Citysprouts helps a school community create a learning garden in the schoolyard, and supports teachers' use of the gardens as a direct extension of their classroom teaching. 

Supporting core curriculum:
CitySprouts garden coordinators provide strong academic support to the 10 schools with which we work. In partnership with the Cambridge Public Schools, we've developed garden-based lessons with practical learning applications. These lessons are explicitly tied to the curriculum that Cambridge public school teachers are mandated to use.

During the 2008-2009 school year, Citysprouts is piloting a new professional development program for teachers. We are providing at least 3 hours of training for teachers at each CitySprouts school. Trainings show teachers how to use the garden to teach the mandated science curriculum. At the M.L. King School, teachers will receive a total of 8 hours of training for teaching both science and math curricula in the garden. For more information on how Cambridge teachers are using CitySprouts gardens to teach science and math, as well as literacy, social studies and art, read our annual Curriculum Report.

Summer internship program
During the summer, CitySprouts hires 5 middles school students from each school to participate in our summer internship program. Interns spend 25 hours over the summer maintaining the garden and participating in educational activities relating to food systems and the environment. They not only learn basic gardening skills, but they also gain an understanding of sustainable agriculture, healthy eating choices and environmental stewardship. The internship is also designed as a first job experience that helps students to develop a sense of responsibility and community leadership. During the summer of 2008, we had 40 interns in 8 schools. Interns attended field trips to the Food Project’s Urban Learning Farm, Gaining Ground Farm in Concord, and farmers markets in Central and Harvard Squares. At the end of the summer, interns prepared final presentations to give in front of family and friends. Presentations have covered a wide range of topics, including cooking demonstrations, tours of the garden, lessons on the structure of different plants and explanations of the importance of trees to our environment.

Beyond the curriculum
CitySprouts promotes life-long habits of good health and environmental stewardship through after school drop-ins, cafeteria events and lessons on food and the environment. At our garden Drop-ins, we offer a weekly time for the community to stop in the schoolyard to work in the garden or to learn about health or environmental topics such as cooking with garden produce, testing soil for nutrients and pollutants, or composting. During the spring, we offer school cafeteria tastings of different fresh vegetables and herbs grown in the school gardens. We also partner with Food Services to encourage healthy menu changes and using local produce in the cafeteria. In addition, we have brought farmers into the school cafeterias and libraries in order to talk to students about the process of growing food and to help students make the connection between their school gardens and the larger food system (see our 2008 farmer visit report for more information). Also, during the spring and fall, garden coordinators bring classes out to the garden to help with maintenance, press apple cider, harvest wheat to grind into flour, plant beans as part of a “bean race,” and much more.  Though not part of the mandated curriculum, these visits give students much-needed perspective on where food comes from, our food traditions, making healthy food choices and caring for the environment.