Connected Roots:

School Community Garden

What if...

we could create a safe community for families that allow for connection and belonging through shared experiences in the garden?

Connected Roots - Narrative

My journey with this project began on my own when I became the STEM teacher at Russell Cave Elementary. I inherited a decaying garden space that had been immaculate at one time but had slowly began to fall into disrepair after its creator moved on to a different job. This garden space is used daily by students are they go to recess or transition between special area classes because it is located in a courtyard in the middle of our building.The beds were full of vegetation and flowers but it was overgrown and looked rough. Students deserve a space that is well maintained and beautiful. The students also deserve teachers who will stick around. Russell Cave has a lot of staff turn over. Many times people will start working there to get experience and then they move on to a school that is easier to work at. There are amazing teachers in my building but they don't always stay there long.

When starting the renovation process on the garden I had big dreams of finishing it in one year and doing it all on my own. I quickly realized after just a few short months that there was no way I could do this alone. My family would help out some but it wasn't enough for the every growing weeds in the space alone. My first year focus also shifted to securing money to make the changes needed in the space by writing and recieving multiple grants. I also noticed that we didn't have a lot of parent involvement in our building. Parents show up for big events but they aren't in the building daily helping out or volunteering. We had a handful that would show up on the weekend. I started to consider creating a team of staff, students, and parents that would help plan, maintain, and manage the garden space. As I began working through the deeper learning process, I realized that a well maintained garden learning area is nice, but I wanted to use that platform to connect with families and give them a safe space to interact with their teachers and feel like they are a part of our school community.

I have enjoyed bringing more gardening concepts into my classroom. I have been able to integrate earth and animal sciences into our instruction. The students love digging in the dirt, helping move rock, and spending more time outside. I feel like students enjoy being a part of making the garden beautiful again. Staff want to help out and get involved. I am hoping this summer we can build a group of staff to serve on the garden committee to keep things moving.

The future of this project really relies on getting parents involved in the process. I will continue to work with the FRC and other staff members to build programming for parents and hopefully create a place where they can feel safe. I will be working on the next steps listed above to keep the progress moving forward.

Melinda Caudill - 2. CTEPS Research Findings

LITERATURE REVIEW

My literature review allowed me to take a deep dive into the benefits of a school garden for students, families, and staff.

Research Methods

All stakeholders were given a survey to help understand volunteers needs and availablity with a focus on what barriers exist that keep them from helping.

Parent Teacher Student

Students are planting seeds to put in our classroom greenhouse until it gets warm enough outside to plant.

Each class planted something different to contribute to the garden that was specific for their content.

Students are responsible for watering the plants and helping them survive.

Mrs. Caudill ripping out the weeds and putting down weed barrier and rock on one of our family work days this summer.

Project Timeline (1).pdf

Timeline

Community Garden (1).pdf

Project Mapping

Connection… Our entire world is more disconnected than ever. Humans feel isolated and search for belonging. Families are disengaging from schools out of fear. Some groups have been told they no lo (1).pdf

Connected Roots Brochure for families

findings

Melinda Caudill - 7. CTEPS Data Planner

Data from the project

Staff Data

Parent Data

revised theory of action

My initial research focused on creating a safe community for families that allow for connection and belonging through shared experiences in the garden? I started all of this wanting to get more people involved in helping create and maintain the garden while focusing on parent involvement as a secondary focus. My revised theory of action is shifting my research into building parent engagement in our school community in general with a school that isn’t within walking distance of the families we serve? We also continue to have the barrier of language which hasn't been verbalized by parents but I know it must be intimidating because it is intimidating for me as well.

conclusion & next steps

So based on my response from parents. I still haven't found a way to get them interested in our school garden. I am going to conduct a student survey on which I included the question "What could we do to help your parents get more involved at RCE and specifically the garden? What keeps them from coming to volunteer in our building?" I know that culturally hispanic parents are very supportive of education and view teachers in high regards. I need to find a way to make them feel comfortable and welcome in our building. I also need to consider how I can get information to them better. They don't seem to respond to electronic communication like apps and emails, even when using the school emailing system Infinite Campus.

Figure out how to communicate more efficiently and effectively with our population.
Study a neighboring school that has a similar population to RCE and see how they get parents in their building. They have a thriving PTA and family involvement. One big noticeable differnece is their families can walk to their campus.
Come up with some programming featuring community partners and garden resources with our FRC coordinator that will get families in the building, get them free resources, and make it fun.
Find some families with lots of parent connections in the community and try to build a relationship with them so that they in turn will promote parent involvement amongst other parents.
Build a strong staff and student base so that parents will be more encouraged to get involved and help come to school.

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