This spring, in schoolyards across the country, students, teachers, volunteers, and neighbors showed up and turned patches of unused outdoor space into gardens that will be used for learning for years to come.
Through Captain Planet Foundation’s Project Learning Garden (PLG) program, schools from Arizona to Vermont rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Each garden looked a little different because each school community brought its own needs, ideas, and personality to the project. But the thread running through all of them was the same: a belief that kids learn better when they can get their hands in the soil.
Mesa, Arizona — Concordia Elementary
With support from The Raley’s Companies, students helped bring a brand-new garden to life this spring. Educators and community volunteers worked side by side with kids to build an outdoor space where classroom lessons can spill outside — into something you can actually touch, smell, and eat.
Students at Concordia Elementary get their hands dirty!
Elk Grove, California — Florence Markofer Elementary
This school’s new garden installation at Florence Markofer Elementary brought students, families, and teachers together around a shared project — the kind of thing that tends to stick with a community long after the last seed goes in the ground.
South Jordan, Utah — Hawthorn Academy
Volunteers and students built five raised garden beds together, filling them with soil and starter plants while talking through how things grow. It’s the kind of hands-on learning that’s hard to replicate indoors, and the garden will continue to offer it to students well beyond installation day.
Grand Rapids, Michigan — Central Elementary
Central Elementary added a new outdoor learning space this spring, giving students another way to explore science, nutrition, and sustainability outside of a classroom. Sometimes the best lessons happen when you’re kneeling in the dirt.
Burlington, Vermont — Integrated Arts Academy
The PLG team was excited to fulfill Cox Automotive’s request to start new gardens in the Burlington, Vermont area. Five elementary schools in the Burlington School District were awarded. The schools include a lively group of dedicated educators who engaged immediately with all things PLG. The school district chose Integrated Arts Academy for the regional celebratory event. On May 19th, Cox volunteers and students built raised garden beds, filled with Kellogg soil, and planted pollinators and vegetables that will be ready for summer harvest in just a few weeks.
Atlanta, Georgia — Deerwood Academy
On May 15th, Project Learning Garden was honored to boost the vibrant garden at Deerwood Academy. Together with our amazing partners at Cox Enterprises, we added five brand-new garden beds to their already thriving school garden. Many thanks to Garden Coordinator Ursula Kenwood and her daughter, Kendall Rae Johnson (the youngest certified farmer in the nation!), as well as the incredible students, educators, and volunteers who made it all happen.
And the best part? A greenhouse is on the way, thanks to the Georgia Tech Atlanta chapter of Engineers Without Borders.
Atlanta, Georgia – Factory Shoals Elementary
On May 29th, the PLG team helped to host a garden TLC event at Factory Shoals Elementary with the help of Kellogg Garden Company. Co-Owner of Kellogg Garden Products, Kathy Kellogg Johnson, came by to speak with students and parents about growing a healthy garden. She brought along Kellogg Organic Plus Potting Mix and different bugs such as ladybugs, earthworms, and green lacewings to help ward off insects that can harm plants.
Students put soil in the new beds and planted different herbs. On top of this, it was a Fairy Garden celebration, where students painted kindness rocks, took part in crafts and celebrated the end of the school year together!
What’s Ahead!
Every garden planted this spring represents a real investment in the students who will tend them, learn from them, and hopefully develop a lifelong connection to growing plants, herbs, vegetables and more. Captain Planet Foundation will keep supporting schools in building these spaces, and there’s plenty more to come as the year goes on.