The GROW Project

Communicate/Cultivate/Community

GROW is a grade five project that introduces ideas about art, gardening and environmental initiatives through a series of classroom and garden events.  GROW also encourages students to engage and share with their communities by highlighting the importance of Communication and Community Action.

Along with garden activities, the GROW project includes a series of classroom sessions featuring activities and guest speakers discussing local food initiatives, organizations and community gardens.

Throughout the project students are encouraged to explore what makes a community a good place to live and what kind of contributions they can make towards building a healthy community.

Primary objectives of the GROW project include:

Enhancing knowledge of sustainable food production, how to work in the garden and raise produce

Through GROW, students learn to care for seedlings, to compost, and to plant, maintain and harvest a garden.  In conjunction with Loving Spoonful’s Grow a Row campaign in Kingston, students raise produce to share with the community.

Reinforcing the importance of being socially active within the community, and exploring what it means to be a citizen.

The project asks students to consider their role in the community and develop an understanding of the importance of community and community organizations.

Improving the school environment and developing links between the school and the surrounding community

GROW develops interaction between the school and the surrounding community through the building, planting and maintenance of the garden.

Four Kingston schools participated in the GROW Project in 2011:

First Avenue P.S.

J.G. Simcoe P.S.

Rideau P.S.

Rideau Heights P.S.

Loving Spoonful supports the GROW Project by recruiting volunteers to help with garden maintenance over the summer months, and by delivering vegetables harvested from the gardens to emergency meal programs through our Grow a Row program.