Growing Minds

In 2012, H-E-B named CFISD the large district winner during its Excellence in Education Awards ceremony and awarded the district a $100,000 cash prize. The district chose to distribute these funds using an internal grant-making process, which was named GEM (Gap-Elimination Measures). In the spring of 2014, teams of CFISD teachers submitted applications outlining a variety of projects to implement in the classroom. The top-scoring five applications were selected using a point system. Hemmenway ES was home to one of these winning teams.

The objective of this project was to provide an outdoor learning environment where hands-on activities could be used to increase vocabulary development. The GEM team, led by teacher Alicia Farmer, built their application around research-based strategies. 

The Outdoor Learning Lab was constructed in November 2014 with the help of an Eagle Scout from Troop 574, teacher volunteers and the Hemmenway garden committee. After construction, seeds were planted and the garden was divided, with each grade level taking responsibility for a section. 

Classrooms have already begun using the garden as a teaching tool. A second-grade language arts class recently used the space when teaching sequencing. The garden committee is building a lesson bank for teachers to use. In addition, the committee will select students to join the Growing Minds Garden Club in the spring.

Edit 2/12/15: There were five top-scoring applications for the 2014 GEM grant. The original version of this post had the number as seven.