WedgewoodElementary School students celebrated rain and putting its water to good use with the construction of a Rain Garden Friday morning, September 24.  Financed by a $2,000 Walmart grant, the Rain Garden will be designed and constructed by the school’s Scholastic Academy/Gifted K-5 students. 
 
Teachers, students and the staff from the O’Neal Lane and Coursey Walmart stores began digging, planting and landscaping the garden with the assistance of Harb’s Oasis Garden Center.   The project is anticipated to enhance the school’s curriculum, add beauty to the campus and encourage the school community to “go green.”  It also will help students understand the importance of collecting fresh water, which is becoming increasingly scarce due to pollution, misuse, overuse and climate changes.
 
Pictured getting ready for the garden dig are:  (first row, left to right) Tiffani Tran, Breanna Statum, Camron Griffin, Deja Seamster, Karsyn Landry, Malachi Almeida, Farah Stephens, Tyrianna Jarrell, Jada Tillman, (back row) Gifted Resource teachers Dianne Mannear and Aza Walker and Sherrie McCurley and James Grimball of the O’Neal Lane Walmart store.

The Rain Garden will provide a habitat for birds and butterflies and teach students about the effects of seasonal changes.    They also will learn about plant populations that are indigenous to the state and their care.   A few of the plants that will be incorporated into the garden are maple and oak trees, various herbs (i.e. mint, basil, parsley), fig trees, blueberry bushes, a bottlebrush tree, a grancy graybeard tree, a citrus tree and lamb’s ears plants.  Scholastic Academy/Gifted teachers Dianne Mannear and Aza Walker are in charge of the project.
 
The water source for the garden primarily will be a rain-catching barrel attached to gutters along the side of the school.  When water from the barrel is depleted, the students will need to think of ways to address this “lack of rain” problem, such as possibly implementing a micro-irrigation system.  Other activities will include measuring, observing, recording and interpreting data collection; using technology; making predictions; painting pictures; weeding; and, hopefully, eating some of the fruits of the students’ labor.