Master Gardener School Grant Program: Providing “Seed” Money to Classrooms

Master Gardener School Grant Program: Providing “Seed” Money to Classrooms Mark Mechling, Extension Educator, OSU Extension, Muskingum County

Process

Grant applications distributed to county schools (K-12) at beginning of school year

Teacher completes application & submits to Master Gardeners (MG)

MG Committee reviews applications & makes recommendations to MG membership

Group approves applications and teachers are notified

1-2 MG assigned to each project as a resource

Teachers conduct educational project and submit results at end of school year

Examples of Projects * Conducting experiments on the effects of light, water and soil media on plants * Raising a pizza garden * Starting a Junior garden club * Funding field trips to hort. businesses * Establishing a butterfly garden * Growing vegetables in a raised bed * Purchasing garden tools and equipment to conduct horticultural projects * Observing and recording life cycles of insects Results * $2,400 distributed to 26 different classrooms in four years involving approximately 525 students * Classroom skills learned have included life cycles of insects, ecosystems, parts of the plant and photosynthesis * ”Hands on” skills learned have included planting trees and flowers, identifying plants, developing a landscape bed and growing vegetables * Social and societal skills learned have included working together, community beautification, problem solving and school pride ABSTRACT The Muskingum County Master Gardeners initiated a program in 2004 that provided monetary grants to area classroom teachers for horticultural projects. Teachers can apply for grants up to $100 from the Master Gardener organization to teach horticultural practices and principles. To date, twenty-six teachers have been provided a total of $2,397 in the past four school years. The process begins with a school grant application sent in the fall to all county schools. Interested teachers complete the application that includes objectives, the educational value of the project and the cost of materials to complete the project. A committee of Master Gardeners reviews the applications and submits their recommendations on which applications should be funded to the entire organization’s membership. Those applications are approved and the teachers are notified if their applications have been successful or not. One or two Master Gardeners are assigned to each project as a resource. They are available to assist the teacher in completing the project if needed. Teachers are expected to share their results of the project with the Master Gardeners by the end of the school year. Examples of projects and topics funded by the Master Gardeners have included establishing a butterfly garden, purchasing grow-lights to conduct experiments on fertilizer and light, raising a pizza garden, growing vegetables in raised beds, conducting field trips to orchards and greenhouses, purchasing butterfly kits and starting a Junior garden club. Teachers have integrated the horticultural activities into their curriculum. As a result of these grants, students in twenty-six classrooms have learned about horticultural principles and practices in an active and practical manner. Funding for the grants has been raised from bus trips and a unique activity called Earth to Art that combines pottery and flowers.