Learning Landscapes growing

By JUSTIN HARMON/Staff

For seven years, Appalachian Sustainable Development has given county schools a way to get students outside and learning.
Learning Landscapes program manager Denise Peterson said the project began small, in Greendale and Abingdon elementary schools, with students maintaining a class garden and doing other things that helped cover the state-mandated Standards of Learning. Recently, she said, the program expanded as new schools were brought into the fold. And the program is now looking beyond the six it incorporates, Peterson said.
Peterson said some classes build, plant and harvest different types of gardens. Others study weather or build a nature trail to identify plants and animals. The parts of the program may differ, but are tied together by the idea of getting kids to learn without being boring.
“It’s fun. They love it. It makes them happy and excited,” said Peterson.
Another plus to the program according to Peterson is the fact that kids learn with their senses rather than just doing problems from a book. The nature trails and gardens help teach about ecology, biology, habitats and even water tables. Peterson said they also record and write down everything they do in journals, helping kids with their writing skills and even math from measuring their gardens growth and surveying the weather.
“Students use textbook knowledge and apply it to the world outside,” said Peterson.
Washington County School Board member Buckey Boone said he’s a big fan of what the program has to offer.
“I like it so much because it does so many things at once,” he said.
Boone also said that he likes the fact that Learning Landscapes also covers Standards of Learning and gives teachers more tools to work with.
While Peterson would like to see her program grow, it takes a lot of time and effort to get the program launched in a new school; sometimes months of advance planning is required.
“It takes a long time to get the plans together,” she said.
Even then, Peterson is at the mercy of funding.
According to her, much of the funding comes from Appalachian Sustainable Development by way of grants. She also said that several private organizations, such as the Abingdon Garden Club, contribute, but most of this money goes to pay for materials for the program, not the salaries of the people running it.
“That’s the hardest thing to find funding for,” said Peterson.
Peterson said she only works part time with the schools and she has an assistant that works eight hours a week, but the rest of the program is run by the teachers and volunteers from Emory & Henry College and Virginia Highlands Community College. Even so, Peterson said it can get rough when the funding gets low.
“We have our ups and downs with funding issues but I’ll see the kids out and when they see me, they’ll say, ‘Hey, when are we going back outside?’” she said. “That helps keep me going. The kids love the program and that’s why I do it.”
Currently, there are six schools using some part of the Learning Landscapes program. They are Greendale, Abingdon and Meadowview elementary schools and E.B. Stanley, Wallace and Glade Spring middle schools.
Justin Harmon can be reached at 628-7101 or