Nurturing, the natural way

Anclote Elementary students with behavioral issues learn responsibility and gain a sense of ownership tending a garden from scratch.

NEW PORT RICHEY - A recent afternoon saw second-grader Nick Assenza toting around a bucket of pulled weeds and Joshua Cohen lugging another filled with sloshing water. "This is just my size," Joshua said with a grin as he headed for a patch of thirsty sunflower seedlings

Four other classmates - Jacob Williams, Louis Arendes, Leland Jackson and Jason Wright - were laboring away in the dirt, digging a hole large enough for the 125-gallon acrylic pond and 35-gallon waterfall that had been donated by the school's PTA.

Getting their hands dirty and nurturing the seedlings they've planted in the Biosphere Classroom at Anclote Elementary is a twice-daily ritual for the kids in Kim Delancey's Exceptional Student Education class.

"Everything's just coming up," Delancey said. "We've got zinnias, sunflowers, squash and marigolds."

The garden has become a labor of love for these youngsters who first saw its beginnings with the tiny seeds they planted in plastic cups weeks earlier.

"This is really special because we started from scratch," Delancey said.

"It's so great," said Muriel Behling, a paraprofessional with a legendary green thumb who has lent some helpful advice to the endeavor. "It is so awesome to see the expressions on their faces when they see the growth."

Delancey, too, is struck by the growth - not only in the garden but in her students, too.

"These kids are in my classroom because they have behavior issues," she said. "They love it out here. But it's a reward. They have to have good behavior to come out here and use the tools."

In between the work, the students sometimes come across a black snake or the lizards that frequent the garden. There has even been evidence of bunnies, Delancey said. "They left us some droppings."

Perhaps best of all, Delancey said, is the sense of responsibility and ownership that comes with nurturing a garden.

"They've done all the work. They know their plants are going to die if they don't water them and that the weeds need to be pulled or they'll take over."

Delancey hopes the garden project will grow. There are plans to plant a butterfly garden in an eastern section. A bench would be nice, as would picnic tables so that other students at Anclote could use the garden as an outdoor classroom.

"There are endless things that we could do," Delancey said. "This year we had a pod (of students) growing tadpoles, and the pond would have been a perfect place to release them."