Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: To provide an outside learning lab that will enhance Incarnate Word Academy's curriculum with a focus on hands-on experiences in science, math, language arts, religion, and creative writing.

Objective 1.1: To increase the knowledge of the butterfly life cycle with kindergartners to third graders (214 Students) as they observe butterflies in their natural habitat. Children will be able to reflect their observations through creative writing as well as share their thoughts with another school. Parental involvement will also be included in this process.

Objective 1.2: To increase the ability to accurately observe and document the changes in the garden with first and fifth graders (113 students). Students will create a "Plant Journal" where the fifth graders will model their writing process to first graders. This will be measured by the number of observation hours in the garden and documentation in the student “Plant Journals.”  This will allow the students to write creatively and share their findings with other school-aged children.

Objective 1.3: To increase the knowledge of plant classification, plant part identification, and the effects of fertilizers on plants with second and sixth graders (117 students) as they dissect and study the plants in the garden. This will be measured by improved class projects and academic testing.

Objective 1.4: To increase knowledge of pumpkin life cycles with third and seventh graders (97 students) as they observe and document their findings. If the crop is successful, they plan to donate and deliver them to nursing homes during the month of October.

Objective 1.5: To increase the knowledge of "how living and nonliving things interact" for fourth and eighth graders (101 students) as they create a "rock garden" to study the plants, rocks, and minerals. This will be measured by improved class projects and academic testing.

Objective 1.6: To increase the number of hours that all 486 IWA students have to read outside. This will be demonstrated as older and younger students pair together to read in the garden. Guest readers from the community will also be invited to the garden every month.

Objective 1.7: To increase the number of opportunities for students to demonstrate respect, kindness, and service to others.  This will be demonstrated by students donating the garden’s harvest of herbs and flowers to community groups such as the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and local nursing homes.  In addition, student groups such as Student Council and “Pay It Forward” will utilize the garden for community service projects such as “Plant a Row for the Hungry.”  These experiences will enhance the emotional, cognitive, social, intellectual, and physical growth of the students. 

Science - The garden will be an outside learning lab to reinforce the concepts currently taught at IWA such as life cycles, habitats and classification of plants and animals.  The K-3 curriculum includes studying butterfly life cycles with students incubating butterflies in their classrooms.  The garden will now allow students to observe this process in the butterfly’s natural habitat.  The children will also learn how to design a butterfly garden based upon specific climate conditions in Northeastern Ohio.

Math - Children will have opportunities to recognize patterns in flower color, variety and shape.  Counting objects in the garden will allow for number sense and graphing activities.  Studying the parts of flowers in the garden will enable students to appreciate geometry all around us. The garden will foster active learning, self-discovery and thought-provoking challenges within the mathematics curriculum. 

Language Arts - Children will be immersed in print through visual, kinesthetic and auditory activities in the garden.   While the classroom provides reading materials, journal topics and art projects, the garden provides reading opportunities on footpath stones (with quotations or alphabet letters) and identification labels (around flowers, herbs, and trees).  Another way to capture reading opportunities will involve members of the community sharing stories with the children. Hearing stories read in the garden will exemplify the reader’s love of reading and show children the importance of reading.  These language experiences provide a sense of wonder about language learning and communication.

Religion - Children will be able to retreat to the garden for personal reflection.  The garden will not only celebrate the beauty of God’s creation, but also allow the children an opportunity to reach out to others by offering gifts from the garden.  Students will share the garden’s harvest of flowers and herbs with the surrounding community (Sisters of the Incarnate Word, nursing homes, homebound, etc.). Student groups such as Student Council and “Pay it Forward” will utilize the garden for community service projects such as “Plant a Row for the Hungry.”  The garden will provide the foundation for learning respect, kindness, and service to others. 

Goal 2: To educate students about the local and global nature of the environment and wildlife.

Objective 2.1:  To increase the knowledge of the 100 IWA Nature Club students (K-8) in the areas of plants and animals and how they are linked to local and global ecosystems.  This will be done via monthly meetings in the garden with the Cleveland Metroparks presenting topics such as habitats, wetlands, bats, reptiles/amphibians, forest communities, birds, insects, spiders, and mammals. 

Objective 2.2:  To observe and record the birds migrating through Cleveland to Ecuador and to share this data with the partnering school in Ecuador.  This will be done by the 100 IWA Nature Club students (K-8) documenting their observations in the garden and creating a journal.

IWA and the Cleveland Metroparks recently developed a partnership with a school in Ecuador.  Each school has a Nature Club that is designed to build the children's interest and knowledge about nature.   Many birds that nest in Ohio travel to South America, including Ecuador to spend our winters, making an ecological connection between the two areas.  The garden will allow the IWA Nature Club to grow plants that attract these birds which they can then study and share their observations with the students in Ecuador. This garden will allow students to see a direct example of the global nature of the environment while they are exposed to different cultures.

Goal 3:  To integrate art and nature through student observation and active creation of art from and for the garden.

Objective 3.1:  To increase the number of opportunities that the students have to experience nature and create pieces of art that reflect it.  While studying Monet, sixty IWA first graders will study the garden and draw it with an Impressionist style.   The fifth to eighth graders (221 students) will use “direct observation” and create contour drawings of the garden. 

Objective 3.2:  To create a collaborative piece of art with over 486 IWA students and community members that will be displayed in the garden.

The garden will be a place for Incarnate Word Academy students to find inspiration when creating art.  The garden will be integrated into the art curriculum at IWA and will be used when nature and art are interfaced.

In addition, Incarnate Word Academy recently submitted a grant to the Ohio Arts Council to implement an Artist in Residence program where a professional artist would come to IWA in the Spring of 2007 for 2-4 weeks and work with our students in creating a piece of art such as a tile mural. A component of this artwork will reflect the themes of global conservation and wildlife and be displayed in the garden.

Goal 4:  To foster community involvement in the designing, planting, use, and maintenance of the garden with intergenerational support and involvement of diverse student groups.

Objective 4.1:  To engage the students, families, faculty, and community in the planning, planting, use, and maintenance of the garden.  This will be measured by the involvement of the following groups:  students groups (IWA students during class, Girl Scouts, IWA Nature Club); parents (landscaper, fundraisers); community businesses (Petitti’s Garden Center, H2O Irrigation, Greentree Landscape Company, J & J Greenhouse); community groups (Sisters of the Incarnate Word, Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio Arts Council, nursing homes).

Objective 4.2:  To provide the 18 Sisters of the Incarnate Word nuns and a local nursing home with donated herbs and flowers from the garden.

Objective 4.3:  To provide the 18 Sisters of the Incarnate Word nuns and the IWA community with an opportunity to experience a reflective place.  This will be measured by the number of hours that the nuns, students, families and community members use the garden as well as the hundreds of surrounding community members that use the school faculty and experience the beauty of the garden.