Portland Public Schools -- News - Third-graders get going and growing at Kelly School

Third-graders get going and growing at Kelly School

Kelly Elementary School students are developing their gardening and bicycling skills this year through an innovative after-school program sponsored by the Portland nonprofit Growing Gardens. The 30 third-graders involved in the Team Grow Project club are tending plants at a school garden and working with bicycles. “It’s a first-in-the-nation program,” says project organizer Caitlin Blethen. “While gardening and biking might at first seem odd partners, they both encourage a healthy lifestyle that is crucial to establish early on.”

Sponsors say Team Grow Project offers a bevy of benefits: exercise, healthy eating habits, new skills, neighborhood knowledge and self-confidence. But it’s likely that the kids themselves are drawn by more tangible enticements, such as the opportunity to get their hands dirty and to wrap their hands around free goodies, including their very own bicycles.

Participants were divided into two groups at the start of the year, with one team biking through the fall on Tuesdays and gardening on Thursdays. Last month, both teams did “neighborhood navigating” in which they explored the surrounding neighborhood on foot while making maps and meeting community members. For the remainder of the year, the second team will garden and bike on alternating days.

Blethen stresses her desire to make the program sustainable. “We don’t want to lead this project,” she says, referring to the coalition of organizations supporting the program. “We want parents, teachers, and administrators involved to the greatest extent possible. They enhance the program and are essential to making it last in the long term.”

She praises the efforts of Kelly teachers, including Chris Watson, Sarah Rowley, Jocelyn Gary and Sean Day, along with Kelly Elementary Principal Sharon Allen.

Growing Gardens, which promotes organic gardening to improve nutrition, health and self-reliance, collaborated on the Team Grow Project with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, the Community Cycling Center and Community Health Partnership. For more information on Growing Gardens, go to www.growing-gardens.org.

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