Habitat Garden School Community PBL Project

Our Habitat Garden provides habitat for a variety of Sonoma County wildlife, including native songbirds, hummingbirds, reptiles, and insects. Our habitat garden provides opportunities for our students and their families to explore nature and become citizen scientists with the ability to care for the land and animals. Our school garden is part of the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed

Background

The UELF Habitat Garden began as an idea years before it came to fruition, when two parent volunteers attended a class about developing school habitat gardens in 2017. Students began research in 2018 to determine which animals our site could best support. Garden lessons were tailored to each classes’ interest, with each class researching specific animal(s) to learn it’s habitat requirements. Students researched what animals needed for food and shelter and compared which plants could provide their needs to lists of California native plants appropriate for our local climate. Later students assembled their ideas into a variety of garden layouts for their animals.

In February 2019, the students of University Elementary completed a Site Survey of our future habitat garden during designated Outdoor Classroom time. The students mapped out the available space for the habitat garden by laying down a long garden hose to see the proposed outline and used measuring tapes to determine the estimated dimensions. In addition, the students evaluated existing ground cover, slope, high and low spots, drainage, and soil pH, documented observations of wildlife, and identified structures within the proposed area. All findings were documented on paper and photos.

Through the teamwork of students, parents, grandparents, and staff, UELF was awarded a grant from School Gardens Network in September 2020. This grant included funding to support the purchase of plants, an irrigation system, and other materials, as well as design assistance from the SGN Habitat Garden Coordinator.

Habitat Garden Planting Day April 2021