Gardens of Delight
By Susan M. Weaver

Third grade students and their teachers planted Black-Eyed Susans in the butterfly garden.

We moved into our new school in September 2002. The facility was beautiful – it featured spacious classrooms and a modern, well-lit library that welcomed students into the world of learning. However, I noticed that the grounds could use a little sprucing up.

At one time, the entire area was farmland with woods, wetlands and wildlife. Now most of the land had been cleared and the grounds near the school were almost completely bare. Everyone felt this needed to change, especially me. A five-acre woodlot and a small wetland area existed behind our school and appeared to be secluded havens for wildlife. I believed we could tap into this natural resource to teach our students more about nature. As I thought about it some more, I decided that gardens could be built close to the school to attract wildlife for student observation. But where would the money come from to build and who would design and plant these gardens?

Opportunity knocks. I had this on my mind when the September 2003 issue of National Geographic Explorer magazine arrived in my mailbox. When I opened it, I found that they were sponsoring a contest to help schools and the environment. Each winning school would receive $1,000 to build a schoolyard habitat. I immediately decided we would participate – we had an excellent location for a wildlife habitat and now here was the money that could help us build it!

I decided that the contest would be a worthwhile project for my Gifted/Talented students, whether we won or not. They would be learning about nature and its preservation while doing something wonderful for our school. I presented the idea to April Hand-Smith, who co-teaches the Gifted/Talented program with me. She agreed that it was a great idea and we approached our administration who then gave us the go ahead. When we presented the idea to our students, they were excited and ready for the challenge. We were on our way!

Ask the experts. We downloaded the rules for the contest and an entry form from the magazine's website at www.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer We were eligible to enter but were concerned about the criteria for judging. Our plan needed to reflect an understanding of habitats and be appropriate for our local ecosystem with accurate, factual information. Besides teaching G/T, April teaches Art and I teach Writing. We knew we could help the students develop a plan that was creative and well-written. Our next step was to get some help from nature experts.

We contacted The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy and the local Audubon Society. Luckily, they put us in touch with a National Wildlife Federation Habitat Steward who was an expert on schoolyard habitats. We began to understand what wildlife needs – food, cover, water and a place to raise their young.

We then took a closer look at our school grounds. We walked around our building, circled the wetlands and toured the woodlot as we brainstormed possible garden locations and plans. Thanks to a natural plants guru and knowledgeable birder from the Audubon Society, we learned that white oaks, black currants and elderberry bushes attract wildlife. We learned about the birds native to our area and identified the ones that might visit our wetlands and woodlands. Next, we brainstormed habitat ideas. What should ours look like? Since we had three different grade levels in G/T, we decided to plan three different gardens – one for butterflies, one for hummingbirds and one for wild birds.

Yellow mums and red sedum were planted in the butterfly-shaped garden.

Sowing the seeds. We decided to link the gardens to each grade's science curriculum. The third graders study Painted Lady butterflies in the spring, so they were in charge of developing the butterfly garden. Our fourth graders tackled the hummingbird gardens because the pollination process in an important part of their unit on Brassica plants. Fifth graders study ecosystems and the interdependence of plants and animals so they took on the wild bird garden. Our experts returned whenever we needed help and April went to work on the drawings, while I drafted the writing aspect of our plan.

On paper, our students created three imaginative gardens. The butterfly garden was shaped like a butterfly with a stone walkway for its body. The wings were to be filled in with yellow mums and red sedum to attract butterflies. Black-Eyed Susans and white Shasta daisies would also be incorporated into the design.

The fourth graders created a template for a hummingbird garden in the shape of a giant, five-petaled flower. Each "petal" was filled with red bee balm and cardinal flowers that would attract hummingbirds. We added a trellis covered with orange trumpet vines that would also attract the little pollinators.

The wild bird garden created by our fifth graders was a masterpiece. It was in the shape of a broken egg and was located on the edge of the woodlot which contained currant and blueberry bushes. A white oak would be in the center of the garden and surrounded by benches so it could serve as an outdoor classroom and a place for students to sit, draw and observe as they learned more about nature.

Students and teachers alike discovered their green thumbs!

And the winner is... It was difficult to tell who had the harder time waiting to hear if we'd won – the students or the teachers. By mid-March, we had nearly given up all hope. Then one day, after a hectic morning of teaching, I returned to my classroom and found a message on my phone saying that we had won!

The joy of winning this contest was overwhelming. The kids were ecstatic, as were the teachers, administrators and parents. We had worked hard, learned about nature and our ecosystem, planned carefully and succeeded in earning money for our school project. The building of our gardens began last spring. Students, parents and other community members came to help rake, hoe and plant. After a summer of growing, much to our delight, the gardens were in bloom when we all returned to school in September – as they will be for many Septembers to come.

Susan M. Weaver teaches writing to students in grades 2-5 and after school at Southwestern Elementary in Jamestown, NY.

February, 2005, Vol.35, No.5