PEA RIDGE — The teachers and students of Pea Ridge Middle School are planning a new Schoolyard Habitat area and invite community members to be a part of the project, which will include a Rain/Pollinator Garden that will be located on the west side of the building.

Plans include enhancing the concrete patio area behind the cafeteria by adding trees and planter benches as well as additional picnic tables. This area will provide the school with an outdoor learning area in which students can explore nature in a variety of ways. What is learned through these outdoor experiences can be incorporated into virtually every discipline.

Excavating, constructingand preparing the site for planting with native plants will begin soon.

Items needed include: shovels, pickaxes, wheel barrows, buckets, mulch, topsoil, compost and rock or pavers; as well as native plants that enjoy moisture and sunshine and have a high wildlife value (enjoyed by bugs and such), such as Butterfly milkweed, Rose Mallow, Joepye Weed, Blue Lobelia, Fountain Grass, River oats, Bushy Aster, Christmas Fern, Goldenrod, Hyssop, Tickseed, Black-eyed Susan, Fox sedge and Coneflower.

Anyone wishing to contribute expertise or resources in these areas, may contact Anya Bruhin, teacher, Pea Ridge Middle School, 781 W. Pickens Rd., Pea Ridge, AR 72751.

School, Pages 9 on 11/24/2010