Growing Together: An Oakland Garden Learning Revitalization Project to Serve ~600 Title I Students.

Help me give our students a robust learning garden experience that will support science and conservation education for all.

My Project

Help our Title 1 elementary school repair is decade old irrigation so every student (~600) can access hands-on garden-based learning that boosts literacy, nutrition knowledge, SEL, and science learning.

I am a second grade teacher and the teacher garden lead at Chabot Elementary. Our school has a small garden space that is in desperate need of repair and revitalization. Research consistently shows garden-based learning supports academic engagement, nutrition knowledge and behaviors, physical activity, and social-emotional development. Additionally, school gardens are associated with increased fruit and vegetable knowledge and willingness to try healthy foods—an important equity-focused nutrition strategy in urban schools. Public health guidance highlights school garden programs as practical ways to advance school nutrition and activity goals.

Currently, our need is sustainability; Our existing irrigation system, installed over a decade ago, is broken but can be saved. A generous volunteer conducted a diagnostic, identified line breaks and has presented our garden team with an estimate to repair the existing system, which will support sustainability for existing fruit trees, pollinator and vegetable beds. The cost of this repair will be $3565. As soon as we are funded, work can commence and should take less than 2 weeks. Our goal is to support students and planting this year!

Additionally, we need a medium shed to house our garden tools, which have been displaced by the VERY important afterschool expansion. THe cost of a durable shed to house our tools is $1200.

The shed and irrigation make this a long-term investment. Your support will let hundreds of neighborhood children experience hands-on science, literacy, healthy eating lessons, and social-emotional growth in a safe outdoor classroom. Together we can grow healthy learners and a stronger school community.

Curriculum Goals:

SCIENCE

Students develop critical thinking skills by investigating how the natural world works.

Inquiry questions: How do plants transform light into energy? How does energy move through organisms and ecosystems? How do climate and geography influence food production? How do humans depend on these energy systems?

ENVIRONMENT

Students explore how living and nonliving factors shape ecosystems and food systems.

Inquiry questions: Where does our food energy originate? How do food webs and food systems function? How do human choices impact soil, water, crops, and animals? How do pollution and environmental changes affect food production?

HEALTH

Students connect nutrition, food systems, and physical activity to overall well-being.

Inquiry questions: How do food choices affect physical and mental health? How do food production and marketing influence what we eat? Why is physical activity essential, and how can we build healthy habits into daily life?

LANGUAGE

The garden provides a meaningful context for strengthening communication skills.

Inquiry questions: How can we communicate our ideas clearly and effectively? How do we build on others’ thinking in discussion? How does writing help us deepen our understanding of what we observe and learn? Inquiry questions: How can students communicate ideas persuasively? How can they integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse formats — visual, quantitative, written, and oral?

SOCIAL STUDIES

Students explore food as a lens for understanding culture, history, and global systems. They examine how agriculture, tradition, and innovation shape communities locally and worldwide.

Inquiry questions: Why do we eat what we eat? How has farming changed over time? How have these changes shaped local and global food systems? What role does food play in our culture and in cultures around the world?

Total requested for irrigation repair and a small shed is $4000.

UPDATE: 5/13/26

Between this fundraiser and a student-council led bakesale and PTA contributions, we have been able to get started!!

The funds raised via Go Fund Me allowed us to pay the contractors to get started on the irrigation repair, which is now about 80% complete! The line breaks have been repaired and a shed has been purchased so we can safely store and preserve our small collection of tools and wheelbarrows. We still need to build a foundation for the shed, so it doesn't rot or flood. Additionally, families, community members and staff have come together and donated tens of hours of labor to clean and restore our garden space. We are very close to meeting our goal!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!