Garden at Rosemary Elementary School in Campbell to teach kids about nature

Garden at Rosemary Elementary School in Campbell to teach kids about nature

By Khalida Sarwari

Rosemary Elementary School has a new teaching garden thanks to the efforts of dozens of volunteers from Keller Williams Realty.

For their annual community service project on May 10, more than 40 volunteers from the real estate firm came together to refurbish the existing flower beds and shrubs at the front of the school and construct 16 raised-bed, irrigated planters, including one that meets current codes in the Americans with Disabilities Act, and lighter-duty tasks including loosening soil, weeding, planting flowers and shrubs, and spreading ground cover.

Rosemary Elementary, which sits on W. Hamilton Avenue, educates more than 550 students from preschool through fourth grade.

The garden will serve as a place where children can learn about nature, life science, nutrition and environmental responsibility, according to Marla Sanchez, spokeswoman for the Campbell Union School District.

“It’s a way for kids to connect what they’re learning in the classroom with what they see in the natural world,” Sanchez said.

Teachers will begin incorporating the garden into their curriculum beginning the following school year, and each grade will have different lesson plans associated with the new outdoor learning space.

For their first gardening experience, kindergarteners will plant tomatoes in the spring, beans in the fall, and flowers throughout the year. The goal is to teach the students responsibility through the process of planting seeds.

First-graders will plant and learn about vegetables, as well as plants that attract butterflies. Second-graders will use the garden to learn about healthy choices, plants and life cycles. Third-grade students will have a life lab that they’ll use to connect lessons they learn to the sciences. For the fourth-graders, the garden will offer science lessons, such as the opportunity to conduct experiments, collect data and chart plant growth. These students will grow seasonal flowers and vegetables.

Keller Williams chose Rosemary Elementary for its fourth annual Red Day, a real estate industry initiative that stands for “renew, energize and donate,” created to unite associates in an international day of service.

Giving back to the community, team leader Jeff Hansen said, has made a positive impact on associates at Keller Williams.

“This event displays the extraordinary effect a company can have when individuals come together to work as a team for the greater good of everyone,” he said.

While Keller Williams supplied the muscle for the construction of the new garden, the Campbell Union School District provided $15,000 in funding toward the purchase of materials, tools, supplies and lumber.

“We wrote to them about Rosemary School and how they were the last of the elementary schools that still needed a learning garden,” Sanchez said.

“Because of Keller Williams, they were able to get a school garden now, whereas [otherwise] it would have taken two years.”

Garden at Rosemary Elementary School in Campbell to teach kids about nature

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