WOOD RIVER JCT. — After working three years at a school in Warren during the 1990s, Dan Potts received a layoff notice that told him there were more qualified instructors that could teach in his place.

That prompted him to move the Chariho Middle School where, more than a decade later, he has become a favorite among some students.

To colleagues, he said he is known as the science teacher that is always outside.

Classes begin for Potts Tuesday, but he’s been working with students and their families this summer in the middle school’s Kids Grow Garden.

So far, Potts and 66 other volunteers have harvested 410 pounds of produce, which they donated to the Westerly Area Rest and Meals shelter in Westerly. Since Potts started the garden program with a member of the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District in 1996, volunteers under his direction have grown nearly 11,500 pounds in tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and other vegetables.

Tuckahoe Turf donated a half-acre for the garden — across the street from Chariho’s Switch Road campus — and water for the plants. Potts’ science students plant seeds and care for the plants inside until they are ready to move to the garden.

He updates information about the project on the Children’s Garden Network Web site, a support group for garden education programs. Among the site’s content, Potts posts volunteer hours and gives recognition to community business and residents that offer donations for the project.

“I like to garden, and it feels good to help the less fortunate,” said 13-year-old Rachel Nunes as she worked in the garden last week with her mother and sister, a former student of Potts. This will be the second consecutive year that Nunes has Potts as a science teacher.

Last year, she said she kayaked for the first time during a field trip that he led.

Potts praised a former student for helping to make the annual kayaking trip in the Wood River possible. About five years ago, he said student Hannah Gardiner and others raised money for kayaks, paddles and life vests through private donations, a bake sale and car washes.

The students donated the equipment to the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association, which allows Potts and his students use it during their annual fall excursion to examine insects and water quality. Their data contributes to the association’s monitoring program.

His students have also worked with Ducks Unlimited, a wetlands conservation group, to study ducks at Kettle Pond and Trustom Pond in Charlestown; as well as the state Department of Environmental Management through its Salmon in the Classroom program, in which students raise Atlantic salmon and later release the fish.

In addition, he said his students collect bins at school twice a week to make sure paper is being recycled.

Potts said he chooses hands-on projects because “engagement is crucial, I think, for gaining students’ attention and interest.” He credits the students’ other teachers and school administration for being “flexible,” saying he’s got “nothing but support.”

The Pennsylvania native once gave a try at becoming a mason, but said the work was “too hard.” Instead, Potts chose teaching science because “I’m good at science and I like the outdoors.”

vgoff@thewesterlysun.com