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Welcome to our school garden where young children, known
as Shoots and older community volunteers known as Roots,
grow vegetables, flowers, and herbs together as "garden
friends." Here we create a lasting link between the young
and old, between the community and the school. The school
and the Lexington community have formed a close partnership
to provide a unique learning experience.
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The garden is actually an outdoor classroom. For example,
each week the 2nd grade has a science lesson before sharing
the planting and tending their garden. There is also time
for learning about good and bad garden bugs, listening to
garden stories, and always ending with a garden song. This
garden is an integral part of the year round school program:
after spring planting and harvesting, the summer child care
program adopts the garden, and in the fall the students dig
the potatoes, make corn husk dolls, and pick their pumpkins.
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The Roots and Shoots School Garden opens for children the
mysteries of nature - a sprouting seed, a blooming flower,
the wonders of the earthworm, all the miracles and beauty of
the natural world. Along the way the children and volunteers
work together as partners making friends of plants, insects,
and one another. It has been said that gardening is a treasure
and a gift that can last a lifetime. The Roots and Shoots
Garden hopes to make this a reality.
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The Roots and Shoots School Garden program serves over 300
children from Headstart through 5th grade. With its carefully
designed lesson plans and uniquely intergenerational component
it serves as a model for other schools
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