A group of Marietta youngsters and tweens in Cobb County are learning about native plants the old-fashioned way: getting their hands dirty.
The kids, some from Sope Creek Elementary School and others from the Franklin Road Boys & Girls Club, are a couple of months into their yearlong project aimed at connecting youths with the outdoors and raising awareness about land preservation.
Park rangers with the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area are leading the charge, visiting the students once a month to teach about plants, lead nature walks and head planting projects that beautify parts of Cobb County.
In a recent project, Sope Creek Elementary teacher Cheri Vaniman’s class of nine second- and third-graders taught their peers about native plants such as black-eyed Susans, helping others plant seeds in a paper cup with instructions to plant at home. In that process, the kids learned Vaniman and rudbeckia hirta aren’t so different. After all, both the biennial flowers and their teacher share some basic needs.
“Water!” said one child.
“Shelter!” guessed another.
“Food!” offered a third.
“A spacesuit?”
Well, maybe not that.
The program is funded through First Bloom, a National Park Foundation initiative to connect children with nature and teach land preservation. The program, which began in 2007, has also run in Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. Dave Thomas, with the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, sought funding last spring and partnered with Vaniman’s class and the Boys & Girls Club.
“We are trying to get these kids out from sitting in front of the computer and into the parks,” said Thomas, a volunteer coordinator. “The point is to get people to come see the work and for the kids to bring their parents and friends. The kids have the feeling they are doing something for the environment and they’re proud of it.”
Vaniman said the project makes learning exciting for her students. Most importantly, it makes writing -- a once dreaded exercise -- fun to perform. The students use their writing skills to create bulletin boards and stories about their experience.
“Now they’re into it and it’s not such a grueling activity for them,” she said. “It means something to them. They want the plants to live, and they want to show their parents what they’ve done.”
Parent Rick Raschke of Marietta joined his son Ricky, 9, on a recent trip to the Cochran Shoals portion of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. Ricky and his Sope Creek classmates joined park rangers there to plant and beautify a portion of a dilapidated trail rangers hope to mask with flowers and greenery. Teens from the Crossroads North Second Chance Alternative School tilled the planting area earlier in the day.
Raschke said his son has enjoyed the projects ranging from planting the trail to making “seed balls,” mounds of dirt, seeds and fertilizer that children can throw into nature to spread the growth of wildflowers.
“I think this is tremendous for the kids,” Raschke said. “It’s hands-on, which is great for my son because he’s a visual learner.”
Ricky and the other students, such as 8-year-old Sofia Ramirez, have learned valuable plant preservation lessons they’ll remember for life.
“You have to take care of plants,” Ramirez advised. “And not step on them.”
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