Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tower Garden Grant
Tower Garden Grant
494-2053
wschrega@hollandpublicschools.org
Boys and Girls Club of Holland, West Ottawa Public and Hamilton Public
have made the conscious decision to include Tower Gardens in their buildings. It
brings connection, engagement, curiosity and knowledge to all who interact.
Positive school environments are not built overnight and often start with the
smallest seed of innovation and belief in the bigger picture. Collaboration
continues to be a vital aspect of any successful classroom environment and
should be promoted on a regular basis. Introducing the Tower Garden at
Jefferson will provide a new avenue of student connection, responsibility, and
teamwork, helping students invest in themselves and seek new opportunities.
Encouraging students to take the responsibility of growing vegetables and
working together creates an invaluable experience of classroom collaboration
and introduces the concept of watching fruits and vegetables grow and change.
Students will learn how simple it can be to have access to healthy food options,
and the importance of personal responsibility and taking risks to learn new
things.
2. Expected Outcomes (including curriculum standard/s met):
The Tower Garden in schools will provide a supplemental way to meet many
cross-curricular standards. Below are a few.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3
Tax - $57.87
The Tower Garden serves as a completely equitable resource for all involved,
including students with special needs and ESL and ELL students. Because the
Tower Garden is transportable, it can be easily moved and shared in different
environments and classrooms on an as needed basis.
Students in 6th grade spend time reading Seedfolks as part of their Narrative
Reading Unit as specified by the MAISA Curriculum. The Tower Garden serves
as a tangible connecting point expanding text-to-world and text-to-self
connections, increasing the depth of impact, and reinforcing students transfer
knowledge. Seedfolks tells the story of a diverse inner-city community in Ohio
that comes together to build a community garden. For 6th graders specifically,
this project allows each class to develop their own community as they build a
garden together.
The beauty of the Tower Garden extends beyond the 2016-2017 school year.
Considering the potential longevity of the Tower Garden structure, the only
renewable cost at the beginning of each school year are the seeds of the
vegetables to be grown. The Tower Garden itself is not a consumable product
and the investment into this system will extend long beyond a one-time
contribution. The system will be reused from year to year, creating new growing
opportunities each season. Ultimately, those impacted by this simple yet
collaborative and cross-curricular project are almost unknown.
"Grow Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs | Aeroponic Tower Garden." Tower Garden.