CLAYTON — Elementary school teachers will want to take advantage of the workshop, the Grow Healthy Teacher Institute, at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension offices in Clayton. Scheduled for 8:30 – 3:30 on June 6, the Teacher Institute is an opportunity for teachers to learn how to use school gardens to support classroom instruction, teach critical thinking skills and build conceptual understanding.
School gardens are sprouting up throughout the country. They offer opportunities for real-world application of math, science, literature, social studies, health and art, and they’re effective at improving student behavior and academic success.
In New Jersey, the FCHS (Family & Community Health Sciences Department) of Rutgers Cooperative Extension is leading the charge to help schools build active learning environments through school gardens.
The Teacher Institute covers everything from choosing a location for a garden (even if it’s indoors), to managing time in the garden (and the class), to incorporating every subject into garden learning time.
Over the course of the Institute, participants will have the opportunity to learn about curriculum integration and development, funding strategies, volunteer management, class scheduling, outreach strategies and basic garden and food skills — to help a school garden flourish. Hear from community groups, volunteers and teachers — novice and professional — who are using gardens to create a living classroom.
Cost of the Grow Healthy Teacher Institute is just $10, which includes breakfast, lunch, a text book of your choosing and plenty of take-home lesson ideas. Visit http://njaes.rutgers.edu/fchs/ for registration information, or call FCHS at 856/307-6450, ext. 2.
