COMMUNITY
AMA’s School Garden Studio
Students are growing a greener future with hands-on lessons in gardening and community.
By Meaghan Archer
Melissa Chacko’s Grade 2 class and Sasha Lernowich’s Grade 7 and 8 students are learning that they can grow their own food. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMA STUDIO GARDEN STUDIO
THE HAMLET OF DAPP, ALBERTA, population 30, consists of one long road, a handful of houses and a school. The students of Pembina North Community School (PNCS) are bussed in daily from across the generational farming community of Westlock County. Farm kids at heart, they weren’t always keen on traditional learning styles, something junior high teacher Mackenzie Dadson picked up on in her first year at the school. But a hands-on, engaging project kept these Grade 7 students enthralled for hours.
Recognizing their needs, Dadson says, she and her Grade 6 teaching colleague “tore apart” the science curriculum, rebuilding it so it was project-based. They supplemented the provincial curriculum with lessons from AMA’s School Garden Studio, a virtual space for teachers run by AMA which offers resources for the Grade 7 science program. Now in an expansion phase, School Garden Studio is developing lesson plans for elementary-level students in both English and French, including a component on Indigenous culture and land-based learning.
While it was started as a free resource base for classrooms, the School Garden Studio also launched a bursary program in 2024, funded by the AMA Community Foundation, to fund projects in schools with a need for financial support. Teachers can apply for up to $2,500 in funding to go towards science and food literacy education projects — such as hydroponic plants — in their classrooms.
Since Dadson’s classroom already had a hydroponic plant system, she opted to apply with plans to expand the school’s sustainability program. Due to Alberta’s school funding model, which is based on student enrollment numbers, rural schools like PNCS that have smaller class sizes receive less funding than larger schools in more populated areas. Bursaries, such as the one from the AMA Community Foundation, are vital to their budget so they can afford programming such as school garden projects. When their bursary application was granted, Dadson invested in a greenhouse. It will be part of an outdoor classroom also funded by the school’s parent council, which will feature gardens, composters, worm bins and other hands-on resources for the students.
“They enjoy coming to school and doing those projects. Grades are up, attitudes in class are up — they're super-invested.”
The students in Mackenzie Dadson’s Grade 7 classroom were thoroughly engaged with the hands-on School Garden Studio projects. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMA STUDENT GARDEN STUDIO
At Escuela Vista Grande, students use hydroponic equipment, not only learning to grow food during winter, but also providing fresh food to families in need. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMA STUDENT GARDEN STUDIO
Support the Cause Donations made to the AMA Community Foundation help to fund our bursary program. amacommunityfoundation.org
Prior to receiving the financial support, Dadson supplied tools and materials for her science class out of her own pocket. Her classroom’s annual spending budget was limited to $200, not nearly enough to cover all the expenses. It was worth it, she says, because the hands-on projects are so much more meaningful to the students. It’s taught them transferable skills, including growing their own food, which they take home and use on their family farms. They now understand how fruitful it is — both literally and figuratively — to know where your food comes from.
“They enjoy coming to school and doing those projects. Grades are up, attitudes in class are up — they’re super-invested,” says Dadson. For one project, the students were challenged to engineer an automatic watering system using microbit coding, which is part of the Grade 6 curriculum. A microbit is a pocket-sized computer designed to inspire creative thinking in children. Using straws, a cup of water and a little motor (all recycled materials), one group set the microbit on a timer that watered the plants in intervals. “They’re constantly learning,” says Dadson. “If they fail once, they’re not stopping.”
Joining forces with the Grade 6 class has also helped the kids bond, forming stronger connections with each other. Everyone is excited about future collaborations between the elementary and junior high students once their greenhouse is ready.
At Escuela Vista Grande (EVG) in Red Deer, a similar collaboration is occurring between Melissa Chacko’s Grade 2 class and Sasha Lernowich’s Grade 7 and 8 classes. They joined the School Garden Studio last fall and had their bursary application approved within a few weeks.
The K-to-8 school sponsors six food hampers for families with students at EVG. However, a decline in funding and increased need meant only one of the six families could receive support. With their new funding from the bursary, Chacko and Lernowich bought hydroponic towers for each of their classrooms. Now, they’re able to send fresh food home to those families in need.
The bursary has boosted what the students at both schools have been able to do, but the teachers say their primary goal in joining the School Garden Studio was to show students they could grow food themselves. It creates a healthy option without limits — fresh food can be grown indoors even during winter in Alberta. It’s about “having that knowledge to problem solve,” says Chacko, who’s been experimenting with using fish tank water to fuel the plants — it’s full of nitrates and other nutrients used in fertilizers.
Both teachers have noticed their students are much more engaged and take initiative in class since joining the School Garden Studio. Even teachers and students in other grades are curious. As Chacko puts it: “I’ve turned into the cool classroom.” AMA
