Supporting Seeds of Learning at Hillside Garden

Hillside's native plants garden is made possible by an MFEE grant. (Photo courtesy Sally Solo)

The Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence is proud to support Hillside Elementary School's new native plants garden! Science teacher Susan Bartol was awarded funds to create the garden as part of this year's educator grants program.

With the help of grant co-writer and Master Gardener Sally Solo, Hillside has repurposed an unused grassy area on Hillside Avenue for the garden, where science, social studies, language arts, and art classes can meet for hands-on lessons.

"The garden will be a concrete microcosm of what a healthy ecosystem in this part of the world is: a place where flora and fauna that evolved together grow, inviting butterflies and birds (and people!) to come and thrive as well as to fulfill their natural ecosystem services such as carbon and nutrient cycling," Bartol and Solo said in their proposal.

The size of the garden allows students space to explore, and teachers can incorporate the science curriculum or interdisciplinary lessons. For example, students can examine rotting logs for decomposition study or learn how imagination affects observation, and then put those observations into poetry.

MFEE annually awards $60,000 in grants to educators across the Montclair Public Schools. It’s been funding teachers’ big ideas for more than 30 years, and the grants remain a core part of the organization's mission. They aim to spark innovative ideas and support teachers who nurture future leaders, and to engage students of all ages and across content areas.

Stay tuned for more grant spotlights and learn how community donations fuel this work!