.backyardabundance.org/
This is an annual gathering of all those interested in outdoor classrooms and school gardeners to learn new strategies, celebrate success and inspire each other to utilize gardens as outdoor classrooms. This workshop is geared towards educators, but all those interested in engaging PreK-12 students in school, community or home gardens are welcome.
“Teaching the Next Generation: Your Garden as Your Classroom” is hosted by the ICCSD Farm to School chapter, Field to Family and Backyard Abundance.
Support for this event comes from City of Iowa City and New Pioneer Food Co-op.
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ICCSD Farm to School Chapter: The ICCSD Farm to School chapter, a program of Field to Family, is one of 27 Iowa Farm to School chapters throughout the state that is working to get kids thinking about where their food comes from and adding more local foods to school lunches. The program has three components: providing support for school gardens, sourcing local foods for school lunches and hosting education programs on the farm to table process called, Farmer Fairs, which are in-school field trips where students get to meet local farmers, learn from nutritionists and participate in a hands-on gardening workshop as well as eat locally harvested, lightly processed fresh seasonal foods. http://fieldtofamily.org/programs/farm-to-school/
Backyard Abundance is a nonprofit that helps people create beautiful, environmentally-beneficial landscapes that provide healthy food and habitat. http://www.backyardabundance.org/
Field to Family works to create a more local, healthy and sustainable agriculture in Johnson and surrounding counties through their programs: Farm to School, Local Food Finder, Farm Stands in Food Deserts and Food System Education. http://fieldtofamily.org/