Fox Chase Elementary School unveiled the lab as well as a mobile greenhouse and raised vegetable gardens on May 9. Tanks with live lizards and chicks were on display. MARIA YOUNG / TIMES PHOTO
The faculty at Fox Chase Elementary School has spent the last year formulating plans for an all-encompassing shift in the school’s curriculum to a project-based model based on agricultural themes. And believe it or not, the so-called school redesign is not simply an excuse for a participatory principal like Fox Chase’s Rob Caroselli to ditch his daily business suits in favor of khakis and hiking boots.
Nonetheless, perpetual dress-down day is still a perk.
“That’s the idea. I don’t even know if this matches,” Caroselli said of his attire during the public unveiling of Fox Chase’s new agriculture lab on May 9. “I have two pairs of nice shoes that are both muddy and I don’t feel like cleaning them off anymore.”
The high-ranking public officials who toured the new lab, as well as a mobile greenhouse and raised vegetable gardens at the school that day, didn’t seem to mind the principal’s appearance. They included Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Dr. William Hite and City Councilman Al Taubenberger, who lives in Fox Chase.
They and other dignitaries smiled broadly and nodded approvingly as they perused the live lizards, fish and chicks inhabiting several large tanks inside the double-sized classroom. Redesign team leader Kate Grugan had just wrapped up a lesson about plant genetics in which youngsters were asked to identify dominant and recessive traits and to diagram the components of various species in color illustrations.
“You can see that the kids are excited. They can tell you what they’ve been doing,” Hite said. “Their teachers are excited and their families are excited.”
Technically, the implementation of the redesign isn’t scheduled to begin until next fall. The transition is expected to take three years, but it will affect all facets of the school, which serves just under 500 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Last December, Fox Chase became one of just seven of the city’s public schools approved by the district for a redesign and the only one among them with an agriculture theme. The designation made Fox Chase eligible for a $30,000 professional development grant and gives it increased leverage in applying for additional public and private grants.
The ag lab occupies an annex building across the schoolyard from the school’s main building. Its exterior is covered in a fresh coat of bright red paint and features a mural. Inside, the decor has been adapted to suit the focus on plants and animals. On the day of the tour, a bulletin board contained some fifth-grade worksheets from a lesson on “owl pellet dissection.” A pupil named Jade scored a perfect 10 out of 10 in identifying the bones of small forest animals that an owl had eaten.
Another display showed colored renderings of game fish from a chart produced by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. A vocabulary board targeting younger learners showed illustrations of many agri-centric words like farmer, barn, crops, rooster, hen and horse. In another corner, students were incubating eggs and keeping detailed logs of their progress.
In the yard outside the lab, students have planted peas, chile peppers, bell peppers, basil and strawberries. Soon, the school will acquire a mobile greenhouse as a donation from a Lancaster County farmer, Sam Stoltzfus, who markets the trailer-sized devices via aeroponicsgrowing.com
“What you’re looking at here is agricultural education in a K to five setting,” Caroselli said. “We’re changing the curriculum. We’re marketing it to the parents and the children. We’re doing something great for our kids that other schools can’t do or aren’t doing. What we’re seeing in the data is the children who are most at-risk are really buying in.” ••
Fox Chase Elementary School’s agricultural lab was unveiled on May 9. MARIA YOUNG / TIMES PHOTO
Growing knowledge: Fox Chase Elementary School’s agricultural lab occupies an annex building across the schoolyard from the school’s main building. MARIA YOUNG / TIMES PHOTO
