Welcome to the Urban Ecologist Program at GROW Enrichment!
Now enrolling for the 2024 learning season. Click on the class of your interest to register!
Nashville’s first Permaculture Food Forest is a living classroom for nature-based education ! Come join us!
Urban Ecology Program Overview
The goals of this program are to:
Build student confidence in nature through positive experiences, active learning, and collaborative outdoor play
Support student knowledge in the areas of ecology, conservation, and permaculture farming
Strengthen a sense of community belonging through regular parent involvement and the fostering of positive social relationships
Inspire a love of nature that translates into action as our students look for ways to help care for their local public parks and green-spaces
For the 2023 Season, the Urban Ecology Program will have two semesters, each containing 12 weeks of programming as follows:
Semester 1: April - June (cost: $260)
Semester 2: August - October (cost: $260)
*See specific program listings for ages and timeframes
Thank you for considering GROW as part of your child’s enrichment!
Forest Friends
(Ages 3-5)
Meets Wednesdays, 9-11am
This multi-age early childhood program was specially crafted to meet the emotional and developmental needs of our youngest learners and is primarily focused on building confidence in nature. Students will explore the natural areas of the park and forests, take discovery hikes, and self direct their own activities to a large degree. After all, as Maria Montessori acknowledged, “Play is the work of children.” We take that to heart at GROW and encourage all learners to play without purpose as often as they can!
UE Level 1
(ageS 6-8)
meets Mondays, 10-1pm
This program has been designed to have a high degree of physical activity, experiential learning, and community development. Through the course of the season we’ll cover a wide range of ecological studies, across several micro-ecosystems located on the property, while building base knowledge of sustainable land management practices under the ‘permaculture’ movement model.
UE Level 2
(ages 9-11)
Meets Mondays, 10-1pm
The Level 2 program is where things come together and pick up momentum for our young environmentalists! More secure in their writing and communication skills, this group is able to work on deeper content understanding and practical application of permaculture within the GROW learning lab. Our focus here is on helping learners make the larger connections between the interplay of human and wildlife activity in urban settings. Citizen science projects and development of research skills take center stage. We also bring in some of our community partners to highlight real-world applications of content being studied within the course.
UE Level 3
*Wilderness Survival COurse
(Ages 12-15)
Meets Thursdays, 10-1pm
*Now enrolling for 2024*
Our primary intention for this group of learners is to prepare them to explore our state and national wilderness areas with confidence and skill as they approach independence in young adulthood. This includes practicing wilderness skills such as hiking, way-finding, trail-building, emergency shelter construction, locating and purifying water, administering emergency first aid, foraging/wildcrafting and more! We’ll continue to apply permaculture knowledge through forest conservation projects, while involving students in the process of assessing and monitoring system health and care.
