Afterschool at Calusa Elementary School

After a devastating hurricane season, the 4th graders at Calusa Elementary School were heartbroken to find that their very own butterfly garden had been torn to pieces. It was covered in bark, leaves, and completely destroyed. After months of no progress made by the administration, thirty-three 4th graders took the initiative and found the perfect opportunity to create a brand new garden during their Environmental after school program with the Pine Jog Fellows. The students were motivated and excited, which pushed them to work extra hard on making the new garden perfect.

The fellows, as well as the students, agreed that they must be properly educated before they plant the garden and then will be able to inform other students about the plants. The fellows brought in Michael Confino, an environmental major at FAU and a devoted volunteer in community projects, often helping Spanish River’s own Environmental Club. He presented a slide show with information about native plants and corresponding pictures, followed by a short quiz to test the students. After the students meticulously planned the steps they were going to take and chose the plants they were going to use, the students got into five groups and each group picked a specific native plant. The groups researched their plant or flower, and with the information they looked up at home, created an information tab to put next to their section in the garden.

The students were then put into their 5 groups to rake the leaves, take out the dead plants, empty the dead plants and leaves into the trash bin, pick up litter, and aerate the soil. After the students cleaned up the garden, each group chose a specific section of the garden in which they had 6 flowers to plant throughout the term. Each member of the group switched off digging the holes, adding new soil, planting the flower, adding the topsoil, watering the flowers, and then placing the correct informational cards next to their appropriate flower type. Each flower species the students chose were not only native to Florida and perennials, but were also known for attracting butterflies. Only one week after planting, the students discovered three monarch butterfly caterpillars crawling around the everlasting daisies. The students also pointed out one cocoon and a few eggs on a nearby leaf, motivating them even more to finish the project, and giving them a sense of self-satisfaction. After planting flowers to fill up each section, each group was given a firebush to plant, which was donated to us during Everglades Day. The students then finished each section with top soil, cleaned off the stepping stones and placed them down the center to make a path. They placed mulch around the stones and flowers, and were taught the importance of mulch in order to retain moisture in the roots of plants, moderate the soil temperature, and suppress the growth of weeds.

After the garden was complete and the students were satisfied, the Fellows spoke to the students about the importance of watering the plants to keep them alive. Together, with input and ideas from each student, they came up with a plan for each group to take turns watering the plants every other day. To ensure the lifespan of the plants, the students and Fellows spoke with the after school coordinator at Calusa to turn on the irrigation again since it was shut off after the hurricanes (especially during the summer).

The students wanted to show their fellow classmates their garden and teach them what they learned, so on the last session they brought over all the other after school groups to teach them about what they learned about native plants. Members of the school board committee across from the garden congratulated the students on their success and the students and Fellows celebrated together their accomplishments.