SNAC Gardens foster a connection to the environment and community through integrated lesson plans including ecological stewardship, healthy habits, mindfulness in the garden, and art engagement. Studies have shown that students exposed to fruits and vegetables through a school garden are more likely to incorporate them into their eating habits later in life.  We ensure that every student has access to the garden through weekly lessons with a garden educator. Each student goes outside a minimum of 12 times a year. Every $20 raised sponsors a classroom to go outside and spend an hour with one of the trained SNAC educators! An hour in the SNAC Garden is like a field trip where students don't even have to leave the school yard.

SNAC serves the schools of Longneck Elementary, North Georgetown Elementary, Howard T. Ennis, and Southern DE School of the Arts, in Sussex County DE, which totals to approximately 2,200 students who learn in the garden on a regular basis every year. Part of SNAC’s key to success is providing teaching support with trained garden educators. When SNAC is invited into a school, we come in and say, ‘Give us the time with the students and we’ll manage everything else that’s garden-related.’ That way, already overburdened teachers don't have an added thing to their plate, and can provide a deeper level of support to the educational benefits of a school garden.
 
What is something you’ve learned about gardens that you didn’t know before?

“Plastic will never decompose.” – Ashley, 5th Grade 

“Something I did not know about [before the SNAC Garden] is all of the nutrients that plants need.” – Damien, 5th grade 

“I learned that if you grow the same thing in the same spot every year it damages the soil.” – Victoria, 5th grade  

“I learned that there are more types of things to eat and that the SNAC garden is awesome.” Za’Kaiya, 4th grade 

“I learned that Native Americans used the ‘three sisters’ method of companion planting in their gardens.” – Alianna, 5th grade 

“If you bury something it changes form and the way it looks.” – Leah, 5th grade 

“If we put plastic in the garden it will never decompose.” – Lilly, 5th grade 

“How plants live and feed themselves with sunlight.” – Kendall, 4th grade 

“I learned that radishes grow seeds in pods and that we eat them from the root.” – Kimberly, 4th grade  

“I learned how to properly take care of the plants.” – Shilah, 4th grade  

“What seeds are for and where they are located in different types of plants.” – Kathleen, 4th grade