SproutEd Program Testimonials

I love the school garden. I love the breeze blowing in the trees.  I love the flowers blooming.  I love the food in the garden. In the fall the leaves are full of colors, I love the sight. In the  winter the garden seems  magical! In Summer the leaves are as green as peas and it really pleases me.  I love the adventures we can have. And all the bugs living there. I love watering and caring for the plants. Kale and chives, mushrooms too - I love it all, don't you?!

-Jennie, 2nd grader

Land to Learn’s SproutEd program has taught our students a love and excitement for gardening, fresh produce and our environment. The students look forward to working with Gardener Mara and are so excited to share what they’ve learned. JFK’s goals this year are to engage students in meaningful learning that is relevant to them; to give every student the opportunity and authority to drive and shape their own learning; and to strengthen family and community relationships. Gardener Mara has become such a valuable member of our community and the SproutEd program is helping us meet all three of these goals. We love SproutEd and feel so lucky to have this partnership in place!

-Melissa Jamieson, Principal at John F. Kennedy Elementary, Kingston

Having the Land to Learn SproutEd Program incorporated into our classroom has been an amazing experience, for not only myself as an educator, but for the students. The curriculum they provide is enriched and a great extension to the one within the classroom. After learning about plant life cycles in the classroom they are able to witness it in the garden and experience the process. The students are able to make connections between the classroom and the world. They have learned about communities working together to source food from the land. It has broadened the students vocabulary and experiences with the environment and food. The hands-on experience is something many students may not have had the opportunity for if not for this program. Ms. Nicole has been a wonderful asset with her positive and warm demeanor. She has created a respectful and open relationship with the students. Each year the students look forward to working with Ms. Nicole and the garden!

-Alicia Grant, teacher at JV Forrestal, Beacon

My son loves going to the garden and likes to learn how the whole process goes from when a seed is planted to when it’s cut, and how to prepare the food.

-parent of participant

It’s such a special addition to the school day and one of his favorite parts of school! So thankful for this program! It’s a great way for kids to appreciate our world.

-parent of participant

My favorite garden animals are ladybugs, bees, butterflies, caterpillars and some helpful insects. I also like to explore the garden and it makes me feel calm. I love going there on sunny days and looking at it on rainy days. There are a lot of plants and two trees and I love trees. There are many animals and bugs in the garden! 

-Alex .G, 2nd grader

I feel happy about the school garden because the garden gives me food. The garden also makes me feel calm. My favorite thing about the garden is bugs they're just so interesting to learn. I like gardening and it makes me really happy. And I also really like plants. Plants give us food too. Without any plants we would probably be dead because plants breathe in air that we don’t breathe and they breathe out air that we breathe. 

-Henri G., 2nd grader

Land to Learn is a fabulous, fantastic, and fun-filled educational hands-on program that allows scholars to experience farm-to-table participation in their school. Having been a teacher, who has observed the growth of Land to Learn since its inception, I have witnessed the compassionate, positive, and resourceful activities that the Land to Learn instructors design for all scholars. My scholars always inquire when it is going to be “garden time,” as they eagerly look forward to taking part in the purposeful and relevant NYS Next Gen learning standards-based projects. In closing, Land to Learn is an enthusiastic educational program that allows my scholars to create meaningful connections of real-world experiences to our curriculum of Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems.

-Mrs. Lynn Kirk, teacher at Temple Hill Academy, Newburgh

There are so many plants in the garden, but my favorite is the corn because I love popcorn!  My favorite garden bugs are praying mantises. This garden gives us a part of all of these beautiful flowers that help us live. This garden gives millions of bugs homes and that's why I love it so much!   

-Jackson, 2nd grader

The garden is a wonderful place and I feel so relaxed. The garden is very calm and peaceful. Yesterday we released ladybugs in the garden. Do you know why? Because ladybugs eat aphids and aphids hurt our garden.  So it's important to have ladybugs in our garden.  I hope you love the garden as much as I do!

-Charlotte, 2nd grader

My students love learning about the garden. They seem very interested in what is being taught to them. I have a few students who I know garden at home, and give me beautiful flowers weekly. I also know that my students love participating in creating delicious food from the garden. So much so that they include their families in recreating the garden food at home. Last week, Ms. O taught an amazing lesson. She taught the class about salsa and how to make it using fresh ingredients from the garden. All of my students raved for the entire week about the lesson. We created a challenge for the students to make the recipe at home. Many of them did, and emailed pictures that very night. The following days I received many pictures of my students' homemade salsa. I had two students bring me their salsa to try, and even received a birthday gift of homemade salsa from a student. This lesson was a great success! They all gained the skill of making homemade salsa, and learned that the ingredients can come right from their backyards.

-Ms. Morgan, Temple Hill Academy, Newburgh