Pollinator garden located in school's nature playground

By KANE COUNTY CHRONICLE

ELBURN – Green Friends Montessori School has completed its 900-square-foot pollinator garden, which is located in the school's nature playground.

According to a news release, the new garden was funded in part by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Jadel Youth Fund, the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation and the Illinois Conservation Foundation.

Over the past few months, school families and staff planted the pollinator garden, which includes about 100 plants representing more than a dozen native prairie species including coneflowers, prairie blazing star, Culver’s root, and more, the release stated.

“Ecology education is a key component of our school’s mission to support each child’s drive towards exploration and learning,” said Green Friends Montessori School Lead Teacher Kathryn Engelking in the release. “This project enabled us to engage our school families in local conservation efforts and will provide our students with a valuable hands-on resource for the ongoing study of plants, animals, and ecosystem interactions.”

According to the release, as schools across the state are working on plans to resume in-person instruction for the fall, opportunities for outdoor learning may prove to be more valuable than ever.

“The pollinator garden project came at an interesting time,” said Engelking. “The project required extra time to complete due to the need to adhere to coronavirus safety protocols, but the result is a beautiful pollinator garden habitat perfect for pollinators and for learning. Green Friends Montessori will reopen our doors to children next month, and we plan to spend more instruction time outdoors to better support our students’ health. We can use the pollinator garden as a resource for exploring science, math, language arts, and more. The possibilities are endless.”

For more information about Green Friends Montessori School, call us at 630-448-2213 or visit www.greenfriendsmontessori.org.

Read the original article: https://www.kcchronicle.com/2020/07/28/green-friends-montessori-school-in-elburn-completes-pollinator-garden/akjgcis/