Grizzlies Prep has received a grant from The Community Kitchen for a Learning Garden! We are very excited about the opportunity. Our building sits on the corner of a block in the center of downtown Memphis, and we do not have green space surrounding our building. Our roof deck is in need of some structural modifications to be able to hold the learning garden. The design and the structural modifications are going to be $30,000. However, we have someone to match what we raise! The $15,000 that we are looking to raise will go directly to:  

• The design of the structural modifications
• The labor for construction of these modifications 
• Any supplies needed for the modifications

From 2012-2014, we offered an elective gardening and cooking class that made use of makeshift gardening boxes positioned on our roof terrace. In 2014, our gardening instructor retired and we stopped offering the elective; since then, the garden boxes have fallen into disrepair after several years of exposure.

We are excited about the opportunity to have a permanent garden and restart our gardening and cooking elective. The gardening class was surprisingly popular among our students, all of whom are boys. We would ideally restart our gardening and cooking elective, but this would hinge on finding a high- quality, mission-aligned part-time instructor. The presence of the garden itself would be a selling point to potential instructors, as they would not be responsible for acquiring and building new planters.

In any case, we could easily and eagerly integrate the garden into our science classes. Hands on experiential learning opportunities can be difficult to access and integrate into lessons, and having a beautiful garden on site would provide a reliable, low-lift, high-quality option. In 6^th grade curriculum, the garden would be integrated as they study the difference between biotic and abiotic factors, the basic functions of a major organ system, organic/gmo seeds and the difference in their growth progress, and water cycles/groundwater conservation. They would also use the garden for practice with experiments and variables and to show energy transformations that begin with the sun. In 7^th grade, they study photosynthesis and flow of matter and energy among living things. Plants from the garden are a perfect example of this as we give plans carbon dioxide and they provide us with oxygen. For 8^th grade, the garden would be used to compare the characteristics of different kinds of plants for classification. They could measure different characteristics of the plants and create graphs, tables, and charts to track their growth. They could also create simple experiments to show how different factors such as amount of sunlight, water, and fertilizer affect plant growth.

Additionally, we will allow a number of our students to serve as “interns” during their elective and club block, and they will assist the Operations Coordinator with school beautification and other projects around the building. Vesting the responsibility for regular maintenance of the garden with them, under the supervision of the Operations Coordinator, would enhance their experience. Our Operations Coordinator is a former educator who happens to be a skilled carpenter with experience in landscaping and lawn maintenance. He will supervise our student interns, who will handle the day-to-day maintenance of the gardens.

To ensure maximum involvement and enthusiasm around the Learning Garden, we will make sure that each grade level has a specific plan in place to engage that particular grade. Whether it is a friendly competition or an exciting lesson plan that incorporates the garden, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades will be involved in the learning garden. Grizzlies Prep staff members are very familiar with creating incentives whether it be based around reading, academics, or behavior. For example, one of our school-wide goals is for each scholar to read 1 million words throughout the school year. Quarterly, a different incentive is planned to reward those scholars that are meeting our goal and to encourage those that are not yet there yet. The Garden Team Leads will work to create engagement plans during their meetings. In addition to the excitement a new garden will bring, scholars at Grizzlies Prep already get very excited about spending time on the roof deck because it has a great view of downtown Memphis and lets them spend time outside without having to go off campus.                                                                                                                              

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