What began six years ago as a small garden for one class now covers 23,000 square feet, one-third of Stonewall Jackson Elementary School’s campus, and includes a vegetable garden, an herb garden, a Texas wildflower garden, beehives and a greenhouse.
An extension of the science curriculum, each class meets once a week for an outdoor lab with teacher Mark Painter to work on an assigned part of the garden. They study topics such as life cycles and energy flow and observe the growth by measuring the plants, noting changes in their appearance and the effects different fertilizers and other factors have on them.
“It’s a unique project. Our objective is to provide the children with a positive experience with not just academics but enriching activities. It provides them with an experience they wouldn’t have in any other school,” says Stonewall principal Olivia Henderson.
The project began when second grade teacher Evelyn Painter (Mark’s wife) started a garden with her class. It slowly grew, and then-science teacher Marge Carlson began to work on the project. Mark Painter first started volunteering with the garden, then taught at the school. He began as an assistant teacher, then a math teacher, and finally took over the outdoor lab position.
Mark, who developed his love of gardening from his father, goes to the school to take care of the garden on weekends, holidays and over the summer. He has also formed a gardening club to help with the extra maintenance the garden needs.
“For me, it’s just a real peaceful place to be,” Mark says.
Mark says his favorite part about working in the garden is seeing the kids make connections, “when they really learn something.” He also enjoys watching the students’ amazement when they find that “something is actually down there and growing,” especially when they harvest potatoes.
The garden is harvested three times a year, and students can take home vegetables they took care of.
“It’s a real life, hand-on science. They’re making connections with the land, it makes them see where the stuff that sustains us comes from,” Mark says.
Henderson adds that, with Stonewall as a regional school for deaf children, the garden provides another opportunity for deaf and hearing children to work together on a project.
“They’re on an equal basis in the garden,” Henderson says.
Henderson thinks the garden was a factor in the school receiving a Blue Ribbon award. And the garden has attracted a great deal of attention from other schools interested in starting similar projects.
“We’re very fortunate to have a gardener of Mark’s caliber,” she says. “He’s constantly working in the garden. Gardening is in his blood.”
And let’s not forget his helpers.
“The children are becoming really good gardeners,” she continues. “We’ve got a brood of horticulturists.”
