Misty Williams of Washington Montessori keeps MySci momentum

The beginning of spring means the start of gardening activities for elementary students at Washington Montessori in St. Louis. Misty Williams, elementary teacher at Washington Montessori, is teaching first-, second- and third-grade students how to maintain the school’s garden, which includes caring for the plants, creating a compost bin and studying animal life in the garden.

Williams is inspired to “grow” her students’ interest in gardening and science through her involvement in the MySci program, a collaborative effort of Washington University in St. Louis, the St. Louis Science Center, the Missouri Botanical Garden, Science Outreach and the Saint Louis Zoo. Funded by the Monsanto Fund, MySci equips teachers throughout the St. Louis area with free, hands-on, science curriculum focused on plants, animals and the earth. Employing a unique approach of inquiry-based learning, teachers use MySci’s curriculum, hands-on activities and materials to supplement their classroom science lessons and encourage students to learn by asking questions.

“In my classroom, I’ve applied MySci lessons to subjects besides just science,” said Williams. “I can tie social studies lessons on famine and drought to our gardening activities and MySci lessons related to the life cycle of plants.”

Williams’ students are involved in every aspect of their school’s garden, including donating vegetables grown in the garden to local food pantries and practicing the vocabulary they learned during MySci lessons when participating in gardening activities. Students are also learning how recycled materials, like newspapers and discarded food, can be composted to promote plant growth, how gardening can impact their community and requirements for growing fruits and vegetables.

Williams has been teaching the MySci curriculum for two years and has completed MySci’s professional development courses, attended by 400 area teachers during the 2010-2011 school year. She was selected among hundreds of St. Louis-area teachers involved in MySci as an outstanding educator for her commitment to science education.

“MySci is such a successful program because of teachers like Ms. Williams,” says Victoria L. May, director of science outreach and of K-12 educational outreach. “She does an excellent job of helping students connect what they learn during the lessons to their everyday lives.”

For more information about MySci, visit www.mysci.info, or contact Diane Pilla, MySci project coordinator, at dpilla@slsc.org.