- December 19, 2024
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The students at Sugar Mill Elementary School have been busy planting and taking care of their own gardens, which have also become a teaching tool.
The "edible gardens" at the school started last year, but took off when the school received several grants that totaled $10,000. A grant of about $2,500 from Lowes Toolbox for Education and another $2,500 from Tanger Outlets made up half of the grant. A third grant from Volusia County Schools matched the $5,000 that the school had received.
Sugar Mill Counselor Marie Bracciale said the gardens are a hands-on way to help the students learn about how to not only take care of and grow produce but eat healthier to prevent obesity and live healthier lives.
The fruits and vegetables grown in the gardens are picked and later used in school lunches, such as salads.
"We try to increase their servings of fruits and vegetables every day," Bracciale said. "This is all to help ... educate our students to understand how their food is sourced, grown and how it provides fuel for their bodies."
Students in all grade levels participate in the upkeep of the gardens, from watering the seeds to pulling out weeds.
Volunteer Jim Norman, who is part of the Master Gardener program at the University of Florida, said when the students begin harvesting, they will get to learn about nutrition and how to make recipes with what they have grown.
Currently, the majority of the student's produce that is being grown consists of winter crops. Norman said they are also trying to incorporate more vegetables that students normally wouldn't have in their diet, such as swiss chard and arugula.
"Some of these student will plant a garden better than a lot of adults," Norman said. "The best part of this is the kids get to learn about the nutritional value."
Culinary learning
In addition to the edible gardens, fourth grade students that are in Sugar Mill's after-school program are going through an eight week meal planning program called the Dinner at 4 Cooking Club.
Through the program, students learn all the basics of preparing, cooking and serving food. School Way Cafe Assistant Carol Pugliese said they also teach the students how science is incorporated into cooking and have taught them how to make different foods, such as ice-cream and butter.
At the end of the eight weeks the group of students will take what they have learned and serve a spaghetti dinner to around 30 people on Tuesday, Dec. 5.
"It was a program designed to teach them that food can be fun," Pugliese said. "Food can also be a learning tool."
