The Problem
Our school campus is filled with people of color, but not plants of color. Our LGBTQ+ Rainbow Club wants a project to bring together our Adult Educators (and Board Members), High School Students and Elementary Communities. We propose diversifying our school ground plantings to delight the eye and lighten the heart with beauty. Our project will fulfill science (roots, stem & flower, fertilizer) & music curricula (note-reading, flower, garden & community songs) with an SEL (kindness, being your true self) and a community service component. Our students will learn to bed plants with kindness and gentleness, noting that each is unique, just like we are, and watch them (us) bloom throughout the year.
Our Plan
McKinley Elementary, centrally located in our San Leandro Unified School District, was recently renovated with additional classrooms added. There are planters with simple sedges bordering our outdoor eating area. These areas are already irrigated but do not say, "Thrive" or "Be Happy." We would like to plant a Rainbow of perennials, to enhance our daily activities. Our recently established Rainbow Club educates and includes all students with messages of "Love is Love," and "You can be anybody that you want to be." Our Music Curriculum includes the songs, "Each of Us is a Flower, growing in Life's Garden [Charlotte Diamond]," "Everything Possible," "Inch by Inch, Row by Row [The Garden Song]" and "Music of Life." We will also tie-in the song, "True Colors," to be kind, courageous and helpful in our Communities. "True Colors," "Everything Possible" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" speak to our LGBTQ+ Rainbow Clubs especially. We build community between age levels-- High School and Elementary Rainbow Clubs and with our Adult Educators (Teachers, Administrators & the School Board) with projects and fun gatherings. This project would be an afternoon of pizza (free from school food service), singing, talk, crafting and planting the flowers for long-term enjoyment and memories of the day. We will use the funds for purchasing Flowering Plants, watering cans, hose, extra irrigation equipment, flower crafts, organic fertilizer and photos to document the events.
