City Parks Fndn Innovates Health and Science at Underserved Public Schools

Lamson Lam, principal of P.S. 184 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, is a firm believer that programs promoting health and education about the natural world will yield healthier, happier and more empowered students.

For this reason, his school is participating in one of two new beyond-school programs that are giving his fourth- and seventh-grade students a chance to receive horticulture education.

Through City Parks Foundation’s Learning Gardens, students get a chance to utilize core science and math concepts and investigate nutrition and food access issues in the urban environment.

“It’s really about taking science out of the text book, re-instilling that joy of learning,” said Claudia DeMegret, director of education programs at City Parks Foundation. “This is connecting them to the natural world in their own neighborhood and teaching them the importance of green space to their health.”

The garden at P.S. 184 -- Abib Newborn, located on the corner of Osborn & Newport Streets -- was was a former factory space, a big concave the school restored and built from scratch just last year. Over the school year, professional developers at Learning Gardens work with the school’s instructors to teach children about garden ecology, the natural world and flowers and vegetables. At the end of the growing season, students harvest the various vegetables and donate them to local food pantries.

“We are excited that City Parks Foundation’s programs are a part of our curriculum, as it teaches children important life skills and information that they can use outside of the classroom to promote healthy bodies and minds,” said Lam.

Across from PS-184 at Floyd Patterson Field, students in kindergarten through fifth grade participate three times a week in the Reebok/City Parks Foundation Build Our Kids’ Success (BOKS) Morning Fitness Program – a before-school fitness series. 

The program shows children the benefits of exercise and healthy choices and incorporates fun, non-competitive games to encourage elementary school students of different skill levels and abilities to participate.

This year, 16 schools across the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn – including two in the Bed-Stuy area (P.S. 5 and P.S. 106) – are participating in these programs, which span the school year and some continue into the summer.

Through an inquiry-based learning model, CPF staff teaches the lessons and involves the teachers, expecting that ultimately the school will integrate it wholly into their curriculum.

“We work around the community’s own resources, then provide them with the additional tools, curriculum guides and modeling. So we’re helping them to develop the skills base to do it themselves,” said DeMegret.

“We select each school based on certain indicators; we’re specifically looking for schools that have limited resources. But the more interest a school shows, gives us an indication of how open they are to working with us, because a school has to be committed to helping us market it to the parents.”

Tomorrow, from 9:00am – 10:am at the Abib Newborn Learning Garden, fourth-graders from P.S. 184 will take part in an open garden ecology lesson, where they will plant garlic bulbs and participate in an applied math activity to predict their growth cycle and outcomes.

“These interactive programs help to further encourage our students’ interest in both physical activity and the sciences, which are important components of any educational curriculum. What’s more, our kids really are having fun with these programs,” said Lam.