A trio of fifth-graders have left behind a fairy garden for their Woodward Elementary School classmates as they head to Dempsey Middle School next year.
Judy Carpenter, a reading specialist at Woodward, said Tuesday that she’s been maintaining the courtyard garden for years and had an idea recently to let a few students put together a fairy garden, a miniature garden grown in a container only a few feet in diameter.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years,” Carpenter said. “It’s a very popular idea (in gardening communities).”
Carpenter said three fifth-grade students, Faith Eing, Stephany Tiguila and Jasmin Alverez, worked during the last weeks of school to plan, prepare, and plant the tiny garden.
“I thought it’d be fun for them,” Carpenter said. “It’s something they can leave behind.”
Eing said they divided up the space into sections and each got to design their own part. The fairy garden has a variety of features, including a house, a tiny fence made from gluing twigs together, and a riverbed of pebbles.
“I like it,” Eing said. “I learned how to be creative and have fun. Other kids have said it’s cool and nice. Some kids told us we did a great job.”
Tiguila said all the materials for the project were provided by Carpenter, and she and the other designers had to plan accordingly.
“We learned to use things we had instead of things we didn’t have,” Tiguila said.
Eing said she hopes students at Woodward take care of the garden, and she sees it as a little bit of her legacy at the school.
“I just hope when we come back in our senior year, it’s still here and we can tell students the history of it,” Eing said. “We can tell the other kids to try it, too, and to be more creative.”
Carpenter said she’s glad that she was able to get the students to do the project, and she is happy the courtyard is getting more use.
“My son did his Eagle Scout project here about eight years ago, and it was a jungle,” Carpenter said. “He planted a butterfly garden and I’ve maintained (the courtyard) since then. I enjoy it, and we do use it a lot more now that it stays cleaned up.”
