Congratulations goes out to William H. Ross Elementary School and Eugene A. Tighe Middle School in Margate City for winning the inaugural School Garden of the Year Award! The garden is located in the center courtyard of the middle school but is used district wide by students of both buildings and has been in existence for six years.

The award will be presented in Margate City during Jersey Fresh Farm to School Week which runs from September 24-28th, 2012. Stay tuned for more information.

STRENGTHS AND HIGHLIGHTS:

CONNECTIONS TO THE CAFETERIA:
” We enjoy a partnership with our cafeteria in that they assist us in serving the students a taste of produce grown in our garden as part of a tasting program we created called “Garden Gourmet”. We serve the samples during regular lunch times, and the cafeteria staff has been involved in the preparation and distribution of the food.”

STRATEGIC PARTNERS:
Teachers, Principal/School Administration, District Administration, Parents, Local Businesses, Food Service Director and Staff, School Maintenance Staff, Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City, Margate City Farmers Market and local farm Jah’s Creation.

 

CURRICULUM:
Math/Language Arts Literacy/Computers/Technology Students use digital cameras to photograph a particular garden bed. students return to the building and print photo to use as reference. In a notebook, each student creates 5 original multiplication and/or division word problems using the vegetables in their picture. Students will peer edit eachother’s work before using Microsoft Word to publish the completed word problems. The word problems will then be given to the fourth graders for them to solve and return with comments.

OTHER USES OF THE GARDEN:
Our school garden has a table at the Margate Community Farmer’s Market. We harvest on Wednesday am from 9-11 am and then we are at the market table on Thursdays from 8:30 until 12 noon. We accept donations for the produce we give away and all of the donations we collect are used to buy the top ten most needed foods for our local chapter of the Food Bank of South Jersey. The students, their families, and the teachers go to the local Shoprite to buy the food and then we deliver it ourselves to the Food Bank the next morning. Another way we use the produce we grow is we donate to the Boys & Girls Club cooking class that is held once a week through the year. Another way that we have connected to the community is that we have taken produce that was not sold at market to local restaurants and given it to them, where it has been incorporated into nightly specials ( Steve & Cookies, Jalapenos Salads and More, Manna, Hanna G’s Cafe).

Congratulations to everyone associated with this wonderful program, especially Garden Coordinator Jessica Cuevas. Your dedication is inspiring and we look forward to hearing what you plan to do with the award in the school year to come.

WILLIAM H. ROSS ELEMENTARY and EUGENE A. TIGHE MIDDLE SCHOOL PHOTOS: