The School Garden Competition invites Florida elementary schools to highlight their school garden programs. A cash prize is given to the first-place winning school in each category.
Entire School Garden Category |
 First Place: Del Prado Elementary, Boca Raton
The Nature Trail and Pond are used as a "living classroom," featuring nine different ecosystems.
It was created in order to increase the students' awareness and appreciation of the interrelationship between the environment and quality of life.
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 Second Place: Goldsboro Elementary Magnet School, Sanford
The Goldsboro Discovery and Sensory Garden allows children to explore their five senses, learn the life cycle of several plants and
insects, and how to maintain an outdoor habitat.
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 Third Place: Whispering Pines Elementary,
Boca Raton
The Friendship and Tolerance Garden is registered as a Living Memorial Project, dedicated to the victims of the terrorist
attacks on September 11, 2001 and "to those Americans who lost their lives in the fight for freedom."
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Multiple Class Endeavor Category |
 First Place: Endeavour Elementary, Cocoa
The Endeavour Kindergarden Gardening project is a butterfly habitat, complete with a screened tent for raising catepillars. It's so successful, the class has supplied 15 other classrooms with butterflies for study.
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 Second Place: Tavares Elementary, Tavares
The theme of the 2008 Garden Classroom, which focuses on student-directed learning, was ecosystems. Students learned that soil, atmosphere, light, heat, and livings things all work together.
View the complete portfolio (PDF) |
 Third Place: C.W. Norton Elementary, Gainesville
Students grow vegetables, herbs and plants in a hydroponic greenhouse, as well as in raised beds outside. The gardens are so productive that the children are able to sell surplus plants to teachers, staff and parents.
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Single Class Garden Category |
 First Place: Royal Palm Elementary, Miami
In the Fifth Grade Butterfly Garden, students used math, science, reading and even writing skills as they measured plots, observed the butterfly's life cycle, researched butterflies and kept
a journal about the garden's progress.
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 Second Place: Mendenhall Elementary, Tampa
The first-grade class used only organic methods for controlling weeds and pests, such as hand-pulling weeds and introducing beneficial insects like lady bugs to control aphids.
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 Third Place: Griffin Elementary, Cooper City
This class took a field trip of the school grounds in order to choose the best location for their vegetable garden. When they found pests on their plants, they interviewed the head custodian about the
school's no-pesticide policy.
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