Washington Union Tower Gardens
Donation protected
Washington Union School is located in a rural area of Salinas, which is a huge agricultural community. We have approximately 190 students and serve fourth and fifth grade students. Students have had opportunities to learn about and grow local plants on our campus, but we want to teach students about how important agriculture is to our community and to teach them about sustainable growing practices. With this project we want to purchase two Tower Gardens. They are grown using no soil and very little water, which is recycled through the system.
Having these Garden Towers on our campus allows us to accomplish several things:
1. Students learn about sustainable growing practice.
2. Students learn about eating healthy, sustainable foods.
3. Students learn about what it means to eat and grow seasonally.
4. Students learn about the life cycle of plants and photosynthesis, which are part of the new Next Generation Science Standards.
5. Students learn about the plants that are grown through our local agriculture. This gives us the chance to connect with local businesses to teach them about the community of which they are a part.
We want to be able to give our students this unique opportunity for years to come. Being able to purchase these two tower systems (one for the fourth grade class and one for the fifth grade class) gives us the chance to continue this program year round and to expose every student to sustainable growing from the very start of each school year.
We would like to start this project as soon as possible, but we cannot purchase the towers until we are fully funded. If we have the towers by March, then students will have the opportunity to experience one plant cycle before we got for summer break in June.
The $1,600 that we are requesting would be spent in the following ways (please remember that costs are doubled because we are purchasing two towers):
One tower - $525 (total $1,050)
One cage (for growing tomatoes and squash) - $60 ($120)
One extender (to increase the surface area) - $70 ($140)
Tax - $153
Shipping - $117
I know that this will be a very exciting opportunity for hands-on learning for all students and teachers. It hits many of the Science standards that we work on every year, but will do it in a way that is more meaningful for all.
Thank you for your support. Our school is very excited about this project!
Having these Garden Towers on our campus allows us to accomplish several things:
1. Students learn about sustainable growing practice.
2. Students learn about eating healthy, sustainable foods.
3. Students learn about what it means to eat and grow seasonally.
4. Students learn about the life cycle of plants and photosynthesis, which are part of the new Next Generation Science Standards.
5. Students learn about the plants that are grown through our local agriculture. This gives us the chance to connect with local businesses to teach them about the community of which they are a part.
We want to be able to give our students this unique opportunity for years to come. Being able to purchase these two tower systems (one for the fourth grade class and one for the fifth grade class) gives us the chance to continue this program year round and to expose every student to sustainable growing from the very start of each school year.
We would like to start this project as soon as possible, but we cannot purchase the towers until we are fully funded. If we have the towers by March, then students will have the opportunity to experience one plant cycle before we got for summer break in June.
The $1,600 that we are requesting would be spent in the following ways (please remember that costs are doubled because we are purchasing two towers):
One tower - $525 (total $1,050)
One cage (for growing tomatoes and squash) - $60 ($120)
One extender (to increase the surface area) - $70 ($140)
Tax - $153
Shipping - $117
I know that this will be a very exciting opportunity for hands-on learning for all students and teachers. It hits many of the Science standards that we work on every year, but will do it in a way that is more meaningful for all.
Thank you for your support. Our school is very excited about this project!
Organizer
Whitney Meyer
Organizer
Salinas, CA
