We’ve been busy hauling plants around to give the raised beds in our schoolyards a little boost for Spring! It’s a great way to check in, connect kids to their green spaces, and start the season off right.

I loved seeing these middle school students from MS 354 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn work together with focus and interest. They planned and laid out their garden. We discussed recipes and future harvest days.

Social Worker Josefina works with students at the LAB School in Chelsea, Manhattan. She says that gardening helps her students feel a sense of home in the schoolyard.

These students at PS 75 in Ridgewood, Queens are replanting after construction put their garden out of commission. Their Special Needs teacher Jennifer Ross says: “Our students really benefit from hands on learning. When we go out and work in the garden all my students are engaged. Just the act of cleaning out the beds, seeing how they changed during just one period outside is so exciting for them. Finding worms might have been the best part last week. Gardening is also something that they can be successful at, even if talking or reading or writing is a challenge. It is really a great opportunity for them.”

Happy Spring!