Copenhagen Central School
Summer School

Over the summer, a local college student gave Copenhagen Central School summer school students in grade 4-6 the opportunity to learn about plant science, the environment and nutrition.  She led discussions about basic environmental science and healthy eating habits with elementary school students once a week.  Two garden beds were planted to use as an interactive tool for learning and different science topics were incorporated into not only her lessons, but the classroom teachers' lessons as well.  For more information, please see Miss Sydney’s blog at https://sydneyoshaughnessy.wordpress.com/other-experience-2/school-garden/ .
 
 
This learning experience was a huge success with students as they kept food journals, diagramed plant types, crafted re-usable “harvest” bags and logged caloric intake. The student engagement in every lesson is the motivation for the application for this award.
 
This program is replicable in its entirety as Miss Sydney provided the school with all curricular materials she provided, and the teachers involved in the project who added additional pieces to Miss Sydney’s work remain employed by the district and are collaborative by nature.

The award money from the Green Thumb Challenge would allow us to sustain, and even replicate this learning experience for upcoming students.  We would be able to pay for new plants and seeds as well as other resources necessary to maintain the garden beds and this particular program.

We truly appreciate your consideration for this award, as the sustainability is important to the struggling learners enrolled in summer school who may otherwise be unmotivated in academic areas.  And, these are the very people whom our environment depends upon!