Learning Garden in Transition

As the Learning Garden’s five-year private foundation grant runs out this year, the Southern Boone School District begins piloting the outdoor school classroom with former fourth grade teacher Hope Sickmeier as its teacher.

Southern Boone student stopped to admire the sunflowers recently at the Learning Garden beds in front of the pre-kindergarten classrooms.

What started as a few raised garden beds by parents Lesli Moylan and Jennifer Grabner has become multiple gardens west of the Primary School, at the Middle School, behind the Pre-Kindergarten classrooms and raised bed at the high school. Two storage sheds hold equipment, hoses and implements, but the key to the Learning Garden in the past five years has been Grabner and AmeriCorps students who served as educators to kindergarten through fourth grade students.

What will the transition from a non-school district managed garden to SoBoCo’s management of the garden look like?

While it is unknown how the district and the Learning Garden board will work together, one sure thing is that students will spend more time in the garden.

“We are planning to see each class monthly instead of three times each semester,” Sickmeier said.

~ Read more in today’s Journal ~ 

By Bruce Wallace