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Community Nutrition and Urban Gardening

Ridgecrest Elementary School Garden

The Engaged University taught nutrition and gardening at Ridgecrest Elementary to second graders from the spring of 2006 through the summer of 2007.  Using "earth box" container gardens that were generously donated to us by the College Park Rotary Club, we worked with students to plant various herbs and salad greens. Our efforts culminated in an end of the year salad party where the students ate what they grew.  Working closely with the school’s classroom teachers, we taught a gardening and nutrition curriculum designed to augment the existing math, science, and language arts curriculum.