Wilson Garden Wonder: About us

In the effort of promoting healthy foods, community involvement, increase environmental awareness and in general raise exceptional citizens of USA and of the world, Vanessa Scocchera, founder of the garden, in accordance with the School Principal, Dr. Ann Roberts, decided to start this exciting adventure, a School Garden at Wilson Elementary School in Forest Hills District.

The benefit and the rewards of a school garden for parents, kids, teachers and the community as a whole have been proven to be unlimited. There is something to discover and experiment for every age (science, health/nutrition, math, community service, literature, art, social studies, cultural studies, history, etc).

It is a wonderful way to teach kids environmental attitude, self-confidence, community spirit, leadership skills, volunteerism, nutritional attitudes, positive attitude toward school, social skills and motor skills.

The goal of Wilson Garden Wonder is to integrate the educational curricula to the garden activities. The objective is to ultimately provide a space to learn practical life skills and to improve awareness of how we all are interconnected to nature, the community and the world. The garden is a natural laboratory to learn how to be a good citizen and how to make our neighborhood and our world a safer, more peaceful and greener place for everyone.

Seven teachers use the school garden as an educational outdoor tool (two K classes, two 1st grade classes, two 2nd grade classes, one 4th grade class and one special need class) for a total of about 177 kids plus a few scout groups.

The garden is managed by a “Garden Committee” compose by the Principal, teachers and parents.

"Wilson Garden Wonder Committee" is the core of our project and its members are highly committed volunteers who deeply believe the garden will be very beneficial to the kids education.

School Principal Dr. Ann Roberts and participating teachers.
Vanessa Scocchera (Chair and Blog writer) wilsongardenwonder@gmail.com
TBD (Garden leader/Volunteer Coordinator) wgw.volunteer@gmail.com
Diana Reynolds (Adviser/Projects coordinator) wgw.project@gmail.com
TBD(Garden leader/ Teachers Coordinator) wgw.teachers@gmail.com
TBD (Projects coordinator) wgw.project@gmail.com
Susan Prince (Treasure/Grant Coordinator) wgw.treasure@gmail.com

There is a “Garden Club” composed by parents, scout and other community organizations volunteering in the garden. To join the "Garden Club" please contact TBD wgw.volunteer@gmail.com.

Class rooms visit the garden during school year with the help of the Garden Committee and the Garden Club members.

The garden grows fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers according to the season and the teacher/kids preference.

The members of the Garden Committee and the Garden Club attend the garden during school closing.

The school garden covers an area of about 4500 sq.ft with about 630 sq.ft. of beds dedicated to vegetables, fruit, herbs, and a 1200 sq.ft. plot dedicated to bigger crops like corn, sunflower, potatoes and pumpkins (total planted area 1830 sq.ft.).

The garden started on April 2010 supported by in-kind donations from families and local business, government and local NGOs.

Wilson Garden Wonder is operated through Wilson PTA. We do not receive any funding from the school. Any donation can be made to Wilson PTA and it is tax deductible.

The garden is an extraordinary addition to the already excellent curriculum of Wilson Elementary. We hope it will represent a center for enhancing and cross-exchange Science, Math, Literature, Art, Social Studies, Geography, History, etc. It could represent the engine to promote environmental awareness in the community. It will bring the school and the local community close together. It will add a special character to the school. With a step-by-step approach we would like the garden become a tool for the entire school so that kids of all grades will be able to benefit from it for the rest of their lives.

For more information please feel free to contact Vanessa Scocchera at wilsongardenwonder@gmail.com

Wilson Elementary - Forest Hills Public School District in Anderson Twp., Ohio.

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Get inspired!

A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library. - Henri Frederic Amiel
When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people. - Unknown
Must we always teach our children with books? Let them look at the stars and the mountains above. Let them look at the waters and the trees and flowers on Earth. Then they will begin to think, and to think is the beginning of a real education. - David Polis
My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. - H. Fred Ale
What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden. - Elizabeth von Arnim
The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the world. - Vita Sackville-West
All gardeners live in beautiful places, because they make them so. - Joseph Joubert
The only limit to your garden is at the boundaries of your imagination. - Thomas D. Church
Successful gardening is doing what has to be done when it has to be done the way it ought to be done whether you want to do it or not. - Jerry Baker
Reading is good but the garden is the best teacher. - Christine Allison
In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends. - Kozuko Okakura
The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies. Gertrude Jekyll
Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas. - Elizabeth Murray
In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. - Abram L. Urban
The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. - Hanna Rion
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. - Unknown

What Teachers are saying of the Wilson Garden

In kindergarten we read aloud books by Lois Ehlert in the fall and talk about where our fruits and vegetables come from. Later in the spring we study how plants grow from seeds and what plants need to grow. Being able to see and experience the real thing as we are learning about it makes a big difference with our young learners.

Sue and Susan

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Mrs. Gately and Mrs Hauserman's class would like to donate some money to the Wilson Garden to help with the expenses that you may have throughout the year. Thank you for all of the time and energy you have given while volunteering for this wonderful cause.

Have a great day,
Andrea Gately

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In the fall the third graders took soil samples to examine in order to determine which would be best for growing plants. This tied into our resource unit.

Thanks,

Mrs Gates

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We talked about anatomy of a plant, germination and what seeds need to grow. The children have labeled diagrams of a plant and been expected to learn the function of each part.
We have explored the concept of compost, reading books about the subject and looking at the compost bins in the garden area.
We have also kept a garden journal with written observations of changes in the garden (i.e. drought in the fall) and illustrations of flowers, plants, and insects observed in the garden.
This spring, we sent flower bulbs home with each child and the children learned about the concept of perennial plants.

Thank you!
Kim Symon, Teacher
Wilson Elementary

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