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Story posted January, 2008

Results:
• Engages students as spokespersons for sustainability efforts
• Builds self-confidence in a low-income community where students often feel they have little control over their lives

The Somali Bantu first-graders at Lawrence Barnes Elementary in Burlington were often silent in class. But that was before the students, who came to Vermont by way of a refugee camp in Kenya, met Speedy the Chicken.

Burlington is a haven for refugee resettlement, and nowhere is that seen more than at Barnes, where the school's 160 students speak 28 different languages. Virtually all come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and a district report found that Barnes has lower parental involvement and student achievement than its more affluent schools. With large numbers of English language learners and students with special needs, Barnes teachers recognized the need to connect the classroom with the outside world. "Our kids need hands-on learning experiences," says first-grade teacher Julie Brown. "When students are interested in and connected to the content, they're more likely to want to know more."

In 2004, Barnes became one of the first two urban schools to participate in Shelburne Farms' Sustainable Foods Project, a place-based learning initiative. A nonprofit educational center and historical landmark that operates as a working farm, Shelburne Farms provided an educator who helped Barnes teachers weave sustainability topics into classroom instruction and reach out to the Burlington community.

Students now learn how to grind wheat and bake bread from area farmers, explore nutrition with members of the local co-op, and investigate community design with architects. Students, parents, volunteers, and college students built three gardens on school grounds, which have been certified as a community wildlife habitat garden by the National Wildlife Federation. When the community is involved in their establishment and care, the gardens tend to have staying power, says Jim Flint, executive director of the Vermont Community Garden Network.

The sustainability initiative focuses on key curricular needs, including literacy. After local farmers brought in fruits and vegetables, for instance, students created informational posters that were posted in the co-op market's produce section. They not only applied their literacy skills, but shared their learning with the broader community, says Angela McGregor, the program's educator.

Service-learning projects transformed students into spokespersons for sustainability efforts. After starting a school composting program, fourth- and fifth-graders presented it to a town meeting and on television. Other students successfully petitioned city leaders to create a school zone and other programs in their Old North End neighborhood, ultimately winning a Governors' Award for Environmental Excellence and Pollution Prevention. In a low-income community where students often feel that they have little control over their lives, this connection helps build self-confidence as their voices become heard, says program coordinator Jen Cirillo.

Gardens, family nights and other projects centered on nutrition and quality-of-life issues have bolstered community participation. Regular school-based community dinners draw between 150 and 200 participants, many of whom had never been to Barnes before. You don't need to speak English to bring your favorite dish to a school dinner, says principal Paula Bowen.

As for Speedy the Chicken, he made a breakthrough connection with the Somalian students. "We had no idea [they] have such an amazing depth of knowledge from their experience raising and tending [chickens] in the Kenyan refugee camps where they lived," says first-grade teacher Julie Brown. "They started telling the other students everything they knew about chickens. They became the experts and teachers that day."

The Shelburne Farms partnership provided tools and training for Barnes teachers, with a particular emphasis on integrating sustainability into existing curriculum and standards. It has to be the filter through which everything is seen so it becomes just a normal part of what you do in school, Bowen says.

Increasing community involvement requires sustained, organized effort, which in Barnes' case was aided by project educators. If you can find one core group to work with you as your base group, that's an excellent start, says Brown.

Further details about this story can be found in our sources:
NSBA's Center for Public Education, "Food for Thought at a Vermont Elementary School", October 2007

Amy Powers, Place-Based Education Evaluation Collaborative, "An Evaluation of the Sustainable School Project 2004-05: Lawrence Barnes Elementary School", January 2005

Jen Audley, for Responsive Classroom Newsletter, "School Spotlight: Lawrence Barnes School, Burlington, Vermont", November 2006

Cathy Resmer, for Seven Days, "Barnes or Bust", January 2007

Mike Ives, for Seven Days, "Class Dismissed?", September 2007

For additional information, please contact: 
Paula Bowen
Principal, Lawrence Barnes Elementary School
Burlington, VT
pbowen@bsdvt.org

Photo Courtesy of Shelburne Farms Sustainable School Projects