PINEVILLE, Mo. -- Pineville Primary students are getting their hands dirty this school year as they learn and work in the school's new garden.

Earlier this year, the school received a youth grant through the Ozark Society Foundation's Youth Environmental Engagement Grant Program. Elizabeth Cusack, a resource teacher and speech implementer at Pineville Primary, said the purpose of the grant is to engage students in environmental awareness and conservation activities. She said the grant allowed the school to purchase garden beds, soil, plants and bird-feeding stations.

In addition to purchases paid for through the grant, the parent-teacher organization at the school offered fundraisers that paid for six shade trees from Forest ReLeaf of Missouri and will install an outdoor classroom later this year, Cusack said. Additionally, Arkansas Master Naturalists donated pollinator plants for the school's butterfly garden and will also donate plants for the garden in the spring.

Cusack said she hopes the garden will be an avenue for students to experience more hands-on learning.

"The future goal is to be able to provide hands-on learning and to raise environmental awareness and appreciation," Cusack said. "I think, eventually, to have families more involved -- to help with the classroom, increase memory-attention skills, improve development, build self-confidence, and stress relief."

Cusack said the garden has been implemented in numerous classroom settings and curriculum and activities have been created for all ages in the primary school.

"Monthly environmental themes are available for the teachers to incorporate into their curriculum," Cusack said. "And an after-school gardening club is currently being considered, though the start date has yet to be determined."

Ken Schutten, communications director for the McDonald County R-1 School District, said the garden offers teachers more creative and flexible ways to teach.

"I think what the gardens show is the creative ways that the teachers and staff here at the School District go to find different ways to help kids learn," Schutten said. "When the kids are, for instance, in a science class and they're talking about how a seed sprouts, they get to go out and actually experience this and see this."

Schutten said the garden is a way that the community can interact more with the school, allowing parents to become involved in their child's curriculum. Schutten noted that similar community engagement is available at the district's greenhouses at Rocky Comfort School, Pineville Elementary and the high school.

"Teachers and staff are always looking for new and interesting ways to get kids plugged into learning by getting them those hands-on experiences," Schutten said.

According to Cusack, Pineville Primary Gardeners is likely to expand next year, offering more opportunities for students, teachers and community members throughout the school year.

For the original story with photographs, please visit https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/nov/11/pineville-primary-school-offers-garden-for/