In the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. Kidder is third grade teacher who’s not only growing a garden, but a village. His students at Palma Ceia Elementary school love learning about the environment, but they lack the resources they need to grow a successful garden.
Mr. Kidder has a deep passion for environmental education, and his students are fascinated by gardening. This gifted teacher says, “I want my students to be able to understand that by eating plants means that they need to respect the plants — how they grow, what goes into the ground, what is in the air that the plants are taking in and converting through photosynthesis to provide us with oxygen.” To further bring the message of the importance of a garden home, Mr. Kidder has invited some of his students’ parents, who are themselves gardeners and landscapers, to help with garden planting and maintenance. In this way, the third-graders gain a deeper appreciation for the work their parents are doing and the interconnectedness of their “village.” DonorsChoose.org is proud to have helped by bringing Mr. Kidder’s vision to the attention of citizen philanthropists, who provided plants and nonfiction books about plant life-cycles.
San Francisco television reporter Lyanne Melendez ran a story about Mr. Kidder’s garden recently, as part of her award-winning series on DonorsChoose.org. You can view the video of Mr. Kidder and his classroom, here .
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