New greenhouse at Northside Elementary aimed connecting students more with nature

LA CROSSE (WKBT) -- Students and staff at Northside Elementary and Coulee Montessori are celebrating the opening of its new greenhouse.

Phoenix Elm is a 4th grader at the school. He's been planting since he was in kindergarten. He's glad the greenhouse is now open.

"This has been really really fun and planting like all these plants and stuff has been the best part of school probably," Elm said.

The greenhouse will also be used as a classroom.

"Students will have lessons in here. They'll work with plants in this classroom. It will be a place where they will be surrounded by nature," 4th grade teacher Mariah Bigelow said.

Bigelow says the structure is another way to connect students to nature.

"Nature is a building ground for bringing peace and community into our classroom," said Bigelow.

It's also part of their science curriculum. Students are learning how plants propagate, how to care for them and how they spread their seeds. Parents, including Laura Moize, say planting is better for their health.

"I love it. I think it's great it gets them moving when they go back to a classroom and have to sit back down at a desk," Moize says. "They're feeling refreshed and ready to sit and listen and not be fidgety."

The $32,000 project is funded by Rotary After Hours and Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Proceeds will go towards adding desks and chair in the greenhouse.

The school will be having a plant sale.  The money will go towards the greenhouse. It runs Friday from 3pm-6pm and Saturday from 9am-12pm.

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