Project Green Reach
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{{Primarysources, article, date=October 2008 Project Green Reach (PGR) is a science-focused school outreach program for teachers and students that is designed specifically to work with Brooklyn's
Title I The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's " War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...
schools. It is an entity within the education department at the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden in the Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn in New York City. The botanical garden occupies in central Brooklyn, close to Mount Prospect Park, Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park, ...
, which is a world-renowned
botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
located in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. PGR is estimated to reach 2,500 students annually in Brooklyn's most under-served neighborhoods. Funding for PGR comes mostly from private grants. This allows the programs that operate under the auspices of PGR to be very inexpensive and accessible.


School year programming

During the school year, Project Green Reach instructors partner with classroom teachers in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
's
Title I The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's " War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...
schools. During the course of the school year, PGR works with 80 classes of students, grades kindergarten through eighth grade. Each class of PGR participants has three sessions with PGR: one school visit in which the students participate in a botanically oriented workshop during which each student gets their own plant to keep for ongoing study, one visit to the garden in which the students explore the plants that are on display and participate in some hands-on activities in the greenhouses, and a final, culminating, school visit in which the students perform a horticulture-based community service project. In addition, PGR runs two more professional development workshops for the participating teachers. Currently, PGR offers four curricula for their classroom visit workshops: life cycle of a
bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
, kitchen
botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
,
desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...
environments, and the
tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...
.


Summer program

At the end of the school year, participating teachers of grades 4, 5 and 6 are asked to nominate one or two students who reacted positively to the classroom visit, the tour of the Garden, and/or the ongoing investigation with plants in their classroom to apply for PGR's summer program. One other important qualification for admission to the program is that the student should have little or no other summer programming options. Candidates for the summer program are nominated by their teachers, and go through an application and interview process before being accepted into the program. The accepted applicants then participate in Project Green Reach's six-week summer program, which is divided into two smaller subsections: the Junior Botanist program, and the Plant Investigator program. First-time students are automatically placed into the Junior Botanist program, which is specifically designed for children who have little or no horticultural or botanical experience. Junior Botanists are then given the opportunity to reapply and become Plant Investigators for a second summer. Since Plant Investigators have some prior experience, their curriculum is usually more focused on life sciences. Junior Botanists and Plant investigators spend the morning together, typically working on their plots in the Children's Garden, and have separate lessons after lunch.


History

Project Green Reach began in 1989.


See also

*
List of botanical gardens in the United States This list is intended to include all significant botanical gardens and arboretums in the United States.List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City New York City is home to hundreds of cultural institutions and historic sites, many of which are internationally known. This list contains the most famous or well-regarded organizations, based on their mission. Museums Also included are non-pro ...


References


Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Project Green Reach
*Morgan, Susan Conlon; Susan L. Hamilton, Michael L. Bentley, and Sharon Myrie (2009).

(PDF). "Environmental Education in Botanic Gardens: Exploring Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach". The Journal of Environmental Education. 1986 establishments in New York City Education in Brooklyn