Skokie Review – July 12, 2007 

JCC garden grows into cozy venue
July 12, 2007
By MIKE ISAACS Staff Writer

Many children read and love "The Secret Garden," but Mayer Kaplan Jewish Community Center children play and learn in one.

JCC officials are informally calling their new garden "the secret garden" because it's easy to miss, sitting behind a wall that serves as part of the facade in the front of the building.

The 800-square-foot space was weeds and dirt and little else not long ago. But Sheryl Katz, director of social services for early childhood, had the idea to make the space meaningful for
the children who attend Skokie's popular JCC.

"The space was nothing, but now it's really something special," Katz said. "Our children need to be in touch with nature and this is an ideal way to accomplish that."

The JCC last year changed to a facility only for children. It was then Katz and her colleagues worked t otransform space that was dead into a cozy little outdoor room brimming with nature's life.

Children read in the little garden. They water plants. They learn about ecology and the environment. Teachers and others are enthused because the instructiona lopportunities seem endless.

The garden was up and running las tmonth thanks in large part to hard work by the JCC staff and many important donations the center received. The Chicago Botanic Gardens donated many plants and helped staf fpick out perennials. The plants grow from 16 tires donated by Star-Nissan.
The use of the tires reinforces the idea of taking unused material and transforming it into something useful, and even beautiful -- a grand lesson for the children, JCC staff said.

Aviv Landscaping also made an important donation. The garden has more than 3,000 pounds of dirt, which are spread out from 40-pound bags. Once the membrane of the garden was created, wood chips bought by the JCC were laid over it to create a child-friendly environment.

The latest addition to the garden is a handful of carpeted squares that can be laid out in a circle so children can sit down to listen to their teacher read to them.

On a wonderfully warm and sunny summer day last week, children ages 2 to 5 took their seats on the newly acquired squares in the center of the garden. They heard a brief story about gardening and then rushed to pick up pails that were soon filled with water.

With enthusiasm and a spring to their little steps, they headed to their plants and flowers of choice to water them. Another benefit of using the tires, Katz said, is that children can't over-water the plants. The large hole at the bottom means that water gets absorbed by the ground.

The plants and flowers in the JCC's "secret garden" come in different shapes and sizes, not to mention a variety of colors. Katz says th egarden is "sensory" -- meaning there is smell and touch to it, as well as beauty. Children like to bend down to feel the fuzzy texture of the Hobbit's Foot plant, for example.

And there's plenty of healthy food plants such as eggplant, fennel, mint and chives, just to name a few.

Darci Rozner, director of early-childhood services, said the children have responded to the garden with real spirit and passion. Last week, she said, a young boy was picked up by his mother but he wouldn't go with her until she saw the garden.

"He was just insistent that his mother see the garden," Rozner said. "He was stomping his feet."

Rozner said the garden is an extension of the classroom, another learning environment that offers a myriad of learning opportunities. "It brings nature into their lives."

Norma Fraser, one of the staff members who tends the garden, has a real green thumb that she uses on eight gardens at home. She now brings her expertise to the JCC garden and has seen children respond to it in positive ways.

"It's wonderful," she said. "The kids come to life. They ask questions. They smell plants and flowers. It's just a wonderful addition."

And the JCC has more large plans for its small garden. JCC staff talk about installing stepping stones and a table with an umbrella.

The JCC also has an investigator club with a science-based curriculum that will use the garden in the fall. Because the garden is filled with healthy food, it lends itself to lessons about making healthy choices when we eat.

It even displays a firsthand lesson in ethics and Jewish values, staff reported.

"Jewish values teach us not just to look at people on the outside but to see them for who they really are," Rozner said. "Look at this garden. Who would have thought that all these tires could be turned into something so beautiful."