The School Board approved the purchase of several Earth Machine Composters that would be placed near the cafeteria doors of each school. I recruited the help of the science coordinators for each school to decide which students would participate in maintaining the composters. Shortly thereafter, I began to receive calls from teachers that were interested in composting in the classroom via worm bins. I also supplied the interested teachers with activity ideas based around the compost program, which were to be incorporated into their soils curriculum. The creation of school yard wildlife-friendly areas was a natural succession to the composting project.
Most school yards consist of black topped areas with gravel fill in-between.
Students, teachers and administration all seemed fascinated with the notion that nay of this barren property could actually support native wildlife as it once had. In fact, we proved that it could easily be done with small funding sources, donations and time. It has also opened upa world of outdoor hands-on learning that is new and exciting for all who participate. Having even one of these players working against you could be the downfall of the program. Their donations of time, money, equipment, etc. are crucial to minimize the amount of actual cash that has to be raised through grants.