Warm thanks from the Children's Garden for a very special 

Family Garden Day!  

We had over 35 kids and adults working together.  All of the beds were prepped with compost and soil.  The grass was cut out for the water box, the Butterfly Garden was trimmed,  the Herb Garden was weeded and the cinder blocks got a colorful facelift.  Kids left with several little seedlings!  What a successful, positive and productive afternoon!

A special thank you to 

Cindy Hill from Once Upon a Carrot.  

We grow the garden together!

  

THANK YOU CINDY HILL AND ONCE UPON A CARROT!

Welcome!

SOUTH POINTE ELEMENTARY

a Children’s Garden  a

Welcome Back to Another Great Year in the Garden!

The children’s garden, located in the courtyard, is our well loved organic edible garden. It is surrounded by a butterfly garden and serves our school as an outdoor classroom.  It is one more way SPE is such a special place!

Every student at SPE has the opportunity to come out and plant in the garden with their classroom.  Classrooms watch their gardens grow and then enjoy the fruits of their labor. Last year, over 350 SPE students planted classroom gardens. After harvest, students were able to sample delicious recipes and foods made with the produce from their own classroom garden bed.  

It is a wonderful chance for hands-on active learning about nutrition, sustainability, science and good stewardship.

Throughout the year we support:

a Family Garden Days

a The Annual Green Market

a Planting and Harvest with SPE Classrooms

a Garden Lesson Plans tied to IB and Common Core

a Community Partnerships in Miami Beach

If you are interested in learning more about growing, planting or spending time in the garden, please consider joining us or donating to the garden.  

Everyone welcome.

No experience required and we have plenty of gloves! 

Email any questions to spegarden@gmail.com  

 a WE GROW THE GARDEN TOGETHER a

Our First Harvest!

Dear Friends of the SPE Garden, 

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the season!  Couple of dates for our upcoming fall harvest:

Monday, December 10:  Soft Harvest

This is for anyone who would like to pick up some greens or beans.  They are both ready. 

Monday, December 17th:   FULL GARDEN HARVEST 3 - 4pm

This will be the full harvest of the beds.  Please come and help.  There will be plenty of fresh organic take home produce!!  We will also use some of this produce for our "Harvest Tastings" for the classrooms who planted beds.  Treats for everyone who can help out!

Wednesday, December 19th:  CLASSROOM HARVEST TASTINGS 8:30 - 11:30 (30 minute rotations)

September's Here. Time to Grow!

As we bid farewell to a long, hot summer in Miami Beach and send our little ones back into a new school year - we also welcome one of our favorite times of the year - planting season!

Since 2009, South Pointe Elementary School has been fortunate to build, grow and sustain its very own Organic Edible Garden and Smoothie Garden.

The school garden's main goal is to educate and benefit our children. The commercialization of food in today's world has taken away a basic "farm to table" understanding amongst many  Americans. School gardens are a fantastic way for up and coming generations to witness where and how food grows.  School gardens also have a positive effect on children's vegetable intake.  Put simply, if they plant it they will try it.  And we can’t ask for more than that.

In the coming weeks, the children will plant a cornucopia of vegetables and herbs, and through this experience, they will understand and appreciate the value of harvesting something that started as a seed or a seedling.  We truly hope visions of broccoli and string beans will dance through your child's head...

In the meantime, we encourage you to read more about the benefits of school gardens here and also read up on this great article posted on CNN recently.

There are many ways we fund the garden: from grants to our annual Green Market.  This year we are taking part in the 2011-12 Fairchild Challenge. Last year we gained top honors (placing in the top 16 schools) and won $250 to use towards our garden.  We will also apply for a Foodcorps School Garden Grant, through Whole Foods- who has been a supporter and friend to our garden program. Wish us luck!

Thank you for your continued support.  Hope to see you in the garden this year- there's a lot growing on!