September 15, 2014-Diggin In 2012-2013 Annual Report

Digging In: Growing Outdoor Classrooms

2013-14 Annual Report

September, 2014

Table of Contents

Organization and Grant Information

1

Project Summary 1Outcomes 2Conclusions 4Budget 5

Digging In: Growing Outdoor Classrooms 2013-14 Annual

Report

“Kids come alive outdoors. That's what we should be supporting.”

~MMSD GROW School staff member, 2014

A. Organizational and Grant Information

The program is administered by the Madison Metropolitan School District and five community partners: Community Action Coalition; Community GroundWorks, Sustain Dane; and the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension- Dane County.

Primary Contact: J. Ashleigh Ross MMSD Administration Building, Curriculum and

Assessment, Rm. 124, 545 West Dayton Street, Madison WI 53703

608-442-2857 jaross@madison.k12.wi.us Grant accepted by MMSD on July 9, 2012 Grant Award Amount: $350,000 over three years Grant #5972

B. Project Summary

The Digging In project addresses the need for active, engaged learning among children to improve academic achievement across all socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups through a vibrant community partnership. Digging In brings innovation, creativity and structure to current garden development and garden-based education in MMSD and other Dane County school districts through the installation or expansion of school gardens and outdoor classrooms, community engagement, and teacher professional development.

Digging In integrates outdoor, garden-based learning into the educational practice and culture of participating school districts for over 8,000 Dane County children attending 15 schools over three years. Five schools are selected in each year of the grant.

Cohort 1 schools include: Toki Middle School, Spring Harbor Middle School, Lake View Elementary, Muir Elementary, and Lincoln Elementary (all MMSD).

Cohort 2 schools include: Sherman Middle School (MMSD), Lapham Elementary (MMSD), Orchard Ridge Elementary (MMSD), Prairie Elementary (Waunakee), and Marshall Early Learning Center (Marshall).

Cohort 3 schools were chosen and include: Allis Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary, Sandburg Elementary, Thoreau Elementary, and Van Hise Elementary (all MMSD).

Program Highlights: 2013-14 Five additional participating schools (added to the five schools from Cohort 1) created or enhanced their

outdoor classrooms.

September 15, 2014-Diggin In 2012-2013 Annual Report

3,890 students, in ten Dane County schools, benefitted from new or expanded outdoor classrooms. 14 MMSD Cohort 1 teachers

continued to participate in a Garden-Based Education Professional Learning Community (PLC), meeting 8 times this year to continue work on curriculum integration.

Cohort 2 garden team members (including principals, teachers, and parents) participated in 8 monthly Sustainability Sessions aimed to provide information and build skills around outdoor classrooms.

Every Cohort 1 & 2 school developed strategies to promote the school garden and gain input from all community stakeholders.

Full staff Garden-Based Education Professional Development sessions were held at 3 Cohort 1 schools in the fall (2013) and at all 5 Cohort 2 schools in the spring (2014).

An MMSD Garden-Based Learning website (https://scienceweb.madison.k12.wi.us/garden-based_ed) has been created to share information about youth gardening, resources, and curriculum materials with teachers, parents, and community members.

The GROW Program Team held several strategic meetings to communicate the value of outdoor learning with high level administrators.

Individual School Outdoor Classroom Highlights 2013-2014: Muir Elementary School continued their partnership with CUNA Mutual during a spring workday event

where CUNA employees spent May 23rd working alongside Muir students, teachers, and parents. Lincoln Elementary hosted its 2nd annual Family Garden Class over the summer to strengthen their school

community and teach practical horticulture skills. Lake View Elementary rented goats for one week this spring to clear invasive plants from their woodland.

This provided an on-site “field trip” for students to learn about invasive plants and sustainable land management.

Toki Middle School added straw-bale gardens to their outdoor classroom to expose students to various gardening techniques and added a white board onto their garden shed which enhanced teaching and learning options.

Spring Harbor Middle School broke ground on their greenhouse with students working mix and constructing the straw/clay walls.

Orchard Ridge Elementary School engaged all students in interdisciplinary learning to design, plan, and build their outdoor classroom. Phase 1, the “mini-farm” along Gilbert Rd. is complete.

Lapham Elementary School doubled the size of their original school garden to allow more space for classes to gather and paths to make the garden accessible to all learners and community members and added an irrigation system.

Sherman focused on making their existing garden more accessible by building wheelchair accessible raised beds and held a choir concert in the garden.

Prairie Elementary School (Waunakee) transformed an unused lawn space into a brand new outdoor classroom at the entrance of the school building.

Marshall Early Learning Center (Marshall) transformed an under-utilized blacktop area into a vibrant urban garden.

“I believe that meaningful engagement in outdoor education can significantly impact student achievement and is one of the best ways to engage/enliven the community.”

~MMSD GROW School staff member, 2014

C.

Outcomes Intended outcomes from the original proposal include:

o Build high quality, “model,” outdoor learning spaces: All 5 Cohort 1 schools have built model outdoor classrooms. All 5 Cohort 2 schools have begun building/expanding their outdoor classrooms in

preparation for the fall 2014.

o Increase Teachers’ Use of School Gardens for Garden-Based Education through providing high quality outdoor learning spaces and professional development:

14 teachers, representing the 5 Year 1 GROW schools continued participating in monthly Garden -Based Professional Learning Community Meetings (PLC) meetings. 9 Garden-based Education Units of Study were developed and are being disseminated.

All 10 schools have conducted full staff Garden-Based Learning Professional Development. Annual data was collected regarding opinions of outdoor learning, perceived obstacles to

integrating outdoor learning into instruction, and current practices. Survey results revealed: There has been a 30% increase in the usage of the Outdoor Classrooms for the 1st

Cohort for teachers. A 48% increase was found for teachers taking a class to the Outdoor Classroom 4 or more times during the fall semester. This greatly out-performs our goal of a 10% increase over the previous years’ outcomes.

How many times did you take your students outdoors/ to the school garden during the fall semester? (Cohort 1 whole staff)

Fall 2012 (n=92) Fall 2013 (n=111)At least once 61 794 or more times 27 40

When asked “Do you have plans to teach outdoors/in the school garden this spring semester?” 55% responded “yes” in 2013, while 69% responded “yes” in 2014.

While science remained the most taught content area in the outdoor classroom in 2014, there were large gains in the number of teachers using the outdoor classroom to teach math and art content:

What subjects do you teach in the garden? (Cohort 1 whole staff)2013 (n=59) 2014 (n=82)

Math 14 27Art 8 15

May 5, 2023 – Digging In 2013-14 Annual Report page 3

o Increase Community Engagement in Garden-Based Learning All 5 Cohort 2 schools created green teams that included teachers, administrators, and parents

to lead the development and use of the outdoor classroom. All 5 Cohort 1 schools maintained, and in some cases expanded, their green teams.

All 5 Cohort 2 schools developed strategies to promote engagement in the outdoor classroom and gain input into the garden design process.

3 of the Cohort 2 schools dove-tailed on already planned school events to build excitement around the outdoor classroom.

A Community Engagement Planning Sustainability Session was held for all Cohort 2 Team members (teachers, parents, principals). Schools used this time to think strategically about how to engage all parents and community members in their school garden. From this planning, many outside community organizations were involved in the project including Master Gardener volunteers, UW WE Badger volunteers, UW Environmental Studies Capstone Course, Good Shepard Lutheran Church, CUNA Mutual Group, Waunakee High School, and the Department of Human Services among others.

3 of the Cohort 1and 4 of Cohort 2 schools are using web-based strategies to communicate to the broader community.

Lapham - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lapham-Garden-Green-Team/517518851624771 ;   https://sites.google.com/site/laphammarquetteptg/resources/garden-based-learning ; https://sites.google.com/site/laphammarquetteptg/resources/garden-based-learning/green-team https://sites.google.com/site/laphammarquetteptg/resources/garden-based-learning/adopt-the-garden-for-a-week

Prairie - https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Gardens-at-Prairie/628978077144102 Orchard Ridge - https://orchardridgeweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/58 Marshall Early Learning Center -

https://sites.google.com/a/marshallschools.org/tiny-sprouts-garden/home Muir - http://muirgarden.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/muirgardens Lincoln - http://madison.campusguides.com/content.php?pid=406092&sid=3323430 Spring Harbor - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Irwin-A-and-Robert-D-Goodman-

Greenhouse-at-Spring-Harbor/192770364099406o Improve Academic Achievement

PLC teachers reported increased student engagement while working in the garden. 10 Garden-based Units of Study were developed by the PLC this year and are currently being

disseminated to a broader audience. These units use the Understanding by Design template and are aligned to Common Core State Standards for Literacy and Mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards.

In order to provide teachers with garden-based curricula tools that align to district literacy initiatives, a document of all K-5th grade MONDO books with outdoor themes was created and outdoor/garden-based extension lessons were written to enrich the current MONDO lessons. This Garden-Based MONDO document is being disseminated to a larger audience.

Intended outcomes not achieved:o Given that the landscape of the district has changed since the writing of this grant, we no longer think

that the WKCE is a valid measure of the success of this program. We met with MMSD Research and Evaluation to discuss more relevant metrics. In year 3 we will be gathering data on suspensions, attendance, and parents’ and teachers’ perceived student achievement due to outdoor instruction.

o In order to identify obstacles and areas of need for year 3 school staff members (Cohort 1- Project Year 2) were asked, “What is the single biggest obstacle to you teaching outdoors/in gardens?” A word cloud found the most common responses:

Unintended outcomes which were achieved:

o At least 3 of the GROW Grant recipient schools have written their Outdoor Classroom into their school’s School Improvement Plan (SIP). The SIP is the focus of each school’s work and day-to-day work, so having the Outdoor Classroom written into the SIP is a huge step towards fully integrating Outdoor Classroom into the school culture.

o The integration of outdoor learning into all content areas (math, art, music, physical education, occupation/physical therapy).

o School staff starting to view the entire school grounds (as opposed to just the school garden/outdoor classroom) as a resource for learning.

May 5, 2023 – Digging In 2013-14 Annual Report page 5

D. Budget Additional funders supporting individual school outdoor classrooms –

Donor Donation Estimated $ Amt School

FISKARS Lopper, pruners, multi-purpose garden scissors, larger hand/garden tool...name? $200

Orchard RidgeGood Shepherd Church Tasting lesson plans $200 Orchard Ridge

Home Depot

15 each of hand trowels, hand cultivators, hand weeders, and 5 full size shovels, 5 full size rakes, 7 strawberry plants and 7 shepards hooks; 18 tape measures

$735

Orchard Ridge

Kraus-Anderson Construction Company Cash $200

Orchard RidgeOakhill Correctional Inst. Plants and seedlings $300 Orchard RidgeSelwood Plumbing Donated labor for plumbing installation $250 Orchard Ridge

Willy St Coop 16 pints of organic strawberries, 5 bags of red grapes, box of bananas, box of oranges $300

Orchard RidgeWind River Financial $3,000 to cover cost of plumbing installation $3,000 Orchard RidgeAce Hardware-Willy St. $50 in-store credit $50 Orchard RidgeBallweg Chevrolet Cash $25 Orchard Ridge

Dorn True Value Hardware 2 spade shovels, 3 hand shovels, lopper set, bamboo stakes and safety glasses, 3 hand rakes $150

Orchard RidgeHy-Vee 63 boxes of pudding $60 Orchard RidgeJungs Cash $25 Orchard RidgeOlson Toon Landscaping 2nd mulch pile $50 Orchard Ridge

Schmidt Landscape Services Inc. Asparagus, strawberries, and rhubarb $125

Orchard RidgeSchoep's Ice Cream 20 5-gallon buckets; 240 1-gallon buckets $350 Orchard Ridge

Shooting Star Native Seeds seed packets for butterfly garden, must take pictures $25

Orchard Ridge

Summit Credit Union-Fish Hatch Cash $50

Orchard RidgeThe Crystal Corner $50 $50 Orchard RidgeWEA Credit Union $100 $100 Orchard Ridge

“This project is providing the opportunity for students to make real connections between their learning at school and their life in the community. While working to plan, design, build and harvest the garden, students are learning Science, Math, Literacy, History, Art, Music, Health and research skills. When learning is connected across the subject areas in a project like this, more physical and conceptual connections are made in students’ minds. Abstract ideas can be made concrete as students actually see and taste (in this case) the results of their work. They are rewarded with the actual fruit and vegetables of their labor rather than an intangible grade on a report card or test.”

- Joshua Ludke, ORE Art Teacher

Office of the Mayor Mulch $75 Orchard RidgeHome Depot Gutters for shed $160 LaphamRainReserve Rain Barrel Diverter Kits $250 LaphamMark & Dana Hoffman Soundwall $120 LaphamRice Family Benches and Tables $200 LaphamEndres Manufacturing Steel Pyramid $500 Prairie

State Bank of Cross Plains Cash $100Prairie

Ableidinger Law LLC Cash $100 PrairieCarl F Statz and Sons Cash $100 PrairieRG Heating and Coooling Cash $100 PrairieWipperfurth Excavating Cash $100 PrairieMeffert Oil Cash $100 PrairiePiggly Wiggly Cash $100 PrairieH&R Carpet Cash $100 Prairie

Aberdean Consultants LLC Cash $100Prairie

Larry's Tires 21 tires for flower bed PrairieHellebrand Water Rain Barrels $100 Prairie

Ace Hardwared Waunakee Tree Supplies $50Prairie

Whole Kids Foundation Grant $2,000 MELCWhole Kids Foundation Grant $2,000 Lincoln

Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Sundial $3,000

LincolnWild Ones Grant $200 LincolnMadison Audobon Society Grant $200 Lincoln

Foundation for Madison Public Schools Cooking Kit, Bug Boxes and Field Guides $500

Muir

Foundation for Madison Public Schools SHMS Endowment Fund

Integrated Food Unit $1,000

Spring Harbor

Foundation for Madison Public Schools SHMS Endowment Fund

$1,500

Spring Harbor

Wisconsin DPI Vertical Gardens, Garden Toolks, Curriculum Resources $4,000 MELC

Larkwood Builders Time and labor MELC TOTAL: $23,000

Additional funders and amounts supporting overall Growing Outdoor Classrooms Project:o “Art in the Garden” Grant funded by MCF and administered by Community GroundWorks -

$30,000o School Orchard Grant funded by MCF and administered by Community GroundWorks with

additional donations from McKay Nursery $10,000o U.S. Fish and Wildlife grant administered by Sustain Dane $10,000o Total = $50,000

May 5, 2023 – Digging In 2013-14 Annual Report page 7

Personnel Year 2 Request Year 2 Match Actual Expenses

MMSD Science Instructional Resource Teacher (.03) - 1,000.00 -

MMSD Assistant Director of Curriculum and Assessment (.01) - 2,624.00 -

MMSD Teaching and Learning Expert (.05) 35,000.00 - 48,063.51

Extended Employment 5,400.00 - 3,496.26

Subcontracts:

Community GroundWorks 12,000 17,000

UW Extension Facilitator 2,200.00 - 2,200.00

UW Extension Nutrition Educator (.25 salary & fringe) - 11,520.00 -

Horticulture Educator (.05) - 2,882.00 -

4-H Youth Development Educator (.075) - 6,708.00 -

Overall Project Manager/Developer (.3 time Sustain Dane staff) 12,000.00 - 12,000.00

Expert Guests Stipend 800 100

Community Action Coalition 9,163 - 2,922.65

Expenses:

Photocopying (Supplies, food meetings) 165 - $340.15

Garden Materials ($8,000 per 5 school)(Year 2 schools had until 9/30/14 to spend down funds and their spending is reflected in this amount, Year 1 school spending for 2013-14 is also represented in the actual expenses)

40,000.00 - $25,165.37

Funds that were allocated to schools but not spent in FY 14

$19,488.71

Garden Signs (Purchased in FY 15)$928.24

Subtotal: 116,728.00 37,234.00

$131,704.89

May 5, 2023 – Digging In 2013-14 Annual Report page 9

Indirect costs @ 3.01 3,272.00 $6,579.00

Total Annual Cost 120,000.00 $138,283.89

E. Conclusions

Year 2 of the Digging In: Growing Outdoor Classrooms Program has been a great success! We learned a lot in year 1 of the program and made strategic adjustments in the roles of the program staff and implementation of the program. These changes included partnering with the MPower School Champions Program, a Sustain Dane school sustainability program funded through the EPA. This partnership enabled the planning and facilitation of monthly “Sustainability Sessions” where the school’s “Green Team” members received information and skill development to help them achieve the outcomes of the grant. For example, Sustainability Sessions this past year addressed outdoor classroom design, community engagement plans, budgeting, and curriculum integration.

Another adjustment that was made in Year 2 was assigning each participating school a “garden advisors” (CAC, Community GroundWorks, or UW Extension). This change helped to streamline communication, garden design, and garden builds.

In an effort to improve the “story telling” of the project through increased media releases and communication within MMSD and the Madison community each participating school was encouraged to create a school garden webpage and/or Facebook page. In addition, each participating school was tasked with writing a press-release detailing their school’s work within this grant. These articles have been published in local newspapers, school newsletters, and district webpages, and neighborhood newsletters. Please see addendum for copies of published newsletters.

The PLC worked hard this year to directly address the obstacles teachers feel towards teaching and learning in an outdoor classroom. Through the development of Garden-Based Phenology Wheel Units and a Garden-Based Learning MONDO extensions document, teachers have been given resources for teaching CCSS aligned lessons in the Outdoor Classroom. The PLC continued to act as Garden-Based Education leaders in their own schools and as mentors for the 2nd Cohort of GROW teachers. PLC members met with the 2nd Cohort Garden Teams three times this year to share successes and obstacles surrounding outdoor classrooms, share curriculum ideas, and facilitate group discussions.

Additionally, the GROW Team worked to engage other school staff members, these include: Physical Education Teacher Leader Fine Arts Coordinator Occupational and Physical Therapy

Director of MSCR Director of Community Partnerships Director of Family and Community Engagement Director of Curriculum and Instruction Director of Building and Grounds Science Coordinator Research and Evaluation

F. Looking Ahead

Ashleigh Ross will assume the position of MMSD Garden Based Education Facilitator as of July 28, 2014.

Community Action Coalition is no longer a partner on this project. That work, and funding, has moved to Community GroundWorks.

Sustain Dane’s funding has been increased for Yr. 3 to provide project coordination given the end of EPA funding.

Cohort 2 and Cohort 3 will be participating in the GROW Summer Institute together (July 28-July 31, 2014).

Cohort 3 schools include:o Allis Elementary Schoolo Hawthorne Elementary Schoolo Sandburg Elementary Schoolo Thoreau Elementary Schoolo Van Hise Elementary School

May 5, 2023 – Digging In 2013-14 Annual Report page 11

Addendum – School Newsletter Article and Press Releases:

https://pubinfoweb.madison.k12.wi.us/orchard-ridge-garden-build

https://pubinfoweb.madison.k12.wi.us/school-gardens-blooming

https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/node/10828

http://www.hngnews.com/waterloo_marshall/news/local/article_94aac410-156f-11e3-bbd8-001a4bcf6878.html

http://www.hngnews.com/waterloo_marshall/news/local/article_92b89c8a-b453-11e3-b92a-0017a43b2370.html

http://www.hngnews.com/waterloo_marshall/news/local/article_e07e8d40-1271-11e4-bd8b-001a4bcf6878.html

http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/local_schools/school-spotlight-lake-view-elementary-uses-outdoor-classroom/article_b7ff23f4-ea98-56de-8364-d4e5d2f68a63.html

http://www.hngnews.com/waunakee_tribune/news/school/article_ff80bff8-d55c-11e3-9622-0017a43b2370.html

http://www.hngnews.com/waunakee_tribune/news/school/article_f5dc3cbe-1a38-11e3-a4de-0019bb30f31a.html

https://lapham.madison.k12.wi.us/lapham-garden-and-green-team-update

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/lapham-garden-updates

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/850

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/825

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/809

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/786

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/741

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/718

https://laphammarquetteweb.madison.k12.wi.us/node/687 and

http://sustaindane.org/going-sustainable/in-school/mpower-schools/growing-outdoor-classrooms-spring-2014/

http://www.sustaindane.org/blog/post/pr-growing-outdoor-classrooms