KMS has been approved for a second "Healthy Habits" mini-grant from the Knox County Health Department to support our fitness and nutrition work with our Primary students. We plan to use these funds to involve the students in planting two vegetable gardens, two herb gardens, and a strawberry patch at the school this coming spring.

The Primary students will start the plants inside under grow lights early next year and move them outside when the weather gets warm enough. They will plant vegetables such as sugar snap peas, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage that will be ready to eat before the end of the school year in May. If the strawberries go in early enough, they should produce their first crop by the end of May as well. Our students already compost their lunch scraps, and we will use the compost on the gardens.

In addition to buying tools and materials for the gardens, we will also use the grant to purchase a new grow light (to supplement one we already have), new compost buckets for the classrooms, a see-through compost container so children can watch table scraps and other material turning into compost, and a "Root Vue Farm" that enables children to watch root vegetables like carrots and radishes grow. We will also buy several books on gardening with children that we will add to the Parent Resources shelf in the front office.

We are very happy that the Health Department has once again recognized the value of our work. The gardening project will be a wonderful experience for our students, and we're all looking forward to getting started on it in January.