Dearest PCS Families,

Wow! What fantastic weather we are having… Gardening weather for sure! Did you know that PCS has a school garden? This wonderful part of our school is nestled behind our Early Childhood Building and has become an integral part of our Early Childhood program. In the coming months and years, we are hoping to expand the use of the garden to include more students and learning opportunities. But why a garden at a school?

A school garden is a powerful environmental education tool. Through gardening, students become responsible caretakers. They have an opportunity to engage in agricultural practices on a small scale, learning about the responsibilities and impacts of land cultivation. They explore the web of interactions among the living and nonliving players that sustain life. By doing so, they develop a greater understanding of the natural world.

For many children, a garden offers the only chance to get close to nature. Some lack access to gardening spaces because of their living situations while others have limited exploratory free time in the outdoors due to the focus on indoor activities and participation in organized outdoor activities. School garden educators in urban environments frequently find their programs provide students’ first opportunity to dig into the soil and watch a plant grow.

Establishing a connection with nature at an early age is extremely important. Researchers discovered childhood experiences with nature are strongly linked to adult attitudes toward plants. They determined that participation in active gardening during childhood was the most important influence in explaining adult environmental attitudes and actions and concluded that even in urban areas where green spaces are limited, gardening programs for children can provide a strong enough connection to instill appreciation and respect for nature in adulthood.

Gardens create opportunities for students to work cooperatively and to take on responsibilities. They will quickly learn the negative consequences associated with forgetting to water their plants on a hot day and will work hard to make sure it does not happen again. The plants will also provide positive reinforcement in response to proper care by growing or producing fruits, contributing to development of a good work ethic. On a personal level, gardening builds confidence, self-esteem, and pride as the students watch their efforts turn into beautiful and productive gardens. It also teaches them patience as they wait for a seedling to sprout or a tomato to ripen.

Gardens provide unique opportunities for cross-generational connections. While gardening, children interact with teachers, parents and community volunteers. The garden provides children opportunities to ask questions, share thoughts and work cooperatively toward a common goal.

A school garden is a perfect tool to provide hands-on learning experiences for any academic subject. Science is the most common subject linked to gardens. Many teachers use the garden as a laboratory to introduce students to scientific methods through plant-related experiments. Additionally, a garden provides a place to study weather, insects, soil and other environmental topics. It’s the ideal habitat model for studying ecosystems. The real-life experiences contribute greatly to students’ comprehension and retention of new science knowledge, a fact supported by studies linking participation in a gardening program to increases in science achievement scores.

In addition to science, the garden provides opportunities to teach mathematics, history-social science, English language arts, and visual and performing arts. Concepts that seem abstract in the classroom come alive in a garden setting. For instance, students find taking daily measurements of garden bean plants and then charting the growth rate to determine the fastest growing plant in the garden much more exciting than charting numbers provided by a simple lesson within the classroom walls.

Beyond academics, the garden provides broader life lessons including contributing to students’ knowledge of how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Through a gardening program, students gain first-hand experience with fresh fruits and vegetables. They discover that produce does not magically appear on the grocery store shelves and learn about the important role of agriculture in our society. The pride and curiosity sparked by growing the fruits and vegetables along with the familiarity of where they come from motivates students to try them, oftentimes leading to more positive attitudes and eating behaviors. (excerpts taken from www.csgn.org)

Be on the lookout for more information coming to families about how to get involved during the summer months in our gardening efforts at PCS! We are looking forward to growing our gardening program and positively impacting the environment and our students’ learning!

Have a wonderful week. As always, if you have a question, need to discuss a matter, or need a simple check-in… my door is always open. Feel free to contact me via phone or email!

Warmly,

Dana

p: 314.645.9600 x608

e:dleesman@premiercharterschool.org

ANNOUNCEMENTS

This is an amazing opportunity for all educators. Trusted Adult training helps adults who work with youth to learn the key skills and practices that youth respond to—especially when they have things going on that an adult could help them handle. CHADS Coalition in partnership with the Rockwood School District is offering this free training virtually on Tuesday April 6th. It’s just one hour and well worth the time.

Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sd-mvpjkpHdTDViuDzNrEhHcWOubjX335

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Cultural Fashion Show

Time to show off your culture!

We are interested in learning about traditional clothing from different cultures.

We invite anyone (adults and students) to participate in this year’s virtual cultural fashion show. We are asking for a video of you in your traditional clothing in a 10-15 second video that is recorded horizontally. You can send your video to me or, if you are in-person learning, I will schedule to come to take a video of you.

We would also love to have any adult teach about their culture. Displaying artifacts and/or pictures, teaching a traditional dance, demonstrating how to make a traditional food, and/or showing a short film are just a few ideas of how you could share your culture with others. These would be done in a video (again, please record it horizontally).

Please contact Mrs. Wagener if you are able to help.

mwagener@premiercharterschool.org

314-645-9600 ext 249

Video should be submitted by April, 30.

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2021 Virtual Multicultural Fair, Connecting Our Stories!!

That's right, we're going to celebrate this favorite event virtually!

We are incredibly lucky to have such a diverse student body and we love to celebrate the many cultures that make up PCS each year during this event. This year we hope to have both live and recorded sessions so our students, in person and virtual, can all participate.

Right now we're looking to involve our families and community members in planning this year's event. If you're interested in being part of the planning, or you have contacts or ideas for live or recorded sessions, please email Christy Wohlgemuth at cwohlgemuth@premiercharterschool.org.