LAFAYETTE, La. — Students from eight LPSS schools will soon trade desks for dirt as part of a growing initiative to bring hands-on learning to schoolyards. The School Garden Initiative, led in partnership with the LSU Ag Center and Lafayette Master Gardeners, aims to transform traditional lessons into memorable outdoor experiences.
“They’re excited about teaching others. They’re excited to learn. They’re excited to grow,” said Charles Hebert, LSU Ag Center extension agent.
Educators and Master Gardeners gathered for the annual training, where they demonstrated practical ways to help students connect knowledge gained in the classroom with real-world skills in gardening.
“The experiential side of it, where the kids are actually doing hands-on activities that they are tying into the things they learn in their four walls of their classroom, are super beneficial for things to stick or resonate with them,” said Kessler Landry, instructional leader at Martial Billeaud Elementary.
The program’s lessons are designed to extend beyond campus boundaries. Landry said many participating students go home and encourage their families to eat healthier, start gardens, and connect academic subjects like math and science to their garden experience.
“We’ve had a lot of kids who go home, and encourage their families to...eat healthier, grow a garden, or be able to really take what they’re learning in math and apply it to what’s happening in the garden – or science, or social studies, or ELA,” Landry said.
But the project isn’t just about planting seeds in the soil — it’s about cultivating healthier habits in young minds.
“We spark a passion for gardening. Secondly, we want to change the eating habits of our young people at a very young age. If they grow the vegetables, they will eat them,” Hebert said.
To help students make smart food choices, the curriculum introduces terms like “go” foods, “whoah” foods, and “slow” foods — making nutrition lessons memorable both at school and at home.
“The kids are learning things about nutrition in a way that’s framed into words that they’re familiar with,” Landry said. “So when they visit a fast food restaurant or have homecooking, they can identify what are the healthier choices.”
Organizers say the goal is simple: to plant seeds of knowledge while promoting healthier lifestyles. And just as students learn and grow, they hope the school gardens will flourish for seasons to come.
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