The Garden at Lincoln Elementary

Lincoln Elementary is a public school located in Leland, North Carolina.  We are currently raising funds for a STEM project called "The Garden at Lincoln Elementary". The Garden will focus on Math and Science. This will allow the students to use real world representations when problem solving and it will help bridge the gap between the concrete and abstract. The Garden’s mission is to incorporate academic standards with hands on applications through an enriching environment that will nurture and develop all aspects of a child’s education, growth, and well-being.

The project will serve the whole population, Pre-K through 5th grade. Lincoln is a Title I school with 83.33% of our students receiving free or reduced lunch. Also, Lincoln is a very diverse school, our demographic break down is as follows: 267 Caucasian, 174 Hispanic, 127 African America, 34 in two or more race categories, 9 Native American, and 1 Asian.

There are many ways the Garden at Lincoln Elementary will benefit and address the needs of our students, but there are two that standout among the rest. First and foremost, the garden will be used as a true hands on, multi-sensory extension of the classroom for the North Carolina math and science standards. The NC standards for math include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,fractions, measurement, data, geometry, and graphing. All of these standards can and will be applied to the garden and used as teaching tools. A few examples are: 1. Students will measure the raised beds to determine how much compost/soil will be needed. 2.
Students will be working with the National Weather Service to track the rainfall and temperature in our area. 3. Students will plant our crops in arrays which will build on their understanding of multiplication and division. These are just a few examples of how this project
will benefit and address the educational needs of our students. The second, and in my opinion, the most important benefit will be how the garden will address the well-being of our students. Lincoln is a special place because although most of our students are growing up in poverty and have never experienced gardening and or fresh food, they are excited to learn and grow. Of our 610 students, 508 of them receive free or reduced lunch and many of them participate in our school's food  bank. I have had several students in my class that have never left Leland. They have never been across the bridge to Wilmington (2 miles down the away) or to any of the local beaches (10 minute drive). These students lack what most of us take for granted, which is basic background knowledge. Therefore, it is our mission to bring experiences to them and we believe that this project is one way to do that.

The implementation will be completed in phases. Phase one, which will take place in the fall of 2016 will include the building of the initial five raised beds, building the entry way arbor, planting fruit trees, building a potting station, preparing the beds for planting, and planting the fall crop. Phase two, three, and four, which will include additional beds, outdoor classroom decking/roof, stone pathway, and green house will be implemented through out the school year and into the next year based on funding. The schedule of activities and usage is quite simple, the garden will be used on a daily basis as an extension of the classroom. Daily activities in and about the garden will be used with in our classroom rotations.

Thank you for taking the time to read the proposed Garden at Lincoln Elementary project. If you could take a small snap shot of the youth in our state it would look very similar to our students at Lincoln. They are wonderful children who come from varying socioeconomic, racial, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Most of them spend the majority of their time in front of screens, most don't have the chance to eat fresh foods, and most don't have the background knowledge that many of us take for granted. But they all have one thing, and that is the desire to learn and grow. As an educators we believe that students should receive the best education possible and with the support from people like you, we can ensure that they get what they deserve. Finally, we believe that it is important to state that this is truely a crowd funded project.  There is no state of district funding for this project.