Mighty Oaks from Tiny Acorns Grow

School gardens have flourished nationwide during the past decade, sparked by chef and educator Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard initiative that seeks to integrate food and gardening concepts into the core curriculum. The idea is that students learn more about our connection to the natural world through hands-on experiential learning.

Thanks to dedicated parents and in coordination with teachers and administrators, that's exactly what's happening at the Hazel Avenue Elementary School garden. I visited the garden recently to learn more about it and to see a new Outdoor Classroom teaching space. 

One of the first things I noticed after I entered the Rainbow Garden — named for the colorful ribbons hanging from the garden's gates — was growing in the vegetable patch. A one-foot-tall oak tree seedling stands in the center of the bed, ringed by small stones.

It's an unusual thing to find in a vegetable patch, but perfectly in tune once you speak with the garden's current main caretaker: parent and West Orange resident Tracey Clarke. 

"The kids didn't believe that a tree could grow from an acorn, so we planted one to see what would happen," said Clarke.

As she said that, her arm swept from the seedling to point at a mature oak tree that shades the new Outdoor Classroom right next to the garden. Built over a few weeks in April with grant monies and donations, Clarke and other parents created a learning space with seating for 25 students on a comfortable circle of redwood benches. The circle is anchored on one end by a weighty teacher's armchair. 

Just like the acorn, the seed of this endeavor took time to grow. Clarke's involvement began in fall 2008 when her older child started kindergarten at the school. She accepted the position of Committee Chair of the Hazel Avenue School's PTA's Green Thumb Committee and took on management of the school garden. 

Over the next year, Clarke recruited parents to help with fall and spring clean-ups and worked with teachers on interdisciplinary learning ideas involving the garden. As a certified teacher herself, Clarke understands the challenges that teachers face to effectively use an outdoor space and integrate the natural world into their lessons.

Finally, a conversation between Clarke and the school's then-principal, Marguerite DeCarlo, brought the idea of a permanent outdoor learning space into focus.

The Outdoor Classroom was built in April with a $3,515 grant from the Lowe's Toolbox for Education program that paid for the student benches, teacher chair, shrubs and ground materials. More than 75 parents and community members volunteered their time to prepare the space and install the benches, chair and landscaping. Clarke secured discounts and donations from several local vendors to get the most value from the grant. 

She sums up how she and the Green Thumb Committee members can assist teachers this way: "I'm interested in supporting interdisciplinary curriculum that come from the teacher and help them come out in the garden to teach their students. If a teacher has an idea, we want to help them run with it."  

Green Thumb Committee members will help with setup and cleanup for lessons that incorporate the garden so that teachers and students can maximize their learning time. 

Clarke also runs an after-school program in the Rainbow Garden each spring and fall. 

For the coming school year, Clarke hopes more teachers will hold classes outside and include the garden in their lesson plans. Going forward, she envisions the Outdoor Classroom being used for creative, performance and intergenerational learning programs.

Do you have ideas for upcoming columns, know a great gardener, want to ask a question or can put me in touch with people who are creating a greener West Orange? E-mail Sommer. Sommer grows a nearly organic 4-season vegetable and flower garden in Pleasantdale. She is an enthusiastic proponent for greener living and looks forward to learning from her West Orange neighbors.