School is still out for the summer, but at Eastern Senior High School in Washington, D.C., students are hard at work outdoors. In a garden filled with flowers and beds bursting with vegetables and herbs, nearly a dozen teenagers are harvesting vegetables for the weekend’s farmers market.
Roshawn Little is going into her junior year at Eastern, and has been working in this garden for three years now. During the summer, Little gets paid to work Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a. m. until 2 p.m. with City Blossoms, a nonprofit that brings community gardens to schools in urban areas. She believes that working in the garden has taught her to try all sorts of new things, like eating different kinds of vegetables more often. And she’s taken those healthy behaviors home with her and her eating habits have encouraged her family to buy more fruits and vegetables.
City Blossoms is one of many groups across the country teaming up with local communities to build school gardens, like the one at Eastern. It works with schools to create learning gardens and trains teachers on how to use them to get students engaged and boost academics. These gardens are really outdoor classrooms. For example, the gardens can be used for math lessons, like calculating the area of a plant bed or learning the science of how plants grow.
For the students, the experience can be a nutritional eye-opener, which has totally changed their perceptions of where food comes from, and what it takes to produce food. Partner schools have also seen a 12 to 15 percent increase in the number of students passing standardized tests and 94 percent of teachers reported seeing increased engagement from their students, according to an independent evaluation conducted by PEER Associates.
【小题1】What does Roshawn Little think of the summer outdoor activity?| A．It is a good way to earn pocket money. |
| B．It has improved her family relationship. |
| C．It contributes to her healthy eating habit. |
| D．It is helpful to her academic performance. |
| A．To provide a creative way of learning. |
| B．To-promote teachers1 teaching skills. |
| C．To get students interested in science. |
| D．To invite students to care for plants. |
| A．Its strategies. | B．Its outcomes. | C．Its operations. | D．Its participants. |
| A．City Blossoms: Team up with Local Community Teachers |
| B．Happy Holiday, Sweet memory: How Kids Enjoy the Harvest |
| C．Outdoor Classrooms: Get out for the Weekend’s Farmers Market |
| D．Healthy Eaters, Strong Minds: What School Gardens Teach Kids |
