Students in a local elementary class are learning from the ground up.

2nd grade students at Hutchings Elementary in Howell have been very busy and spent months creating a school garden, where a dedication ceremony was held today. It featured a ballet sequence, poem and speech, tours of the garden and a ribbon cutting with Howell Mayor Nick Proctor.

Teacher Lindsay Derocher told WHMI the kids had been growing plants indoors for their science unit and thought it would be cool to grow things outside to see the actual growth of a pumpkin. Using project based learning; students researched the need for the garden, what would be planted and how it could benefit the school before proposing the idea to Principal Tim Moore.

The outdoor garden is an instructional tool that integrates several subject areas for students such as math for the perimeter, science and reading. Parent volunteers and staff will tend to the garden over the summer and integrate it into learning and lessons at all grade levels throughout the next school year. Classes will be able to learn about life cycles, living/non-living things, organisms and various other topics. Students will also help tend and water the garden. (JM)