Parkway Elementary school recently received a $5,000 Lowe’s “Toolbox for Education” grant to build an outdoor reading garden for their school. The “Toolbox for Education” grant is a national grant through Lowe’s, awarded for permanent facilities enhancement and landscaping projects that encourage community involvement.

Laura Stites, a fifth grade teacher at Parkway, worked closely with the Parkway PTA to make this grant a reality. Stites was approached by the PTA President and Vice President last fall to help write the grant.

“When I saw ‘reading garden’ in the list of sample projects on the site, I said ‘I’m in!’” said Stites. “We have such a beautiful location here at Parkway, and we had been looking to do something for the outside of our building that would help beautify and update our school.”

Parkway plans to convert a large median in front of the school into the outdoor reading area. Currently, the median is grass with a few trees and bushes. A committee formed of staff and PTA members will be working to design the median for multi-purpose use.

“We want it to be a functional space,” said Stites. “We don’t want it to sit empty, because that’s what it does now. For most of the year we’ll have another space where teachers can take kids to do outdoor science experiments or have reading time.”

Stites hopes to get the whole school and the community involved. “Our Lowes in town has already been awesome about contacting us to get involved. We hope to involve our students through the student council, and we plan to reach out to the community and get them involved, too. We want to make it fun for the community.”

The school plans to begin work on the area in the spring, once plans are finalized, with the goal of finishing work by the start of school in the fall.