Pics of the Rainbow Garden

What is Leaping and Learning in Gainesville?

Sidney Lanier School is a public school in the Alachua County School District that serves students with severe developmental or multiple disabilities, ages 3 to 22.
We have a dream of bringing our classroom outside.
Lesson plans will be written for children to learn their academic skills through hands on physical activities.
In the garden, we will have our math, science, social studies, language and writing lessons.
In the outdoor classroom, we will work on team building, physical movements, colors, letters, numbers, and shapes.
We will be moving and learning outside!

An Outdoor Classroom
With the rise in childhood obesity and the over medication of children for hyperactivity disorders, it is time we get children outside on their feet and moving. Research suggests children learn best with hands on active learning as opposed to sitting quietly at desks leaning. So, we are going to create an outdoor classroom. The outdoor classroom will be divided into two areas.
One will be a concrete area designated for academic learning. This concrete area will be painted to allow for huge gross motor movements in conjunction with academic learning time. Each day there will be a planned teacher lead game with an emphasis on academics written into lesson plans to be carried out here. There will be a life size game board. Here children will become the game piece jumping to the next space during a game. There will also be numbers, letters, colors, and shapes painted on the concrete for additional games.
The other area will be arranged into learning centers. There will be a motor area with climbing equipment and sporting games, an art area with vertical easels, a pretend area with a playhouse and dress up clothes, sensory tables for textured messy play, sand and water tables for science and math discovery, and a reading area under the trees, and a bike path for trikes.


An Enabling Garden
An enabling garden is an area where people of all ages and abilities can participate in gardening. An enabling garden eliminates physical barriers to gardening. This garden will be created using pathways, raised planting beds, trees used in the garden will be chosen to enhance and stimulate all five senses.

Pathways will be made using a hard surface that makes moving through the garden easy for children using wheelchairs, walkers, canes and other mobility assistive devices.

Raised planting beds and box planting beds will be designed for children using wheelchairs to be able to sit and reach the planting areas. Some of the beds will be built with seating for fragile children to rest. Other beds will be at heights for children to stand and lean on for stability while gardening.

Vertical gardening will be used both naturally, using ivies on fences, and created vertically, using plant boxes and hanging baskets, for children to explore at all different heights.

Adaptive gardening tools and equipment will be made and used to assist the children with caring for and planting in the garden.

Plantings will be chosen that stimulate sight (using large bright colored flowers), sound (using bamboo and wind chimes), smell (using annuals and herbs), touch (using texture rich items), and taste (growing vegetables and fruits to eat).

Other materials will be placed in the garden to peek the curiosity of the students and engage them academic learning. Such materials include magnifying glasses, bug catchers, binoculars, bird houses, bird and squirrel feeders, nest viewers, rain gauges, rain water collection bins, compost bins, sun dials, wind meters, and thermometers.