STEM, Inside and Out: Hands-on science and garden education at St. Anthony of Padua School
About GrowingGreat. As a pioneer in school gardens in Los Angeles since 1999, GrowingGreat (GG) has reached hundreds of thousands of children and parents with hands-on nutrition, STEM, and garden education. We offer activities for preschool through high school, in Spanish and English. We are committed to low-income families in our cement-covered city where fresh produce is hard to find and a school garden may be the only green space a child experiences.
Our Mission. GrowingGreat’s mission is to build nourishing, learning communities that empower children to make healthy food choices. Our garden and nutrition education programs are multicultural with a focus on literacy and scientific inquiry.
STEM, Inside and Out will utilize St. Anthony’s new STEM Lab and include a new experiential outdoor classroom/garden learning space. St. Anthony’s eigth graders will become leaders in garden education, ready to implement similar programs in high school.
Schedule. Between October 2017 and June 2018, GG will teach at St. Anthony’s five times. Every other month, St. Anthony’s will choose one of the GG programs listed below to be taught at their school site. As teachers implement GG activities, GG will serve as an on-call consultant between visits and St. Anthony’s will have access to all GG online curriculum.
Goals. The goals of STEM, Inside and Out, the St. Anthony’s partnership with GrowingGreat, are:
- Teacher Professional Development. GG will support St. Anthony’s teachers in making full use of their new STEM Lab with hands-on activities in line with the Next Generation Science Standards.
- STEM Garden Program. GG will support eighth-grade teachers and students in creating a school garden that is an outdoor classroom led by the eighth graders and incorporating science curriculum and nutrition education.
- K-1 STEM Mentors. GG staff will teach hands-on STEM activities to St. Anthony’s eighth-graders, as well as inquiry-based science education techniques, so that the eighth graders can become mentors to younger students in their garden.
- K-2 Classroom Visits. GG staff will visit K-2 classrooms at St. Anthony’s to teach their hands-on STEM series All About Apples; Beans in a Bag; Crunching on Celery; Flowers, Stems and Leaves; and Seed Sleuths, including take-home family science activities in Spanish and English.