Through the Alcoa W5 project, Nightengale Elementary School in the U.S. wanted to learn about the benefits of composting and of eating home-grown food products!
First, students learned about plants, soil, composting, and everything that growing a garden entails. They talked about how eating vegetables is healthy and how growing their own can have many benefits! Students learned about the properties of soil, why it is important to plants, and the benefits of using compost. Students also learned how plants grow and what plants need to grow.
They then came up with blue prints of how they were going to construct garden beds in their school. Students went outside throughout the week to monitor where the sun hit the courtyard the most and would write down their observations. This helped them decide where they were going to place the planter boxes. They also used their math skills to measure and determine the appropriate lengths for the garden beds.
Meanwhile, they had compost going in a composter for most of the school year. Once the compost was ready to go, boards were cut to size, and all the soil was transported and readily available, a Community Action Day was organised. Friends, family, and five Alcoa workers came along and helped construct three planter boxes, filled the boxes with gardening soil, and then planted vegetable plants and herbs.
“I really liked doing this project because I learned a lot about gardening and how to make a garden. I am excited to see what plants we get from our garden.” -Dakota LaPradd (5th grade student in Mrs. Blanchard’s class)
The school is excited to continue their garden project! Next school year, they are planning to only buy seeds (instead of already grown plants) in order to follow the whole process from seed to plant.
The Alcoa W5 project of Nightengale Elementary School support the following SDGs:
