Farm to School
Stages of the Farm to School Project
Grow Education - Marion Institute
Our Vision: To plant knowledge and cultivate community in the Westport Elementary School.
Our Mission: To educate students, support teachers and engage families within the Westport public school system, focusing on topics and opportunities related to ecological literacy, health and sustainability.
Our Method: Grow Education uses school gardens as a platform for experiential and project- based learning with programming that is inclusive of the surrounding community. We work with Westport and New Bedford public schools and partner with community organizations to support the advancement of STEM curriculum while incorporating skills for healthy living and education on career opportunities in STEM-related fields.
Westport Community Schools Teachers, Administrators, Food Service and Staff spent August 10, 2022 learning about the Grow Education at the Round the Bend Farm in Dartmouth.
Massachusetts Farm to School Institute
Farm to School is a comprehensive strategy with a goal of helping students establish lifelong positive relationships with food while supporting a more just food system. The strategies used to achieve this shift include: serving healthy local food in schools, improving student nutrition, providing hands-on food systems learning opportunities, and developing meaningful relationships between community partners, schools and students. Farm to school supports youth in connecting the dots of where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment, and their communities at large.
The Massachusetts Farm to School Institute is a year-long professional learning opportunity for a select number of school/district teams from across Massachusetts.
The students in Mrs. Morin's class learned about composting this week as part of our Farm to School Program. They went on a nature walk to collect items and created their very own composting jar. The students will complete observations the next several weeks to see how the items in their jar decomposed. Then, they will use the compost for a planting activity in the their classroom. The class was very excited to share what they learned about composting with their families!
