Atlanta, Georgia
Chatahoochee High School (Alpharetta, GA):
Students will design and plant a small replica of the gardens of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. The project will involve students from social studies, American history, biology, math, and career tech classes. They will also harvest the garden and donate food to local community organizations.

Taylor Middle School (Alpharetta, GA):
Students will launch a Landscape Campaign through their Evergreen Club. Students will be responsible for designing an area in the front of the school, select plants appropriate for the environment, and take on responsibility for care and maintenance.

Spelman College (Atlanta, GA):
This project will partner undergraduates studying to be teachers with students from Dunbar and Gideon Elementary Schools and DeKalb Academy for Technology and Environment, and other members of the community, to form Green Urban Students (G.U.S.). The Spelman students will help their young counterparts design and present community workshops on water conservation and recycling on March 29 and April 19, 2008. They will also work with the children on other environmental activities.

Creekview High School (Canton, GA):
Students in the ROTC program will be responsible for expanding the schools recycling efforts. Science students will design, develop, and build an outdoor learning center made of recycled materials.

Dallas, Texas
Gunstream Elementary (Frisco, TX):
Students will hold an Environmental Awareness Science Night on January 29, 2008. Each grade will plan and set up a learning station at which students and parents can take part in hands-on science activities. Members of the Frisco Urban Forest Board will also present information on local trees.

Sem Elementary (Frisco, TX):
Students will hold an Environmental Day on April 29, 2008, for first-graders to reinforce classroom work on renewable and nonrenewable resources. The Frisco Urban Board will conduct “tree tours” in the neighborhood and present a tree to the 2007-2008 first grade class. Fifth-graders will work with their younger counterparts to create a pamphlet about the community’s trees.

Corbell Elementary (Frisco, TX):
This project involves kindergarten students in a project called It’s a Lovely Neighborhood! The children will observe trees on the school campus and in the community, identify the species, and learn about the impact of these trees on the environment. At the end of the spring semester, they will make a presentation to the rest of the school and to parents.

DeGolyer Elementary (Dallas, TX):
Students will create a vegetable garden called the Garden of Discovery, so named because students will learn about chemistry, biology, conservation, and earth science in a hands-on environment. A dedication ceremony is planned for March 20.  Adult volunteers will help fourth and fifth graders start the garden and a composting pile, and the students will be responsible for maintenance and harvesting.

Phoenix, Arizona
Basha High School (Chandler, AZ):
This project will involve ninth grade environmental science students in development of a xeriscape garden, to be called the Basha Bears Community Garden. The students will bring children from the day care facility on campus to the garden and serve as their mentors. The garden is scheduled to open with an Earth Day celebration in late April.

Higley Unified School District (Gilbert, AZ):
Higley Unified School District will create a GreenTeam—a small group of fourth through sixth graders. After training at the Gilbert Riparian Institute, the GreenTeam members will make presentations and help organize their classmates to undertake environmental improvement projects, with assistance from students at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus.

Playa del Ray Elementary School (Gilbert, AZ):
Students will create a butterfly garden on land adjacent to the school. Students in K through 6 will plan and develop the garden to incorporate lessons from science, social studies, and language arts.

St. John Bosco (Phoenix, AZ):
This project will expand its three-year-old Curriculum Garden. The grant will allow the Conserve and Preserve Club to build a trail, erect interpretative signs, and improve 10 garden beds planted to correspond to each grade’s science curriculum.

Sacramento, California
Rocklin Elementary:
Second-graders will buddy up with sixth-graders to experiment with solar cookers and other uses of solar energy, spurred by a presentation by the Rocklin-Loomis Rotary Club on Rotary’s support of solar cookers in South Africa. The students are planning a Solar Energy Fair to share what they learned. In a second project, fourth-graders will learn about composting and create composting bins to use in a garden maintained by the school’s fifth-graders and used by the entire school as an outdoor learning lab.

Rock Creek Elementary:
Fourth graders will study the wetlands ecosystem at William Jessup University. They will also build nesting boxes for bluebirds and determine where to locate them to best help the young birds survive.

Spring View Middle School:
Students will plant an area near its amphitheater with native vegetation. Students will research which trees, shrubs, and ground cover are suitable and plant them on Earth Day, April 22.

Rocklin High School:
Chemistry students will collect and analyze data about air quality during morning and afternoon pick-up times at Rocklin’s elementary schools. They plan to present their findings to the community in June.

Rocklin Unified School District:
RUSD was awarded a GreenWorks! grant for Super Science Saturday. In this program, planned for May, high school students will design and set up hands-on science activities for Rocklin elementary students. The high schoolers are responsible for running the event

Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Woodfield Center School (Beresford, SD):
Students will conduct “Extreme Makeover: Yard Edition” by identifying areas in their community that need help with landscaping or maintenance, including the local day care center and senior citizen center. The students will then plan what work needs to be done and carry it out with the help of teachers and community volunteers.

The Outdoor Campus (Sioux Falls, SD):
The Outdoor Campus will work with third-graders at Lowell Elementary Math, Science and Technology School on the Urban Garden Cooperative Project to help native and migrating birds and butterflies. The 2007-2008 third-graders will also work with Cliff Avenue Greenhouse to start garden. The 2008-2009 third-graders will take up the project, harvesting cuttings and seedlings to plant in the spring of 2009. Come back soon to find out more about completed projects!