Valley Ranch Elementary's Sandra Braden, Kati Castellanos, Amy Cheatham, Laci Garza, Peter MacRae and Kris Rindels received $6,987.46 for "Garden of the Stars." This grant funded a garden which provides an environment for observation, investigation, problem solving and hands-on learning. Having a garden provides for current and future learners an outdoor learning environment. The students must plan a process to test a hypothesis, put the process into motion using various hands-on materials, see the process to completion, and then be able to explain the attained results. The inquiry based activities fosters curiosity, imagination, problem solving and understanding of the ecosystem and hands-on learning opportunities allow students to develop deeper critical thinking skills. It also allows teachers to create lessons and integrate across the curriculum.