Edible Education Initiative

Running head: Edible Education

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Edible Education Health Initiatives

Megan Weber

Loyola Marymount University


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“The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake.”

- First Lady Michelle Obama Description of Issue

Public schools in the United States must abide by federal and state laws and standards

governing nutrition and health in our schools. One such institution that implements such laws is

the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA. According to the USDA, over the past

three decades, childhood obesity rates have tripled, and currently nearly one in three children in

America are overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and

Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. This has a

direct correlation with leading to other health-related issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, high-

blood pressure, and asthma (“Let’s Move,” 2015). Further, the Center for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) states: “The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who

were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of

adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same

period” (“Adolescent and School Health,” 2014). The United States Census Bureau (“Pop1 Child

Population,” 2013) calculated a projected population that there are approximately 23 million

children age 6-11 in the United States today, and 22.7 million children age 12-17. That means

that nearly 4 million children age 6-11 in the United States today are obese and nearly 5 million

children age 12-17 are obese. Subjectively or objectively, those numbers are quite large and

alarming.

The USDA further provides an argument that children who are obese or overweight often

undergo psychological stress of social stigmatization, as these children can become targets of

early social discrimination. This stigmatization can cause low self-esteem, which in turn, can


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hinder academic and social functioning, and persist into adulthood (“Let’s Move,” 2015). A

study published in 2012 by the BMC Psychiatry Journal aimed to examine body dissatisfaction

and its relationship with body mass, as well as self-esteem and eating habits, in girls and boys in

transition from early to mid-adolescence. School nurses recorded the heights and weights of 659

girls and 711 boys with a mean age of 14.5 years. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the

Body Dissatisfaction subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory were used as self-appraisal

scales. Eating data were self-reported. They concluded that body mass, self-esteem and eating

habits revealed a significant relationship with body dissatisfaction in the transitional phase from

early to mid-adolescence in girls and boys (“Body dissatisfaction and body mass,” Mäkinen,

Puukko-Viertomies, Lindberg, Siimes, Aalberg, 2012). Similar studies have been conducted to

show the correlation between body weight and self-esteem, which further suggests the need to

improve the health among children in the United States.

In the following pages, I will propose a possible solution to such problems that can be

implemented into the Pasadena Unified School District’s curriculum and lesson planning. This

program is called Edible Education, or the Edible Schoolyard Project. The Edible Education

program’s mission is: “To build and share a national edible education curriculum for pre-

kindergarten through high school. We envision gardens and kitchens as interactive classrooms

for all academic subjects, and a free, nutritious, organic lunch for every student. Integrating this

curriculum into schools can transform the health and values of every child in America” (“Our

Work,” 2015). This project will be elaborated upon in later sections of the proposal.

Demographic Characteristics of Pasadena Unified School District

a.) Student Enrollment and b.) Number of Schools


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Among the sixteen elementary schools and the three schools labeled as “Other Schools of

Attendance” within the Elementary School umbrella (which include Don Benito, Focus Point,

and Norma Coombs), there are a total of 9,028 students enrolled among the Pasadena Unified

elementary schools. Among the six secondary schools and three “other” schools under the

secondary umbrella, there are 4,034 students in attendance. Among the three high schools and

five “other” schools under the high school umbrella, there are 5,439 students in attendance

(“District Directory Information,” 2014).

c.) Student Socioeconomic Status

The total number of students eligible for a free or reduced lunch based on Socioeconomic Status

was 4,586 in 2011-2012, but only 1,013 students participated through Title I funding (“Student

Support Programs,” 2012).

d.) Current Curricular Programs

Curricular Programs include Dual-Immersion Programs, curricular programs for English

Language Learners, Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) programs, Individualized Education

Programs (IEPs) and support, afterschool support and eligibility for free supplemental education

services through PasadenaLEARNS, Universal Preschool Program, and more.

e.) Other Relevant Data

The total population of students under 18 in the Pasadena Unified School District is 46,850.

Among that number, 19,520 are Hispanic or Latino, and 27,330 are non-Hispanic or Latino. The

population of one race is 42,792. Among that population, 20,766 are Caucasian, 9,404 are Black

or African American, 398 are American Indian or Alaska Native, 2,700 are Asian, 38 are

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 9,486 are of some other race alone. There are 4,058 students of

two or more races. (“Direct Directory Information,” 2014). Stated above, it is noted that 40% of


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children in Hispanic or African American communities are obese. This number is quite

significant in regards to the high number of Hispanic or Latino students in the Pasadena Unified

School District.

Current Research and Curriculum Theory

Similar projects implemented in other school districts have yielded positive results. In a

study published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology,

the authors studied the nutrition education and promotion component of the Shaping Healthy

Choices Program (SHCP), which included classroom education, garden-based learning, and

cooking demonstrations in fourth-grade classrooms in Northern and Central California.

Discovering Healthy Choices (DHC), a learner-centered, garden-based nutrition curriculum, was

developed by SHCP, and this curriculum abided by Common Core State Standards. Their

findings indicated that implementing such a curriculum allowed students to have significant

improvements to their nutrition knowledge (Linnell et. al., 2014). Many students do not

understand how the food they eat is grown and processed; it is often detached knowledge that

students are removed from. They take for granted the processes and care that go into bringing

food from the farm to their table, and such a curriculum will close the learning gap in this regard.

The Center for Ecoliteracy is a nonprofit that advances ecological education in K–12

schools. Their mission statement states that they recognize that students need to experience and

understand how nature sustains life and how to live accordingly. In a document provided by the

Center for Ecoliteracy to promote healthy nutrition in schools, the Center states six main reasons

that school boards and administrators should care about school meals. One such reason is that:

“Nutrition is strongly linked to academic achievement… Students, on average, consume about 35

percent of their daily calories at school. Many consume half or more of their calories at school”


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(“Making the Case,” 2014). Another reason is: “School meals are especially critical for many

students. In 2012, 49 million Americans, including 15.9 million children, lived in food insecure

households. One out of five households with children reported food insecurity. Some schools are

now serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, milk supplements, and dinner, and sending home

backpacks with food for weekends” (“Making the Case,” 2014). These statistics show an

alarming need for nutritional options for students in schools if they are not receiving healthy

options at home. The Center for Ecoliteracy also works in partnership with the Edible Education

program in promoting nutrition education in schools.

In the Journal of Environmental Education, a study was published in 2012 titled “Intrinsic

Motivation and Engagement as ‘Active Ingredients’ in Garden-Based Education: Examining

Models and Measures Derived From Self-Determination Theory.” This study built upon the self-

determination theory1, and explored the motivational processes in garden-based learning,

particularly among middle school students. They found that, “students’ perceived autonomy,

competence, and intrinsic motivation uniquely predicted their engagement in the garden, which

in turn, predicted learning in the gardens and achievement in school” (“Intrinsic motivation and

engagement,” 2012). Essentially, creating a garden-based curriculum in which students were

able to feel an internal sense of motivation to tend to the garden and a sense of pride for growing

their own food led to higher academic achievement in school, as students took initiative in

learning about nutrition and health. They learned by doing, engaged in discovery-based, or

hands-on, learning.

Discovery-based learning is in fact an essential component of the classical educational

theorist Maria Montessori’s curriculum theory. Montessori believed that children teach 1 Self-‐determination theory is a theory of motivation. It is concerned with supporting our natural or intrinsic tendencies to behave in effective and healthy ways. (“Self-determination theory,” n.d.)


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themselves. She was also a huge proponent of the careful planning of a child’s environment, in

that it should be carefully thought out with appropriate manipulatives and isolated objects so that

the child can manipulate and explore his or her environment. She believed in a hands-on

approach to teaching and learning, and that a child can construct meaning by learning from what

is placed in his or her environment with a balanced amount of freedom and self-discipline. In her

essay A Critical Consideration of the New Pedagogy, Montessori writes: “The school must

permit the free, natural manifestations of the child if in the school scientific pedagogy is to be

born. This is the essential reform” (Montessori, 1912, p.25). Montessori’s theories and practical

implementations of discovery-based learning provide a basis for classical theory supporting the

Edible Education curriculum.

Another classical curriculum theorist that supports the need for such discovery-based

learning methods in schools is Franklin Bobbit. He postulated that an education should have a

basis in practicality for students and relate to the “real-world.” Bobbit also asserted that

education must develop out of the living experiences of men. In his essay Scientific Method in

Curriculum-Making, he states: “It must, therefore, train thought and judgment in connection with

actual life-situations…” (Bobbit, 1918, p.11). Students’ ability to connect what they learn in the

classroom to their life experiences away from school is essential to learning. Bobbit’s theories

about relating curriculum to practical needs in the current political and social sphere of the world

in which our children are being raised further supports the Edible Education curriculum.

Conceptual Framework

There are many valuable reasons to establish such a project in the Pasadena Unified

School District. These are listed in order of importance as follows:


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1.) Changes to the curriculum must be established within the school district. Establishing an

ecoliteracy curriculum into the district’s standards is something that the Center for

Ecoliteracy deemed “greening the curriculum.” The steps to complete such a project will

be elaborated on below in the project proposal. This curriculum also follows Common

Core standards, and the recently accepted Next Generation science standards, particularly

in regards to making the curriculum comprehensible to students using expository text and

discovery-based methods of teaching and learning.

2.) On February 1, 2013, the USDA issued proposed federal standards governing all

competitive foods and beverages that are sold in schools participating in the federal child

nutrition programs. The proposed rule, which was mandated by the Healthy, Hunger-

Free Kids Act of 2010,

requires that competitive foods must: “(1) be either a fruit, a

vegetable, a dairy product, a protein food, a ‘whole grain rich’ grain product (50% or

more whole grains by weight or have whole grains as the first ingredient), or a

combination food that contains at least 1/4 cup of fruit or vegetable; or (2) contain 10%

of the Daily Value (DV) of a nutrient cited as a public health concern in the 2010 Dietary

Guidelines for Americans (DGA) (calcium, potassium, vitamin D, or fiber). Additionally,

foods sold must meet a range of calorie and nutrient requirements,” (Bassler, Chriqui,

Stagg, Schneider, Infusino, & Asada, 2013, p.9). Thus, law regulates that we must

provide healthy options for our children in school lunches, the benefits of which can be

incorporated into a school wide nutritional curriculum. Providing healthier options to

children at school may help to reduce the number of overweight or obese children at

school as well.


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3.) Developing an edible garden at a school’s campus allows for the aesthetic beautification

of the schoolyard. Children spend approximately 29% of their day during the week at

school, and approximately 58% of their waking hours at school on a weekday, assuming

children are awake for 12 hours a day, give or take. Why would a school not have an

aesthetically pleasing environment for children if they are spending more than half of

their waking hours at school?

4.) A garden-based education allows students an alternative way to play that allows children

perceived autonomy throughout the school day. This has led to an increase in intrinsic

motivation and a child’s academic achievement, per the study mentioned above.

Description of Participants

The school in which this program will be implemented is Jefferson Elementary School, in

Pasadena, California. This school falls under one of the elementary schools in the Pasadena

Unified School District. The school is a midsize K-5 school located in an urban environment.

There are 17 teachers and 471 total students, so the student/teacher ratio is 26.91. The

majority of the school is of Hispanic ethnicity; in fact, 404 of the 471 students are Hispanic.

Then, 28 students are African American, 21 students are Caucasian, 11 students are two or

more races, and 7 are Asian or Pacific Islander (“National Center for Education Statistics,”

2013). In terms of subgroup enrollment, 60% of the total number of students at Jefferson

Elementary are English Learners, 85% are identified as Socioeconomically Disadvantaged,

and 6% of students have a documented disability. The school is Title I funded.

This school has been chosen for the Edible Education project because of the high number

of socioeconomically disadvantaged students, the need for campus beautification, and due to


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the fact that the school did not meet their Schoolwide Growth Target under California

Academic Performance Index (API) (“School Quality Snapshot,” 2013).

Resources

The primary resource required for the initial implementation of the project is fiscal

resources provided by the district and potential donors to build the garden. Based upon a model

implemented by the Education Outside Organization, the first step in developing such a project

in one’s school is to develop a Garden Committee, perhaps among interested staff and parents at

the school. This committee will be able to locate skilled parents, such as grant writers,

carpenters, and landscapers, who may be able to provide skilled labor for a reduced cost. The

committee can also begin an annual fund to build and maintain a school garden at Jefferson

Elementary. A landscaper can provide a proposed estimate that the garden will cost to build,

what resources will be necessary to build such a garden, such as recycled wood, and what

bedding is necessary for particular plants. This fiscal amount should be expected to range

between $8,000-20,000 based on materials used, size of the garden, and labor costs (“School

Garden Wizard,” n.d.).

The fiscal budget for establishing and maintaining a school garden is estimated by the

Education Outside Organization, as follows. The first cost is hiring a garden educator, which is

often a part-time position that solidifies the garden program into an integrated whole. The

potential salary for this coordinator is suggested to be $15,000. Other annual costs include tool

replacement ($200), cooking supplies ($100), and classroom supplies ($100 per classroom, so

$1,900). Other costs that are necessary every other year include garden repairs ($500),

infrastructure improvements ($1000-$5000), and professional development for garden


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coordinator and teachers ($1500). The total estimated minimum amount for all of these potential

costs is $28,200 (“How to Grow a School Garden,” n.d.)

Human resources are of integral importance to establish and maintain such a program.

Labor for the garden is free, as students are responsible for doing the weeding, mulching,

watering, composting, and harvesting. When more skilled labor is required, parent volunteers or

the garden coordinator can assist. However, teachers and staff should be trained in how to

integrate a garden-based curriculum into their lessons and contained classroom environments,

which can be done at professional development seminars. Also, school cooks should be trained

to change their dietary nutritional food options to include some of the organically produced food

the students grow. One such way to train teachers and staff is through The Edible Schoolyard

Project’s annual Schoolyard Academy, which invites teachers, administrators, and other

advocates of the Edible Education program to learn how to implement and maintain such a

program at their school site. This professional development seminar is held in June each year and

costs $650 per person. Participants learn about curriculum integration, funding strategies, and

other leadership strategies to develop a garden-based curriculum at their school-site.

Proposed Project

The proposed project is to develop an Edible Schoolyard at Jefferson Elementary School

in Pasadena, California. This will be a sizable organic garden and kitchen classroom for urban

public school students with a garden-based curriculum, funded by the Pasadena Unified School

District, possible grants, and possibly the Edible Schoolyard Project. At Edible Schoolyard

(ESY) Jefferson, students will participate in all aspects of growing, harvesting, and preparing

nutritious, seasonal produce during the academic day and in after-school classes. Students’

hands-on experience in the kitchen and garden fosters a deeper appreciation of how the natural


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world sustains us and promotes the environmental and social well being of the school

community. The ESY program will be fully integrated into the fabric of the school. Lessons in

the kitchen and garden classrooms will bring academic subjects to life and will cultivate an

appetite for fresh, healthy food, as well as the confidence to prepare it at home (“The Edible

Schoolyard Berkeley,” 2015).

The ESY garden and kitchen is an experiential learning classroom where students will

accompany their teachers to experience culture, history, language, chemistry, and geography

through the preparation of food. Students will cook together with produce just harvested from the

garden and eat a freshly prepared dish, sharing the fruits of their labor around a communal table.

As they harvest, cook, and eat their way through the school year, students experience lessons that

support academic learning in the classroom. The curriculum is designed of lessons to meet a

specific set of edible education learning goals (ESY standards), which also meet Common Core

Standards and Next Generation Science standards. The goal of the ESY curriculum is to

empower students with the knowledge and values to make food choices that are healthy for them,

their communities, and the environment. These lessons can be found on the Edible Education

website, and can be modified to fit each individual teacher’s strengths, interests, and current

lesson plans in the classroom (“The Edible Schoolyard Berkeley,” 2015).

Family Nights Out at the Edible Schoolyard Jefferson will provide an opportunity for the

whole family to experience what students are learning in the kitchen classroom. It’s also a

chance for families to meet and connect with others in their school community. During a Family

Nights Out class, students and their family members cook and eat a meal together while sharing

and learning new recipes and techniques for preparing healthy meals at home (“The Edible


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Schoolyard Berkeley,” 2015). Parents will also be aware of the ESY Jefferson through a regular

garden newsletter or email update sent out to parents and staff.

Each summer, summer school classes will be offered to students to help maintain the

garden throughout the summer, and to expand more deeply upon previously learned gardening,

cooking, and nutrition concepts (“The Edible Schoolyard Berkeley,” 2015)

Implications

This project can only be possible with parent support and involvement, and thus one

major implication of implementing such a project is that parent involvement will be low or not

supportive of such a project. Jefferson Elementary School has 85% of students identified as

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged. This could indicate that parents do not have resources or time

to donate to help fund and maintain such a project at the school. The committee to implement

and maintain such a project will be composed of parents and school staff alike; thus, if parents do

not have time or interest in being involved on such a committee, the project will not be able to be

successful. The parents are also partially responsible for capturing their children’s excitement

about healthy food options and gardening, and this will not be possible without parent support of

the program.

Further, fiscal resources are of utmost importance when completing such a project.

Building and maintaining a garden at Jefferson Elementary can be an expensive task, and is not

possible without fiscal support from the district as well as exoteric donors. Time will need to be

taken to appeal to local and state politicians about fiscal funding, as well as to write grants to

donors to inquire about financial funding for the success of the project.

Timeline for Implementation


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May: - (Assuming funding has already been acquired) Hire a Garden Coordinator to begin

planning, budgeting, and implementing cross-curricular lesson ideas and activities for the

following school year.

June: Teacher and staff professional development to learn how to develop a garden-based

curriculum for the following school year; this training of some staff members (the Garden

Coordinator, and perhaps one or two other teachers or administrators) can occur at ESY

Berkeley.

July-August: - Build a garden in the schoolyard and acquire necessary tools and resources.

August-September: -Establish a Garden Committee; get parents involved.

- Host educative nights to make parents aware of the new curriculum.

- Train other teachers and staff on the edible education curriculum and implementation.

September-June:

- Keep teachers accountable for submitting lesson plans or ideas to demonstrate how they are

implementing a garden-based curriculum into their classrooms. Give teachers support where

needed.

- Show administrators progress as to how the curriculum is valuable, using formative and

summative measures.

- Schedule supervised days and times in which each class will be responsible for tending the

garden.

- Write a regular garden newsletter or e-mail update to send to parents and staff.

- Host fun, routine garden meetings for your garden committee volunteers.

- Host Family Nights Out once a trimester (three times a year).

- Post notices about events, volunteer opportunities, and class projects in school bulletins.

- Establish a routine, easy plan for on-going maintenance, including during the summer months.

- Get an article about the garden in a local newspaper.

- Create and maintain relationships with local businesses.

- Seek out and write grants.

- Hold plant and seed sales and sell them after school and at school events.

- Extend gratitude/acknowledgements. Publicly appreciate volunteers at garden parties.

- Make and maintain a school garden website or blog to post photos and keep parents informed.

- Organize and plan for regular garden workdays for parents and students.


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(“How to Grow a School Garden,” n.d.)

Obstacles

The major obstacles that exist to successful implementation of this project are lack of

fiscal funds and lack of support or volunteer help. If the Pasadena Unified School District does

not have enough funds to support (or partially support) such a curriculum change, reliance will

be on grants submitted to other organizations, private donors, or to the state and local

government for funding. The grant submission and approval process can be a time-consuming

and perhaps unsuccessful process. Without yearly funding, the garden implementation and

maintenance costs will not be possible.

Further, lack of support primarily by the administration and staff will likely provide a

major obstacle to implementing a curriculum change. If administrators and teachers do not

believe in the benefits of implementing such a curriculum change, the lack of support will likely

negate the entire project. However, it is possible that administration and staff will be in support

but parents will not, as stated above. Parental funding, volunteer hours, and time dedicated to the

Garden Committee are the backbone of this project. Lack of parent support or resources could

lead to an unsuccessful rendering of the project, or a lack of it reaching it’s full potential.

Further, teachers will be unaccustomed to this mode of curricular planning, and may need

to revise their curricula and lessons several times before becoming confident in the successful

implementation of their garden-based curriculum. They will need to meet and work closely with

other teachers and administrators to “check in” and evaluate the success of their programs,

perhaps at leveled meetings (by grade). Teachers will need to work closely with the Garden

Coordinator and Garden Committee to establish class-wide projects and routine maintenance of

the garden. Each teacher would need to be able to demonstrate to donors and parents the success

of the garden-based curriculum in their classrooms. However, the project may not be successful


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at an individual level without continuous revision of lessons and curriculum, as well as support

from professionals who understand the successful implementation of such a project. This is why

constant support by administrators as well as professional development is necessary in the initial

implementation of the project.

Formative and Summative Evaluation

Assessment of the garden-based curriculum will be embedded within each lesson based

on the standards. That is, each individual teacher will provide their own means of assessment

based on how they implement the curriculum into their classroom. Likely, formative and

summative assessment will be project-based alternative assessments, such as completing an

experiment, creating and labeling graphic organizers and diagrams, personal reflections, and the

like. Students will also receive immediate feedback when in the garden tending to vegetables and

other plants. Aarti Subramanium, with the University of California Davis and The Center for

Youth Development, writes about garden-based assessment, stating: “an activity such as high

school students creating a garden text book for younger children could be a class activity that can

be assessed through student reflections, peer assessment and teacher impressions. The activity is

authentic in its usefulness for the school as well as incorporates meaningful learning of writing

and presentation skills, teamwork, cross-age teaching, creativity, as well as involvement in the

garden program. Assessment activities are more meaningful when they are authentic, that is,

their real purpose is not just for assessment’s sake” (Subramanium, 2003, p.12-13). Thus,

authentic meaningful assessment can occur through careful planning of project-based

assessments for students, perhaps across grade levels.

Further, during the implementation of the program, surveys should be distributed to

teachers, students, and parents, and interviews should be conducted. These types of evaluations


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will include questions such as: Do you see value in having a garden-based curriculum at

Jefferson Elementary? Can you list some ways in which the garden-based curriculum has been

beneficial to you (can be modified to address the teacher in his or her classroom, student, or the

parent reflecting on new curriculum)? Did you enjoy participating in the Edible Education

curriculum? Evaluations such as these will determine the effectiveness of the program, student

and teacher motivation to implement the program, and overall school climate determining

interest or disinterest in the program. Further, it will help administrators better understand how

the process went for students and teachers, and the perceived impact the project had among

participants.

Effects and Policy Implications

Due to the alarming number of children that are obese or overweight in the United States,

as mentioned previously, action needs to be taken to establish healthier lifestyles and eating

habits for children in the United States. The Edible Education project supports both of these

demands; that is, it teaches students about healthier food options while allowing them to be

active in the garden as they tend to the plants themselves. The curriculum further allows for

students to become more self-motivated as they take personal responsibility in caring for the

school garden, in which the vegetables and fruits that students grow will be used in school

lunches. Students feel a perceived autonomy when tending the garden. These reasons allow the

Edible Education program to be a successful project within schools.

Policy and laws at a federal and state level further support the urgency for healthier food

choices in schools. As required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the United State

Department of Agriculture “has issued new ‘Smart Snacks in Schools’ nutrition standards for

competitive foods and beverages sold outside of the federal reimbursable school meals program


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during the school day. These standards set limits on calories, salt, sugar, and fat in foods and

beverages and promotes snack foods that have whole grains, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables or

protein foods as their main ingredients. These standards are the minimum requirement for

schools” (“Competitive Food in Schools,” 2014). Further, the California Department of

Education writes: “The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the Fresh

Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) at the federal level. At the state level, the FFVP is

administered by the California Department of Education (CDE), Nutrition Services Division

(NSD). The purpose of this federal assistance program is to provide an additional free fresh fruit

or vegetable snack to students during the school day as a supplement to (and not part of) the

school breakfast and lunch programs, and to teach students about good nutrition” (“California

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program,” 2014). Federal and state policy mandates the requirement

of healthy food options for students in school, so why not go beyond that? The Edible

Schoolyard is a program that allows students to understand and appreciate how food is grown,

take autonomy for helping to create school lunches, and have garden-based projects embedded

into all parts of the curriculum, all while eating nutritiously. As stated by one of the most

quintessential Roman poets, Virgil: “the greatest wealth is health” (“A quote by Virgil”). Why

would we not want to provide our children with this great wealth?


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Appendix A: Sample Budget

Jefferson Elementary Garden Budget

Cost of Garden (one time expenditure)----------------------------------------------------- $8000-20,000

Garden Coordinator/Educator (annual)----------------------------------------------------------- $15,000

Tool Replacement (annual)-------------------------------------------------------------------------- $200

Cooking Supplies (annual)--------------------------------------------------------------------------- $100

Classroom Supplies (annual)--------------------------------------------------------------------------$1,900

Garden Repairs (biennial2)--------------------------------------------------------------------- $500

Infrastructure Improvements (biennial)----------------------------------------------$1000-5000

Professional Development (biennial)----------------------------------------------------- $1,500

Total Initial Cost--------------$28,200-$44,200

Total Annual Cost------------$17,200

Total Biennial Cost------$3000-5000

2 Biennial means taking place every other year.


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Appendix B: Edible Education Website For Resources and Sample for School Promotion

(http://edibleschoolyard.org)


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Appendix C: Sample Surveys

For Evaluation of the Curriculum and Feedback

Teacher Survey

1. Do you see value in having a garden-based curriculum at Jefferson Elementary?

2. Can you list some ways in which the garden-based curriculum has been beneficial to you

and your students in your classroom?

3. Can you list some challenges in implementing the curriculum or completing garden-

based projects this year?

4. Do you enjoy participating in the Edible Education curriculum?

5. Is there anything else you would like to note?

Student Survey (to be modified per grade level)

1. Do you enjoy participating in the Edible Education curriculum? Why or why not?

2. List some ways that you have learned about healthy eating from the Edible Education

project.

3. Do you feel excited to take care of and grow your own vegetables and fruits at school?

Why or why not?

4. Can you think of projects you would like to do in class based around gardening?

5. Is there anything else you would like us to know about your feelings about Edible

Education?

Parent Survey

1. Do you see value in having a garden-based curriculum at Jefferson Elementary?

2. Does your child seem excited about the Edible Education curriculum?

3. Do you think that your child is benefiting from the garden-based curriculum? Why or

why not?

4. Would you like to learn more about ways you can participate and volunteer at school for

this project?

5. Do you have any other comments, questions, or concerns about the Edible Education

curriculum?


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and-childhood-obesity

Adolescent and School Health. (2014, December 11). Retrieved April 8, 2015, from

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Pop1 Child Population: Number of Children (In Millions) Ages 0-17 in the United States by

Age, 1950–2013 AND PROJECTED 2014–2050 (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2015, from

http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/pop1.asp

Mäkinen, M., Puukko-Viertomies, L., Lindberg, N., Siimes, M., & Aalberg, V. (2012). Body

dissatisfaction and body mass in girls and boys transitioning from early to mid-

adolescence: Additional role of self-esteem and eating habits. BMC Psychiatry, 35-35.

Retrieved April 8, 2015 from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/12/35

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Documents

Edible Education Initiative