Cannon Elementary, a Grapevine-Colleyville ISD STEM school, has been selected as a recipient of a REAL School Garden for the 2015-2016 school year.

On Friday, Sept. 25, students, teachers, parents, volunteers and GCISD staff will break out shovels and spades and other tools as they officially begin work on an interactive learning garden at the campus.

REAL School Gardens is a nonprofit organization that creates learning gardens and then teaches teachers on how to use them to provide hands-on learning experiences that engage students and increase academic achievement. The garden will enhance learning in science, math, language arts and other core subjects.

According to REAL School Gardens, partner schools have seen 12-15 percent increases in standardized test score pass rates with science scores seeing the largest increases.

A community partner helps fund each REAL School Garden, and the Cannon garden will be sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. Volunteers from Mercedes-Benz will be on hand, along with parents, staff, students and community members to assist with installing the garden on Friday.