SHELBY COUNTY, Ky. — The words summer school probably don’t get kids excited, and might even cause some dread. But in Shelby County, a new kind of summer school is getting kids excited to learn.
When the Shelby County School Board voted to implement summer learning to make up for lost time during the pandemic, schools got to choose what opportunities they would offer.
Wright Elementary wanted to do something interactive, something new - and Operation Grow was born.
“It’s just different from school, it doesn’t necessarily feel like school but they’re still learning,” Wright Elementary Assistant Principal Ryan Allan said.
Every day, the kids have 45 minutes of reading and 45 minutes of math, but the rest of their day is spent working in the school’s garden, getting a hands-on experience.
“I think there’s so many lightbulb moments for these kids as they see literal fruit or vegetables growing that they have had their hand in building, their eyes light up, they get so excited,” Allan said.
The school invited kids who they determined would benefit from the extra schooling, but it got so popular that a lot of kids who weren’t in that group wanted to sign up. More than one-third of all Wright Elementary students are seeing their hard work pay off in the garden.
RELATED: Greener, healthier neighborhoods | Louisville Grows looks to uplift importance on community gardens.
“It might seem like a long time over the weeks, but just watching them, it’s cool seeing how just in one day it can make such a difference,” incoming sixth-grader Bailey Ditmer said.
Each grade level presents something different about the garden. The kindergartners do a weather report, and fifth-graders present on statistics. All students are learning how to take care of the garden, and how they can help make the plants grow into fruits and vegetables.
“You have to water the plants, so they keep alive but…they’ll die if you water them too much,” incoming second-grader Landon Sullivan said.
The students are going to see the product of their work when they turn the vegetables into a salsa once they are ready to be picked.
Contact reporter Rose McBride at rmcbride@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.