WASHINGTON, D.C. –  You’re never too young to make a difference, and pre-K students through 5th graders at the District’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School are getting an early start.   The young students added a sensory garden and other plantings to their schoolyard on World Environment Day, Thursday, June 5.

It’s part of a $10,000 GreenWorks! grant from HSBC Bank USA, N.A. to enhance the educational use of the school’s outdoor areas and to increase the diversity of plants on the school grounds.  The students, along with volunteers from HSBC and the community, prepared areas for planting, placed plants for a sensory garden, created walking paths, and of course, had fun.

The project is organized by Project Learning Tree, which is part of the American Forest Foundation’s Center for Environmental Learning, with support from HSBC Bank USA, N.A. 

The faculty and administration of the school recently completed a Project Learning Tree teacher training workshop at the school to integrate outdoor PLT activities into the curriculum.  During the workshop, teachers and HSBC Bank employees provided input on the schoolyard makeover and teachers collected ideas from their students for the gardens.  The sensory garden will help students use their senses to interact with nature and transform an unused area into a green learning laboratory.  The project will provide service learning opportunities to students of all ages at the school.

Students got their hands dirty planting and they will help maintain the gardens.  They will learn about the environment, plants and urban ecosystems as they study them both in the classroom and outdoors.  They will use math skills to monitor weather and plant growth.  Reading and writing skills will improve as they make journal entries and study the plants.

And the garden is good for the community too.  Shrubs and perennials buffer street noise, dust and pollution.  The plantings will also help reduce runoff from the site.

The project will continue in the fall.  Future plans include a global garden, an ethnic vegetable garden, and the planting of several trees.
 
The project is part of Greening the Capital City: One Schoolyard at a Time, an initiative funded by HSBC Bank USA, N.A.  HSBC Bank employees joined students on-site and helped with the project.

Project Learning Tree uses the forest as a "window on the world" to increase students' understanding of our complex environment; to stimulate critical and creative thinking; to develop the ability to make informed decisions on environmental issues; and to instill the confidence and commitment to take responsible action on behalf of the environment. 

For more information about Project Learning Tree and the value of outdoor learning, go to www.plt.org and www.learnoutside.org.

About Project Learning Tree®
Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.  PLT provides educators with comprehensive environmental education curriculum resources that can be integrated into lesson plans for all grades and subject areas.  PLT teaches students “how to think, not what to think” about complex environmental issues, and helps students learn the skills they need to make sound choices about the environment.  Developed in 1976, PLT has an international network of more than 500,000 trained educators using PLT materials that cover the total environment.  The American Forest Foundation, a nonprofit organization, works for healthy forests, quality environmental education, and informed decision-making about our communities and our world.