Shifting Gardens is an outdoor classroom planter garden system that empowers schools to build their own classroom gardens and transform their schoolyard! The system is composed of three raised planter garden shapes at three different heights to allow the possibility of creating a custom garden and outdoor classroom that meets the needs of students of all ages. Creating a Shifting Gardens is possible through the Shifting Gardens website, www.shiftinggardens.com, which allows free downloading of planning tools and building schematics, purchase links to easily accessible materials, instruction videos to help prepare untrained volunteers for building, and teaching resources to use with the classroom garden.

While serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer, creating large scale service events for underfunded schools in Philadelphia, I noticed that many of the public urban schools we worked to transform were surrounded by large, cracked, concrete schoolyards. This stark reality seemed difficult to address without huge grants to redesign the urban landscape. Because of this harsh reality, I then spent a year designing Shifting Gardens as a way to realistically bring plantable green space and outdoor learning to bare urban schoolyards.

I found that some schools had large raised planter beds for gardening purposes. While the planters were successful in proving plantable area on a concrete schoolyard, the structures were low to the ground, meaning students had to squat to participate with planting activities, and the traditional rectangular shapes were not appropriate for large groups of students working in the garden together. The teachers and principals that I surveyed agreed that outdoor seating and writing surfaces were greatly desired. In my previous experience, I saw how organizations like City Year Greater Philadelphia, the nonprofit in which I served as an AmeriCorps volunteer, had funds and the ability to manage large amounts of volunteers but lacked the time and skill to create comprehensive, detailed designs and schematics at a scale that would fully impact the lives of the students.

Additionally,research showed that interacting with greenery has been proven to positively impact students’ behavior and academic achievement, strengthening the case for making outdoor planter gardens a priority. Not only does greenery improves the aesthetics and feel of the schoolyard, but it also adds absorbent material (soil and roots) which help to manage stormwater runoff.

Shifting Gardens is a system of raised planter beds and outdoor classroom furniture that can address the needs of both schools and volunteers wanting to transform an urban schoolyard, while ultimately serving the students and teachers who will use it throughout the school year. The system was designed to be built by volunteers with easily accessible materials and provides detailed building plans for individuals new to construction. Shifting Gardens requires less funding and no building permits, making schoolyard greenspaces available to a wider audience than previously possible. Additionally, the garden can be built over time, with planters being added as funding arrives. The Shifting Gardens system is designed to be built across the country and is made accessible through the Shifting Gardens’ website (www.shiftinggardens.com), which has purchase links for volunteers who are unfamiliar with the suggested materials, links to the tools needed that can be rented at select Home Depot locations, instructional videos for those new to building or who might want a refresher, and access to a free downloadable PDF of the Shifting Gardens planning and building guidebook. The guidebook walks the school or volunteers through the process on planning the garden space and building the structures. It’s student friendly with hardware and material equations for students to help solve. While involving the students is important, the instructions note when an adult should be present to manage tool use. Once the planters are built, schools can visit the website to find links to resources which their students can begin to use in order to create watering solutions, find books about the plants they could grow, or learn other specifics about gardening!

Schematically, the Shifting Gardens system is composed of three planters designed to meet the needs of various group sizes while visually and physically working cohesively in the garden layout. The Triangle Planter is for small group learning, appropriate for groups of 6 students. The Chevron Planter is appropriate for a group of 10 students, and the Universal Planter, appropriate for a group of 23 students, can accommodate a small to medium class and has a wheelchair accessible planting area. The Triangle and Chevron planters can be built at three different heights, as the planters are built in layers. The lowest level, 2 layers, is 14 inches tall and comparable to a child size chair. The middle level is 3 layers at 21 inches tall and is comparable to an adult size chair. The highest level is 4 layers at 28 inches tall and is comparable to desk height. With these heights and group sizes in mind, the school can plan their custom outdoor classroom planter garden that best meets the needs of their students and teaching practices.

For the seasons that are not favorable for planting, the Shifting Gardens will continue to serve as furniture, such as benches for parents to sit while they wait for dismissal or for groups of students to gather at recess.

After seeing a completed Shifting Gardens Planter and the building guidebook, the program manager of the Civic Engagement Team at City Year Greater Philadelphia said, "Love it. Wish I saw these schematics a couple weeks ago - could've tried building them next weekend!" While the principal of a local elementary school said, "This is exactly what we've been looking for!" Two of the planters were built on that elementary school's hard surfaced schoolyard by volunteers and are being used by the students this year.

Shifting Gardens provides the opportunity for schools to bring planting area to their hard surfaced schoolyard while adding furniture to enhance outdoor learning. This system empowers schools to transform their own space!