BELLINGHAM — Forget about kickball or hitting the slide. At Parkview Elementary in Bellingham, recess is all about getting your hands dirty.
That’s because the school has its own garden and greenhouse, which are incorporated into lessons for the students.
“They love it,” said Marca Babcock, a teacher and garden supervisor at Parkview. “If I go out there at recess, they’re just flocking in there to help.”
Though school is out for the summer, students are still involved in the garden’s upkeep. Students and their families sign up for weeklong stints as garden guardians, during which time they have the added perk of helping themselves to produce. During the year, students can always sample the produce and will occasionally have salad parties.
“They were like, ‘This tastes better than the carrots I get at the store,’” Babcock said of students’ first reactions to their veggies. “They were amazed at how fresh and flavorful it was.”
The garden was built in summer 2006, with a $15,000 donation from the Bellingham-based Mary Redman Foundation.
“Her vision was to improve children’s nutrition,” Babcock said. “She really feels that kids having that knowledge firsthand of where food comes from will encourage them to eat vegetables, and if they grow their vegetables, they’ll eat them.”
All levels of the school are involved in the garden, and each class has an assigned bed that they take care of. Fifth-graders use math and carpentry skills to build the garden’s raised beds, and third-graders learn about the plants as a hands-on part of their science lessons.
“I think digging around in the dirt, any kind of hands-on activity, they just love,” she said. “And being outdoors they love, too.”
The second- and fifth-graders both have garden clubs at different times, and every grade is involved with planting.
“I think they’re learning what plants need to grow,” she said. “If you handle the plant roughly or let the roots dry out, the plants are going to die. So they’re learning how to take care of a garden.”
And they’re gaining a sense of pride about their work. Babcock said there have been a few incidences of vandalism that have bothered and disappointed the students.
“It’s learning responsibility and a sense of ownership,” she said. “They have to really learn to focus and do the job they’re supposed to do and not goof off.”
Parents of the students love it, too.
“It’s been a great experience for our family and our kids,” said Jennifer Dyrland, whose son Nick attends Parkview. “(The students) all seem to take so much pride in watching the process.”
Next year, Babcock hopes to incorporate more science lessons with the garden, perhaps teaching about the science of composting.
“There’s a lot more we can do with it,” she said, “and I’m really excited to develop that.”
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