Agency Details:

Davidson Middle School - Green Schoolyard

The mission of the Davidson Green Schoolyard is to provide outdoor learning experiences for students through study and tending of the school Garden and its environment. Hands-on projects enable youth to connect school lessons with the natural world. These experiences help strengthen students' sense of stewardship of their campus and the world.

Description:
The Davidson Green Schoolyard Project offers weekly in-class presentations, and coordinates campus-wide events. Leadership is provided by a core group of volunteer environmental educators and parents, in cooperation with the administration and faculty.

• Environmental Action Club (EAC) - meets at lunchtime on Thursdays. Club meetings, led by Next Generation instructor Rebecca Mullaney, include learning about sustainability issues and planning campus projects such as recycling, composting, and litter prevention.
• An End to Litter - in-class presentations and action projects teach students about the high costs of litter and the benefits of Zero Waste. This campaign started with campus-wide Clean-Up Days three years ago, and has reached its culminating point with a school-wide goal of Zero Litter by June.
• Outdoor Field Studies - a Garden Coordinator, funded by a California Department of Education grant, will offer 40 hours of in-garden lessons ranging from poetry to math to science. Students get to dig in the ground, catch frogs, plant seeds, and pick flowers. The goal is to use the campus natural environment as a learning lab and integrator of many subject areas.



History:
Davidson Middle School has had a school garden, environmental club, and wetlands project on and off for the last 20 years. The current Davidson Garden program was revived by Marin Master Gardeners Jonathan Toste and Sadie Melov in 2003. The Harbor Rotary Club has donated materials, money, and labor to build the current garden. In school year 2005-06, a Dream Team reconceived the Davidson Garden Project as the Green Schoolyard. Outdoor field studies, litter prevention and clean-up, and recycling issues were incorporated into the program. This year the Garden continues to grow outside its original boundaries, as we envision tree planting in early spring and groups such as Green Sangha and Next Generation go into the classrooms with lessons on resources, energy, and the health of the planet. Davidson has become a model Green School in collaboration with Next Generation.


Contact person: Stuart Moody, Garden Project Manager, (phone), (email)

Address:


280 Woodland Ave. San Rafael, CA 94901 (See a map)


Web Site: None specified

Directions:

FROM HIGHWAY 101: Take the Central San Rafael exit. Turn west on 3rd Street. Turn left (south) on Lindaro street. Cross Anderson Drive (stoplight). Proceed two blocks farther, and you will see Davidson Middle School. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: The 22, 23, 29, 35, 45, 49, 70, 71, 80 and other bus lines stop at the Golden Gate Transit Center, San Rafael. The 40/42 line stops even closer, at Anderson & Lindaro., 5-10 minute walk

Last updated on December 3, 2009