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Leaphart Elementary School gets funding to expand gardening curriculum

Both Leaphart and Ballentine Elementary schools have received Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grants of $3,000 each.

IRMO, S.C. — Lexington Richland School District Five is making sure their students are doing some growing outside of the classroom as the kids begin planting their new fall semester seeds, all thanks to a new grant.

Leaphart Elementary on Piney Grove Road is getting $3,000 this fall semester to expand their gardening programming. This is thanks to grant money from the Whole Kids Foundation. 

Leaphart already integrates gardening into their STEAM curriculum and has had several garden beds and a greenhouse for years. 

Thanks to the money, now they plan to expand. Kimberly Parker is Leaphart Elementary STEAM instructional coach. 

"One of the things that we really want to do is have like themed garden beds, so maybe like a salsa garden. We also have a cooking club, so our hope is that we can grow food in our gardens that our cooking club can use," Parker said.

Parker explains that the school  also hopes to establish a community garden locals can maintain and reap harvests from. She adds that gardening uses science, technology, engineering, and art. 

"Of course math. We do area gardening, so the kids will, whenever they're planting seeds, they will come out here and use string to create squares within the garden beds to make sure that they have the seeds separated as far as they need to be separated," Parker said.

Parker tells News 19 that the school will have to send the foundation their gardening expansion progress update in the spring. 

She loves seeing kids like Khaleb Priester fall in love with gardening. 

"That's another one of the things that we're trying to do as well, is introduce them to foods that are going to be healthier, sustain them. We also want them to understand where food comes from," Parker said.

"If it dies, you can replant it again," Khaleb Priester, fifth grader said.

Priester says he takes his skills home to garden with his family. 

"My grandpa has a lot of stuff like watermelon, pineapple, and he gives me the seeds all the time so I don't have to buy some at the store," Priester said.

Leaphart Elementary explains students will start cleaning up these garden beds tomorrow at their first steam club day of the school year.

    

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