The Princeton School Gardens Cooperative began its work as a group in 2005, intent to build edible gardens with staying power that could become foundation for garden- and food-based learning missing at PPS. Chief role model was the luscious collection of gardens at Riverside Elementary, created by the late Dorothy Mullen, who was a co-founder of our group. Each of the elementary school Edible Gardens and Princeton Middle School has a 12-month Edible Gardens steward/instructor, responsible for watering, weeding and coordination of summer chores, as well as creating and leading curriculum-based lessons as teachers request, whether art, science, math, reading, social studies, or, in the case of Princeton Middle School, the food science course.
Grade-by-grade tours, tastings and lessons with curricular-specific plantings at each campus, with particular attention to growing foods for the Garden State on Your Plate tastings calendar. All gardens work together, since each is in a microclimate of its own, and with its own student community, its own Edible Gardens Educator/Steward, and its own parent volunteers.
Edible Gardens Educators/Stewards
PSGC Edible Gardens liaison – Dr Joy Barnes-Johnson, science supervisor, grades 6-12
Elementary School Garden Education Programs
In the years since our founding, the elementary school gardens in Princeton Public Schools have grown and blossomed into fully integrated garden education programs.
Our students:
• learn hands-on lessons directly linked to the K-5 core curriculum;
• stretch their minds and bodies while digging deep into enrichment topics in botany, horticulture and ecology;
• problem-solve using skills they are learning in subjects such as math, language arts, and Spanish;
• become inspired and empowered to make healthy and sustainable choices about nutrition and safeguarding the environment;
• build self-confidence, a sense of ownership in their schools, and a sense of connection to and purpose in their communities.
Our teachers:
• have access to an abundance of teaching opportunities right outside their classrooms;
• see immediate and sustained results and benefits for students of all learning styles;
• are winning acclaim in the community for their development of innovative garden-based programs.
Our community:
• enthusiastically supports the garden programs with both copious volunteer time and funding.
Click on the link for each school to see photos from specific PPS Edible Gardens and to read updates.
Community Park Elementary School • Johnson Park Elementary School • Little Brook Elementary School • Riverside Elementary School • Princeton Middle School • Princeton High School