Virginia Guido gets some of her best ideas from kindergartners.

A few years ago, she noticed the youngest children at PS 18 on Staten Island huddled near the only shade because the rest of the asphalt playground was too hot.

Meanwhile, next door to the school was a vacant lot.

"Immediately I could see transforming that into a garden, but also an environmental learning lab," said Guido.

Last year that community garden became a reality, thanks to a $2,764 McAuliffe grant and contributions from a private foundation, an excavating firm, nurseries and a fence company; and the work of area police and parks departments, and inmates from a correctional facility.

As an elementary science teacher, Guido envisioned one planting bed per grade level, corresponding to classroom lessons.

The concept has grown. Besides six grade-level garden beds, the area includes one section with benches for students to sit and write, and another dedicated as a wildlife preserve.

Guido, a member of the United Federation of Teachers, has learned a few lessons about nature herself. Most important: It's a lot of work to till the soil.

She has distilled that work into a set of unit lessons she calls "Garden of Dreams." Units range from basic lessons on seed and plant parts - remember growing the lima bean in a Styrofoam cup in kindergarten? - to fifth-grade lessons about toxins in soil and research on pesticides.

Clearing the land taught everyone a new vocabulary word: invasive. Vines keep creeping back. Weather also plays a huge part when a week of rain can wreak havoc on an untended garden.

"Now we'll have to research herbicides," Guido said when she surveyed the plot after an extensive rain allowed weeds to reach for the sky again.

"As a science teacher, I've always seen that kids learn better through actual contact with living than reading about it," Guido said.

Students have conducted mock interviews of the soil from the past to the present. They have compiled diaries from the perspective of squirrels, insects, plants and birds.

The nitty gritty

For anyone considering a community garden, Guido suggests using the term "environmental learning lab."

"All students should be able to find the connections between their environment and learning," she said. "It's wonderful when you see a kid realize that all living things depend on each other in some way."

After that, Guido said, it's important to get kids and their parents and other staff members involved as much as possible.

"Besides getting them involved mentally and academically, you'll need the physical help," Guido said, noting that PS 18's plot is about 60 feet by 90 feet.

Guido gets common planning time at least once a week.

"This is instrumental for me to find out what they are doing in their classrooms so I can plan things to enrich what they're doing," she explained.

Finally, it is important to evaluate the project continually. Guido is aided in the evaluation by student journals. Student assignments range from writing about plant growth to the progress of planting beds to describing what materials may be needed.

- Betsy Sandberg

Do you have a project?

If your idea is innovative enough and you've been teaching for at least eight years, you can compete for a federally funded Christa McAuliffe Fellowship - like the one Virginia Guido used to help develop her school's garden. For details, contact Sanford Lake at the State Education Department's Office of Teaching, (518) 474-6440, or e-mail slake@mail.nysed.gov.