|
Children’s Habitat Garden
May 23rd Planting
The Genesee Land Trust will be planting the Children’s Habitat
Garden at the Durand Eastman School on Pt. Pleasant Road in East
Irondequoit on Monday May 23rd beginning at 9AM. Chris Young, Trust
volunteer and master gardener, and Margaret Potter, assistant director
will talk to students prior to the actual planting.
Habitat gardening, meaning planting to attract and protect wildlife,
is a concept that will be explored by the science department of
the East Irondequoit School as a result of this project.
The Children’s Habitat Garden is the brainchild of Chris
Young who lives across the street from the school. She thought the
students would enjoy having a habitat garden on school grounds,
knowing what they’d learn about ecosystems and was confident
that this new knowledge would foster an overall love of nature.
School administrators were very enthusiastic about the idea. Mr.
Bill Ottman, vice principal and director of science for the East
Irondequoit School District noted, “Instructionally we liked
that the garden would be a permanent part of the school campus that
students could utilize in conjunction with their units of study.
We will use this garden to study the following: butterflies in the
3rd grade, plant responses and plant parts in the 4th grade and
ecosystems in the 5th grade.”
Approximately 500 students will study the Children’s Habitat
Garden. Teachers have voiced an interest in utilizing the garden
as part of their regular instruction. Ottman said, “……this
would be a summer 2005 curriculum project” and noted the importance
of getting students to interact with the environment, looking beyond
the obvious as they learn how plants and animals depend on one another
for survival. He was happy to offer the children another opportunity
for “hands-on” education, another chance to turn off
the TV and “interact with living things.” While the
Trust’s Chris Young volunteered not only to plant the garden
but also to maintain it, Ottman envisioned that once the site is
established, students could be educated and trained to assist as
stewards of the garden.
Chris Young’s generosity of time and expertise has made The
Children’s Habitat Garden possible, according to Ottman. He
envisions that with the development of a clear curriculum, the habitat
gardening program could be established in most or all of the K-6
school buildings in the district.
Genesee Land Trust is the recipient of a Captain Planet mini grant
(a Ted Turner foundation which funds environmental projects for
children) to help defray costs. Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care has
been an invaluable sponsor of this event. Other supporters include
Grossman’s Country Nursery and Agway Garden Center in Webster.
The Children’s Habitat Garden, a garden in progress, will
be a stop on this year’s Backyard Habitat Garden Tour, a Genesee
Land Trust fund raiser, which takes place on June 18th. Tickets
for the tour are available at Wegmans and at the Land Trust office.
Call 256-2130 and visit www.geneseelandtrust.org
for more information.
-end-
Contact:
Margaret Potter
Assistant Director
GENESEE LAND TRUST
500 East Avenue, Suite 200
Rochester NY 14607
ph: (585) 256-2130
fax: (585) 271-4292
info@geneselandtruest.org
|
