"NATURE'S LESSONS: Budding scientists grow with rooftop garden ." Nov. 20, 2002. New York Teacher.

NATURE'S LESSONS: Budding scientists grow with rooftop garden

November 20, 2002

PICTURED: Connie Zuniga revels in the joys of nature's classroom

Worlds away from the woods, New York City high school teacher Allison Godshall didn't look outward for a science laboratory - she looked upward.

To the roof, to be precise.

As a teacher at School of the Future, Godshall wanted to blow past textbooks and in-house horticulture. She wanted a garden.

But Gramercy - the park closest to the school - is gated. Outside her door is a tightly woven corridor of sandstone edifices, brownstone apartments, hotels and offices. Available green spaces near the school are extinct.

So Godshall, a member of the United Federation of Teachers, decided to make a rooftop garden.

Using the scientific method, she studied, researched and made plans, testing her hypothesis before digging in. Godshall visited another school with a rooftop garden, and took notes. "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?" was the literal question here.

During the first year, students drew designs and made plans for the gardens. They grew plants in class, studying their life cycles. They built a scale model of the rooftop garden. Regularly, they went up to the roof to study the light patterns. Moss revealed that some areas of the roof were moist and dark. Godshall had a weight limit assessment done for the roof to calculate how much it could bear.

With a grant she obtained, Godshall bought bulbs and dirt, and students began planting. Student murals brightened the cement block walls surrounding part of the roof.

The second year, while the roof was repaired and relined with stone, the science teacher and her students pressed on for funding. They culled names of gardening organizations from the phone book and the Internet. Using a photo Godshall took of students on the empty roof, the kids wrote letters and canvassed the neighborhood seeking donations, supplies or advice. The Citizens Committee for New York City, the National Gardening Association, area businesses and parents contributed seeds, shovels, work gloves, books, money, pots and soil. Area nurseries donated plants and trees. Students collected plastic foam-packing pieces and small rocks to aerate the soil in many containers.

To learn gardening, Godshall and her students attended weekend classes at the Bronx Botanical Gardens.

How green is our rooftop

Today the roof of the School of the Future blooms with arborvitae, Douglas fir, holly, rosebushes and hemlock contained in whiskey barrels and plastic containers. Red metal benches donated by school clubs nestle amongst the trees. It is fall, and students are hauling lumber up to the roof to build a greenhouse. Nearby brick and stone buildings tower beyond, like sentinels watching over the garden. The wind is high, and plants and students are closer to the rain and sun. Each student will pick a plant to study, sketch and examine for changes.

"Every student adopts one aspect of the garden they feel passionate about," Godshall said. "Some are architectural plans, some are computer drawings of how things could look. Some kids work on the grant committee, some research how fruits and vegetables grow."

She directs students to different tasks, wheeling out a dolly, having students help her move trees. Godshall stops to check the bothersome tooth of a concerned student. It is raining earnestly on this particular day, but the students work, smile and cavort, oblivious to the weather, pushing their loose gardening gloves up on their arms again and again. Later, they take a break on a mound of potting soil bags, drinking some lemonade. Nearby, an old shed that once held unused desks and chairs has been gutted and made into a toolshed. Mounted pegboard holds an array of tools.

Godshall's work has been honored with a 2002 Feinstone Environmental Award from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry College - recognition that UFT President Randi Weingarten proudly notes is emblematic of the creativity and commitment of the city's devoted teachers.

Godshall hopes it will be a lasting legacy with ongoing community support and widespread use. Already, humanities teachers bring their classes up for silent or group readings. A telescope is available for use. The school also has held fund-raising events on the roof.

And in the summer, trees and plants will be cared for with a drip irrigation system. Even while students and teachers are out of the classroom, the rooftop garden should flourish.

- Liza Frenette

Science teacher explores new terrain replete with turtles, herons and muskrats