Digging In: Growing outdoor classrooms

TIPS FOR WRITING A NEWSLETTER ARTICLE It is important to share your plans and outdoor classroom updates with parents and community members and writing a newsletter article is an excellent way to share news with a broader audience. You can include garden information in your school newsletter, relevant neighborhood publications and any other outlets you think would be appropriate. Here is a general outline for writing an article: Title: Keep your title short, informational and catchy. First paragraph: Briefly summarize the what, who, when and why of the event. What it is, who will be/ was involved, when it happened/ will happen, and why people should be interested! Second, third, etc. paragraphs: Describe in more detail and provide background information. Use quotes! Please include information about MCF here. Here are some suggestions regarding language about MCF: With major multi-year funding from the Madison Community Foundation (MCF), the selected schools each receive $8000 to build or expand an outdoor classroom or school garden. The GROW Coalition provides program support and expert resources for the design and development of the outdoor classrooms.

In September, XXX school, along with four other MMSD schools, was selected to participate in the Growing Outdoor Classrooms Program aimed at promoting engaged learning, healthy food choices, and community engagement in area schools. The Madison Community Foundation (MCF) is funding the project with a $350,000 grant over 3 years, during which time fifteen Dane County schools will design, install and grow their outdoor classrooms, engaging community members, students and teachers in new ways. Each participating school receives $8000 towards their outdoor classroom build and technical support from the Grass Roots/ Outdoor Wonder (GROW) Coalition, including the Community GroundWorks, the Madison Metropolitan School District, Sustain Dane and UW Extension.

Garden Builds are part of the multi-year Growing Outdoor Classrooms Program - a ground- breaking partnership to promote engaged learning, healthy food choices, and community engagement in our schools. The Madison Community Foundation (MCF) helped convene the organizations involved in The Grow Coalition, and is funding the multi-year project with a $350,000 grant. The project builds on MCF’s previous work with community gardens, during which MCF helped tripled the number of community gardens and food pantry gardens in the Madison area.

Final paragraph: Wrap up the story, providing opportunities to stay engaged: For your article before the build, you will want to include a “If you’re interested in participating, contact…”, or “to find out more about this program...” For your follow-up (post-build) article you will want to summarize the how it went overall (ex: Great fun was had by all!), plans for similar future events, or what to stay tuned for next.