Discovery GardenCommunity Partnerships

Shadow Lake Elementary School

Tahoma School District

9 Outdoor Teaching Stations

Discover Sensory Plants Garden

Discover Plants from Around the World Garden

Discover Food Plants Garden

Outdoor Teaching Stations

Discover Washington

Garden

Discover Butterflies Garden

Discover Pollinators Garden

Discover Forests & Meadows Trail

Discover Plants with Animal Names Garden

Discover Early Earth Garden

Outdoor Teaching Stations

Keys to Success1. A PRINCIPAL that is 100% committed to the project.

Our principal did an outstanding job gathering community support. * Garnered support from district & through-out the community * Solicited Volunteer Hours (Volunteers may not have shown- up if not for letters from the principal)* Solicited Financial Support

2. Community Support and Involvement

3. Stable Funding Source (Funds & in-kind donations)

4. Coordinator to manage projects

Creative Funding & Supportive PartnersVolunteer Contribution

Environmental Education Coordinator

Collaborates with school, businesses, agencies, organizations, families and individuals to provide gardens, outdoor programs and events

Master Gardener Builds & maintains gardens, provides information to students and community

Nature Nut Leader Weekly program for students at recess

Native Plant Steward Shares value of Native PlantsLocal Professional Artists Cycles SculptureNon-Profit Expert Provides organizational

direction and writes grantsMaple Trails Garden Club Labor and materials

Links with Organizations

ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONSMaster Gardener Foundation Master Gardener

Teaching KitsYouth Education Program Funding

Washington Native Plant Society Native Plant StewardGrant for engraved self-guided tour signs; Teaching kit; Earth Day Fair

National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat Certification & Support

Audubon Society Earth Day FairShadow Lake Bog Earth Day FairBurke Museum of Natural History Earth Day FairUS Forest Service Smokey BearPacific Education Institute (PEI) Training for teachers &

coordinatorEnvironmental Educators Association of Washington

TrainingProgram Resources

E3 WashingtonEducation, Environment, Economy

TrainingProgram Resources

Americorps Volunteer labor

School District SupportsShadow Lake Administration

*PrincipalFull support of programsCorrelations to state academic standards

Shadow Lake Educators Bring students to outdoor classroomsDevelop curriculum connectionsEncourage participation with Nature Nuts

Shadow Lake Administration Personnel

Support coordination of programs and events

District Department ofTeaching & Learning

Support development of curriculum connections, provides training & support from PEI

District School Board & Administration

Full support of programs

Parent Teacher Assoc. (PTA) Financial support

Tahoma District Grounds crew

Maintenance of gardens

Shadow Lake Maintenance crew

Support programs and events

District Technology & Print Shop

Communication

Local Professional Artists

Fine Art Cycles Sculpture

Landscape Designer Discover Washington DesignConsultant

Cedar Grove Compost Soil for garden beds

Fred Meyer Community grants

Tulalip Indian Tribe Funded Cycles sculpture

Boeing Corporate Matching funds

Starbucks Work parties & financial grants

Hardware stores Building Materials

Community Partnerships

School Families & Work PartiesShadow Lake families:

From infants to teens to grandparents, contribute many hours of labor at seasonal work parties.

Families donate materials of their own or from employers.

Teenagers!?!(former Shadow Lake students)

Starbucks “Make Your Mark Day” (hours = $$)

School Families Contribute• Plants• Materials• Tools• Supplies• Birdhouses• Bird baths• Labor• Garden

enhancements

• Services• Equipment• Financial

Contributions

• Volunteer at booths for Earth Day Fair

Boy Scouts of America

(work parties, benches)

Girl Scouts of America (work parties, birdhouses)

Service Organizations

• They provide helping hands for our work parties.

• We provide food from our garden harvest to share with needy families.

School wide: Every student, Every class

plants a tulip or daffodil bulb in the fallThe gardens are spectacular when they

bloom!

Students as Community Contributors

A study at Georgetown University found that

even if students, teachers, and

educational approach remained the same, improving a school’s

physical environment could increase test

scores by as much as 11%.

A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink

NATURE NUTS Volunteer Led Program

NO CHILD LEFT INSIDE!

• planting • hiking • unstructured

play • weeding • filling

birdfeeders• observing • harvesting• looking for

wildlife Pride & Spirit Award: Recognition each time

they engage with nature

Earth Day Week

CELEBRATION• Students, educators, parents, staff and environmentally

conscious community members celebrated the week’s endeavors with a festival celebrating the weeklong activities.

• Informational games and booths were sponsored by : Washington Native Plant Society, Burke Museum of Natural

History, Shadow Lake Bog, Rainier Chapter of Audubon Society, Smokey Bear from National Forest Service

• Week long educational activities focus on the importance of healthy habitat for all living things.

• Students and teachers explore different aspects of the 4 critical habitat elements and our connection with them: Food Water Shelter Space

• Kindergarten and first graders participate in Habitat Safari, a fun and engaging learning opportunity where students identify the four elements right on the school site and seek out evidence of local wildlife and the natural habitats in which they live.

• Second graders enjoy becoming paleontologists, digging in the “Early Earth Garden” only to unearth botanical imprints, fossilized bones, and ancient dinosaur tracks. They get to take home a lump of coal!

• Third, fourth and fifth grade students study riparian and forest habitats as well as the impact of global warming on habitats around the world.

Benefits for Students & StaffDiscovery Gardens of Shadow Lake…• Provide opportunities for enhanced learning • Binds students together as peer partners and

offers real life inclusion experiences for all persons with different-abilities.

• Educators utilize outdoor teaching stations for lessons directly linked to the environmental educational standards set by Washington State Legislators (EALRS/GLEs)

• Garden participants experience pride, responsibility, ownership, curiosity, and environmental accountability

• Students and staff provide frequent garden tours to our Shadow Lake guests

• Staff appreciate the unique educational experiences it offers their students.

• A beautiful sensory garden experience awaits students, staff and visitors upon arrival to school each day.

• Everyone is welcome to join in the fun.

Community BenefitsShadow Lake Discovery gardens:

• Provide an opportunity for full participation eliminating age, gender, socio economic class, physical and developmental disability issues.

• All persons are invited and welcomed into the Garden.• Establish community partnerships for support of

Tahoma School district schools• Offers sensory experiences to local seniors residential

care• Provides outreach and fellowship with home schooled

students• Religious affiliations and schools team together to

help the local food banks• Patrons of the arts have a creative welcoming outlet • Garden club members share expertise and enlighten

our youth in the area of botanical studies• Tahoma School District is noted for its enhanced

environmental learning projects and this educational model is shared with neighboring school districts

Lifelong learners

Discovery Gardens Project Perspective: Lessons Learned

• Communities come together when they focus on projects that make a difference not only in our immediate surroundings, but also have a larger impact on our world in which we live.

• The Discovery Gardens provide continual opportunities for hands-on learning experiences.

• Discovery Garden participants come away with an increased sense of awareness and accountability to the preservation of the earth, protection of our wildlife and an understanding of how their participation contributes to the environment.

Growing PainsWith all projects comes the accountability factor of funding and

people power. The school staff, teachers, administrators, community members, parents and the students themselves desire more opportunities for enhancement of the Discovery Garden program. With reliance on donations and pure people power passionate about the project, we have made great strides.

Areas where we could “grow” the program could include:• Support and grow funding (i.e., locate willing grant writers,

community donations, personal trusts and corporate endowments/sponsors)

• Develop a staff project coordinator position for someone who has the time and background knowledge to bring Environmental Education curriculum elements into the classroom.

• Support educational outreach through training classroom educators and school volunteers willing to attend workshops and courses designed to address the environmental education standards

• Integrate fresh environmental educational lessons that support the EALRS and GLEs guidelines

• Continue exploration of the world around us and peak student interest in the sciences.

Growing DreamsThings we’d like to do if time and money were no object:

Directly for kids• More plants for kids to plant• More time outside—

Class lessons Unstructured

exploring time• Earth steward mentors

program• Wildlife encounter

assemblies• Environmental field trips• More curriculum connections

with in-class lessons• Nature docent program• Expanded Earth Day Event

More booths More volunteers for

the booths

For the Program• Print field guides for

teachers to use• More help maintaining

gardens• More support for teachers

to bring classes outside

• More benches at meadow• New shed for supplies• New wheelbarrows• Encourage other schools

and groups to use our outdoor classrooms

• More cool plants and trees to get them hooked on NATURE!

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: FOR KIDS’ SAKES!