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EarthBox in Our Schools:
Small Hands Create
Abundant Harvest
Toddlers, pre-schoolers and kindergarteners are using their hands for more than just fingerpainting at Hebrew Academy Community School in Margate, Florida! These budding gardeners have been growing vegetables and herbs in their EarthBoxes.
Seeds were planted in the fall for a planned harvest of cucumbers and corn. The Kindergarteners even planted peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, beans and squash so they could make their own salsa. This colorful garden of seven EarthBoxes is located in the front of the school building, near a sunny walkway, so students and parents can see the progress of the plants.
Ellen Farina, the voluntary Pre-K teacher who is working with the students, says, "Everything is thriving. We are particularly interested in preparing our salsa from fresh ingredients we grew ourselves." Ms. Farina is very appreciative of the community support for their Early Childhood fundraiser, which helped with the purchase of the EarthBoxes.
Interest and enthusiasm have grown among the parents and other educators. In fact, Yanick Goutier, Early Childhood Director at Family Central, Inc., joined the children for some planting recently.
The success of the EarthBoxes has spawned plans for an in-ground garden next to Hebrew Academy's playground. "It is just in the beginning stages, but will be of considerable size. The plan is to plant herbs, flowers and vegetables for the students to enjoy at snack time.
"We have gotten away from serving cookies, etc. and are serving much healthier snacks to the children. It is a win-win situation for all involved," notes Ms. Farina.
For information on starting an EarthBox project of your own, click here or contact our Education Department at 1-800-821-8838, ext. 8348 or 8369.
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EarthBox Education Conferences
The Spring Schedule
If you've been wondering where the EarthBox Education Team will be making appearances this year, then wonder no more!
Here's a list of our scheduled appearances thus far.
We're delighted to be attending the American Montessori
Society show this year, since gardening is an important part of the Montessori curriculum. Pawleys Island is just one of their many success stories. Click here to read the newsletter article about their EarthBox gardening!
Please note that attendees of the Montessori and NCEA conferences who visit our booth will receive a discount code for their next EarthBox purchase!
Come see us at:
American Montessori Society 2011 Conference
March 24-27 Chicago, Illinois Hyatt Regency, Magnificent Mile Booth 416
National Catholic Education Association Conference
April 26-28 New Orleans, Louisiana Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Booth 1321
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Monthly Drawing for a $50 EarthBox Gift Certificate!
Educators, we want to support you in every way we can. One way we show our appreciation is with our bi-monthly drawing for a $50 EarthBox gift certificate.
This issue's winner is the Bright Star Community Outreach Program in Chicago, Illinois.
Children at the Bright Star Program are now using EarthBoxes to learn the value of growing their own food.
Says Ruth Robinson, Bright Star's Executive Director, "Notice the smiles on the children's faces! This garden was a real success in getting the children to try new foods and to eat healthier." In fact, she says, one little girl who visited McDonald's complained that the tomatoes on her burger were no good, nothing like the one she had in her garden!
"That statement made my heart glad, and was worth all the hard work I and my staff put into working with these children," says Ms. Robinson. "And the EarthBoxes helped to make all this possible."
We'll be posting more winners as we choose them. Remember: to be eligible for the drawing, please mention the Source Code EDUDISC when ordering your EarthBox products.
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Are You in the STEM Directory?
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The National Directory of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) can help promote your after-school program, which in turn can lead to increased membership, funding, and partnership opportunities.
The Coalition for Science After School has partnered with Time Warner Cable to create this on-line national directory, and participation is absolutely free. Time Warner Cable, to support children and families, will promote STEM with Public Service Announcements throughout a five-year campaign.
EarthBox Education wants to collectively upload information to the site. To do this, we need to hear from you. Please email your contact information and program description to Molly Philbin at molly.philbin@earthbox.com for loading. When the information is uploaded, you will receive an email with a login and password information, and you're in!
Other STEM News
Those educators who work with girls in STEM are encouraged to sign up for the National Girls Collaborative Project newsletter. If you do, please include the word "EarthBox" in the Program Title field.
EarthBox Education is supportive of The Afterschool Alliance and the National AfterSchool Association as they conduct surveys to assess the state of STEM in afterschool and summer programs around the country. The data obtained will be vital to helping better describe and promote the STEM learning that occurs after school and during the summer. |
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Greetings!
Spring is just around the corner, and thoughts of harvesting freshly-grown produce tantalize the taste buds and remind us to eat well and stay fit! Educators, community leaders, and seniors eager to take advantage of springtime opportunities can choose EarthBox Education products to achieve health and fitness goals.
The fun-filled, hands-on activities from the EarthBox Youth Garden Guide, a correlated EarthBox Multi-grade-level Cool and Warm Weather Garden Development Instructional Plan, and the EarthBox Ready to Grow Kit make it easy for educators to achieve the interconnected goals of eating healthy and getting fit. The nutrition activities in the Youth Garden Guide identify the nutritional value of 21 crops, their recommended daily allowances, and how to plant, nurture and harvest them; in addition, all of the activities include a fitness component.
The Instructional Plan's images illustrate the general steps and procedures for garden development, and the Ready to Grow Kit produces high yields with no weeding, hoeing, or digging! What could be easier?
Seniors who await the joys of spring can share that joy with grandchildren by using the EarthBox Snow Pea Activity Guide to teach them where their food comes from, and how to grow, nurture, harvest and prepare the sweet peas produced in the Ready to Grow Kit utilizing the customized EarthBox staking system.
Communities that install EarthBox Community Gardens based around the EarthBox Container Garden System can reduce their carbon footprints, stormwater runoff, and fertilizer runoff, and provide affordable food in "food deserts" and low income areas.
So whether you're an educator, a senior, or a community activist, you can get growing with EarthBox!
Healthfully yours,
Molly Philbin
Education Director
EarthBox, Inc.
P.S. Coloring in our food has been linked to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. These artificial colorants are changing the neurochemistry of our brains. It's been proven by three decades of studies! Dyes are everywhere, and it's impossible for even the most vigilant of us to avoid them. They are hidden in everything from cereals to cough medicines. Help your students to reduce the intake of these harmful chemicals by teaching them how to grow and eat their own healthy, unprocessed food in the EarthBox Container Garden System. Here's to naturally colorful lifestyles! "The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." -- Robert Maynard Hutchins |
 | EarthBox in Our Communities
Eagle Scout Makes EarthBoxes Accessible To Challenged Adults
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Adam Burgoyne approached his Eagle Scout assignment with great thought, sensitivity and practicality. This sixteen year old from Camden, North Carolina wanted to help developmentally challenged residents at Benjamin House grow their own food and enjoy some lovely flowers -- in EarthBoxes. Mr. Burgoyne's proposal to Benjamin House Director Lennie Hughes was approved in October 2010.  Mr. Burgoyne then attended church and Scout meetings, and made phone calls to obtain donations for materials and to enlist help with constructing the planters. Scouts, family, and church members donated money to purchase the EarthBoxes, plants, soil, fertilizer, and a gift certificate for the residents to purchase additional plants. A local Lowe's hardware store donated the lumber and screws.
The four handicapped accessible EarthBox planters were constructed at a church parking lot in front of the Scout Hut for Troop 175 of the Tidewater Council. The design replicated a planter from Benjamin House. Volunteers followed photos and measurements provided by Mr. Burgoyne. The four completed EarthBox planters were presented to residents at Benjamin House on Saturday, March 5, 2011.
Benjamin House is an assisted-living residence in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, for the mentally challenged, offering residents viable lifestyle options while strengthening their ties with family, church and community. To learn more, click here. |
| EarthBox Around the World
Learning Where Food Comes From
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Article and photo courtesy of Country 95 FM News, Lethbridge, Alberta.
A group of Fleetwood-Bawden School students in Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) took part in a fairly new project, aimed to help them understand where their food comes from...and the farmers who grow it.
Agriculture Education Specialist with Agriculture and Rural Development Alberta, Brent Andresson, made a trip from Edmonton to teach the grade three children how to fill EarthBoxes, and taught them about planting the seeds. "The idea of the project is to help kids understand where their food comes from, and to help them look at healthy and local food choices. We want them, if they do a bit of farming, to understand farmers better."
 While the students are anticipating summer holidays, come the end of June, the EarthBox lesson is one that they will take home for the summer. "They are going to grow tomatoes, zucchini , beats, peas, and corn in these boxes. The parents will help water them through the summer, and help harvest them in the fall. Certainly they are going to learn about water, soil, sunshine, temperature, and the basics for growing plants."
Andresson adds, the two year old project is expected to remain a success in coming years. "We piloted three schools last year, in and around Edmonton, to try out the boxes and it was a really big success. The teachers and parents loved it, and the boxes really worked. We expanded [the project] to 10 more schools this year...from Lethbridge to Lecrete."
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| Funding Opportunities
2010 PEP Grant Recipients Announced
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The purpose of the Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) grant is to assist Local Education Agencies and Community Based Organizations to initiate, expand, or enhance physical education programs that help students in Kindergarten through 12th grade meet their state standards for physical education.
This past year, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools strengthened and enhanced PEP to support a broader, strategic vision for (a) encouraging the development of lifelong healthy habits, and (b) improving nutrition and physical education programming and policies in schools and communities to prevent obesity and to decrease the number of overweight or obese children.
For more information about the PEP grant program, click here. To see a list of last year's recipients, click here. Note that the awards can be quite substantial!
Nominate Afterschool Programs for Innovator Awards
The Afterschool Alliance and MetLife Foundation need your help identifying exemplary afterschool programs serving middle school youth that are eligible to win a $10,000 MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator Award, and to be featured in the AA's series of Issue Briefs.
Nominate a program by May 31, 2011 to be considered for this prestigious initiative, now in its fourth year. Nominees are sought in four categories:
- Providing Opportunities for Service Learning for Middle School Students
- Aligning Afterschool with the School Day for Middle School
- Addressing Middle School Bullying
- Supporting Literacy for Middle School Students
The MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator Awards aim to identify potentially lesser-known, yet highly effective, programs and the individuals running them. Nominees will be judged by the innovative nature of their approach and demonstrated effectiveness.
Each of the five award winners will receive $10,000 for their program, to be presented in October in conjunction with Lights On Afterschool. Awardees and other notable nominees will be recognized in a nationally-released Issue Brief and compendium.
The online nomination form can be found here, and additional details, including information about past years' winners, are available here.
Nominate a program yourself, or point us to candidates by emailing cdagostino@afterschoolalliance.org.
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| Instructional Plan for EarthBox Learning
Multi-Grade Cool and Warm Weather Program
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The EarthBox Multi-grade-level Cool and Warm Weather Garden Development Instructional Plan is designed to be used in conjunction with the activities in the Youth Garden Guide. The images illustrate the general steps and procedures for the implementation of a cool and warm weather garden, using 12 EarthBox Ready to Grow Kits, including the layout of a garden using the EarthBox automated watering system.
Take a look!
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| EarthBox Distributors
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Here's a list of Education Distributor websites to assist you in obtaining catalogs and getting more info about using the EarthBox system in your classroom.
Carolina Biological
(Catalogs: Life Science, Environmental)
Escape Sports, Canada
Fisher Science Education
(Catalogs: Elementary, Middle School, High School, College Science)
Kaplan Early Learning
Kaplan K-5 Catalog
Nasco (Catalogs: Elementary Math/Science, Summit, Science, Senior Activities) S&S Worldwide
Sargent-Welch
Sargent-Welch, Canada
Science Kit Catalog
Science Museum Gifts
Spectrum Education Supplies (Nasco Canada) (Catalog: Secondary Science) Ward's Natural Science
Ward's of Canada |
| Join Our Community
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EarthBox is on Facebook! Now you can become a fan of EarthBox, joining a community of fellow EarthBox users for conversations, advice and photo sharing -- or just to check out whatever new information EarthBox has to enhance your gardening experience.
And don't forget to check out our videos! This is a members only feature, so if you're not already a Facebook member, you'll need to sign up to view the videos.
We'd also like to remind you about our forum, which you can find at http://forum.earthbox.com. We'd love for you to weigh in on any EarthBox matters that interest you, and show us how your EarthBox crops are faring this year. And don't hesitate to ask questions, because your fellow EarthBoxers are a wonderful source of information who will gladly help with any of your EarthBox issues!
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| Ordering |
To place an order, call 888-445-6295 (24/7) or visit our online store. Educators, please mention the Source Code EDUDISC when ordering your EarthBox to be eligible for a free $50 EarthBox gift certificate! Winners will be selected from our customer base and announced in each issue of our newsletter. |
| About EarthBox
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The patented EarthBox was developed by commercial farmers, and proven in the lab and on the farm. Our maintenance-free, award-winning, high-tech growing system controls soil conditions, eliminates guesswork, and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden -- with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort.
It's used successfully on a daily basis by commercial farmers, educators, and consumers. Distributors are also finding it to be a popular growing system.
EarthBox is a remarkably easy-to-set-up system that can be used to grow produce virtually anywhere. EarthBox systems have been incorporated into community gardens all over the world, enabling families and neighbors to share fresh produce, while minimizing work and expenses.
EarthBoxes can even be found in classrooms. Our EarthBox Pre-K through 12th grade standards-based curriculum support packages can bring science to life, with hands-on cross-curricula lessons that teach principles of growing and nutrition utilizing the scientific method in student-driven experiments.
To find out more, click here.To request a catalog, call 888-917-3908. |
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