Forest Avenue Elementary School is showing off its green thumb with its student garden. The garden began last year as a part of the mentor program at the school.

The students led the task of getting the project started, and it has just taken off from there, according to Forest Avenue Principal Gayle Manchisi. Each grade level has a different vegetable in the garden that was planted in late May. The classes each watered, weeded and cared for their vegetable. The project even pulled in families, who helped to harvest the vegetables on the weekends and during the summer months.

“We reached out to families over the summer months to harvest some of the vegetables,” Manchisi said. “The cafeteria staff even got involved by bagging some of the harvested vegetables and handing them out to families with bagged lunches over the summer.”

The school really wanted to involve the whole community in the project while also making it a learning experience for the students. For grades one and two, the planting and growing is woven into their science curriculum. Those grades also started to grow their vegetables in class so they could see how the seeds germinated.